PROFILE:‘No-nonsense’ Brussels veteran who gets stuck into the detail

By Daniel Byrne

PROFILE: EUROPE’S new finance chief Mairead McGuinness is known as a consummate professional who has spent the last two decades in Brussels, at the highest level in the European Parliament.

This morning, European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen (VDL) announced McGuinness as Commissioner in charge of Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union. Even before she announced the new Commissioner VDL praised the Irish woman, up to now a First Vice President of the European Parliament, as an excellent candidate and both are known to enjoy a cordial relationship.

Her appointment comes at a crucial time for the EU as the Commission Directorate General which McGuinness now assumes control charts how the bloc will tackle money laundering – particularly in allocating the union’s €750BN pandemic bailout budget.

McGuinness is known as a “no nonsense” politician and will come down hard on any graft uncovered by officials. She comes from Ireland’s Fine Gael party, which likes to be known as the country’s law and order party, which is aligned with the EPP in Europe.

“Mairead doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She is a hard worker, gets stuck in the detail and is uber professional. She is committed to the European project and will want to leave her mark on this portfolio,” said a colleague. She takes over the role after her party colleague Phil Hogan resigned the Trade Commissionership last month and VDL today announced a minor reshuffle with Valdis Dombrovskis moving to Trade.

A former television and newspaper journalist, McGuinness’ history in politics and economics stretches back to the 1980s.

Originally from Drogheda, County Louth – close to the Republic’s border with Northern Ireland – she attained a BA in agricultural economics from UCD before completing a further diploma in accounting and finance.

Prior to entering politics, her career was largely focused on journalism. She worked in RTE, both as a researcher for the popular Late Late Show, and host of Ear to the Ground. A news show dealing with current affairs in rural Ireland.

As a writer, she worked for both the Irish Farmers Journal and as Farming Editor with the Irish Independent, Ireland’s largest daily newspaper.

McGuinness was first elected to the European Parliament in the 2004 elections, representing Fine Gael, for the East constituency. Since her home county of Louth changed constituency in 2014, she has represented Midland-North-West.

However, McGuinness’ political career has not been entirely focused on Europe.

She ran in the Irish General election of 2007 for the Louth constituency, narrowly missing out on the final seat. In 2011 she sought Fine Gael’s nomination for President of Ireland but lost out to Gay Mitchell. 

Despite these losses, she was returned to her European Parliament seat in 2009 with the largest amount of first preference votes and has retained a seat at both elections since.

McGuiness was elected as a vice-president of the European Parliament in 2014. She was elevated to first vice-president in 2017 and re-elected to this post in 2019. During her time in the parliament she had sought the top role of President but finished as runner up in the 2016 election to Italy’s Antonio Tajani.

Her role as vice-president has seen her oversee the EU’s relationship with member-state parliaments, religious organisations and North American nations.

She has chaired numerous working groups during her career, such as information and communication policy, the administrative consequences of Brexit, as well as the parliament’s investigations into the collapse of the Equitable Life assurance company – a prominent financial regulation consultancy firm – in 2007.

Commission President Von Der Leyen has highlighted McGuinness’ wealth of experience in dealing with EU issues, saying that this was one of the key factors which qualified her for the position of commissioner.

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