Florika Fink-Hooijer

Florika Fink-Hooijer
Florika Fink-Hooijer
Director General Directorate-General for the Environment European Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2020
President	Ursula von der Leyen
Preceded by	Daniel Calleja Crespo
Director General Directorate-General for Interpretation European Commission
In office 1 June 2016 - 31 August 2020
President	Jean-Claude Juncker
Preceded by	Marco Benedetti
Personal details
Born	(1962-03-16) 16 March 1962 (age 62) Darmstadt, Germany
Spouse	Johannes Jeroen Hooijer
Children	3
Alma mater	Free University of Berlin University of Bonn University of Lausanne Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Florika Fink-Hooijer (* 1962) is a Senior EU official at the European Commission. She leads the Directorate-General for the Environment, which under her helm became a trailblazer for advancing the green transformation under the European Green Deal.

Florika Fink-Hooijer joined the European Commission in 1990 and has held various high level and senior management posts in the area of external (bilateral) policy as well as foreign and security policy, humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction and environmental protection.

Fink-Hooijer was born in Darmstadt, Germany, and raised in Berlin, Germany. She is the second of three children born to Dr. Bertold Fink, a supreme court judge at the Federal Administrative Court of Germany (Bundesverwaltungsgericht), and Margret Fink (originally Witte), a senior business teacher (Gewerbeoberstudienrätin).

Fink-Hooijer pursued her legal studies at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and at the Université de Lausanne. She went on to complete a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International and Comparative Law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.^[1][2]

Subsequently, she obtained a Ph.D. in copyright law from the Free University of Berlin, with a dissertation focusing on the subject of immediate termination in copyright contract law.^[3][4]

Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked at the law firms of Nordemann, Vinck & Hertin in Berlin, and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in The Hague.^[5]

Fink-Hooijer began her career as a European civil servant in the European Commission in 1990. Her initial roles included positions as an administrator in the Internal Market and External Policies departments, as well as in the Secretariat-General, where she contributed extensively to EU policy documentation.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

In 1995, Fink-Hooijer joined the Cabinet of Monika Wulf-Mathies, the Commissioner responsible for EU Regional Policy. In this role, she was instrumental in developing the pre-accession instruments as part of the Agenda 2000 initiative and handled broader legal and institutional affairs.

From 1999, Fink-Hooijer served in the Cabinet of Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, who was responsible for the Internal Market and Financial Services. She played a key role in shaping the European Patent Convention and introduced significant policy advancements in copyright, e-commerce and data protection for the digital age.^[11][12]

Between 2000 and 2010, Fink-Hooijer held various middle management positions, first in the Directorate-General for External Relations (RELEX) (the predecessor of the European External Action Service), and later in the Secretariat-General.

During this period, she was instrumental in the establishment of the EU's first civilian crisis management missions, including police, monitoring, training, and protection operations. Additionally, she played a central role in the creation of early EU military structures and contributed to the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). As the EU's chief negotiator for the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme on conflict diamonds, she led the implementation of this pioneering crisis management tool across the EU and globally.^[13][14]

Later, Fink-Hooijer managed bilateral relations with Northeast and Southeast Asia and was pivotal in shaping the Monitoring and Certification Mechanism for Bulgaria and Romania, which later evolved into the European Rule of Law Mechanism applicable to all EU Member States.^[15][16][17]

In 2010, Fink-Hooijer became Head of Cabinet for Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva during her tenure as the first Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. In this capacity, she spearheaded the creation of the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre, which coordinates the delivery of humanitarian aid and civil protection assistance in crisis-, conflict- or disaster-stricken regions, both within and outside the EU, including at the request of the United Nations. She also played a significant role in strengthening the EU Civil Protection Mechanisms, enhancing their coordination with humanitarian aid in crisis situations.^[18][19][20]

By 2012, Fink-Hooijer had become the first Policy Director in the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, where she managed responses to such crisis as the Ebola outbreak (2013-2016)^[21] and maritime incidents (Maritime Incident Response Group).^[22] She substantially advanced the EU's role in humanitarian aid and disaster risk reduction by introducing cash-based aid systems (as opposed to traditional in-kind aid delivery), promoting gender- and age-sensitive aid approaches, and advocating for international humanitarian law.^[23] She also established a multifaceted early warning system, created the EU's first Disaster Knowledge Centre, and helped set up the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps to build local capacity and resilience in disaster-affected communities. Additionally, as a Policy Director for Humanitarian Aid, she pioneered civil-military cooperation with the European External Action Service (EEAS) to enhance the protection of civilians in emergencies.^[24]

In 2016, Fink-Hooijer was appointed Director-General of DG Interpretation, the largest interpreting service in the world and the only Directorate-General operating on an entrepreneurial model, functioning as a fee-based service provider for various EU institutions and agencies, and comprising both statutory and freelance staff.^[25][26] Under her leadership, the first-ever Knowledge Centre on Interpretation (KCI) was established and she emphasized the need to “future-proof” interpretation services through the integration of new technologies and Artificial Intelligence.^[27][28] Subsequently, she drove forward the digitalization of the service by introducing features like automatic speech recognition and other support services to interpreters.^[29] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fink-Hooijer swiftly scaled up multilingual interpretation for hybrid meetings via digital platforms, a "watershed moment" that ensured the continued relevance of interpretation services even in fully remote settings.^[30]

In 2020, Fink-Hooijer became Director-General of the Directorate-General for Environment.^[31] In this role, she has been a key architect of the transformative environmental and green economic agenda under the European Green Deal, with a focus on circular economy, biodiversity, and zero pollution.^[32]

Her leadership has laid the foundations for a green industrial policy within the Single Market, including the creation of a market for secondary raw materials to reduce dependence on critical raw materials. This is exemplified by the innovative Batteries Regulation (entered into force on 17 August 2023) and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (entered into force on 18 July 2024), both of which promote sustainability principles such as mandatory minimum recycled content.

Recognizing the link between climate change and biodiversity loss, Fink-Hooijer prioritized initiatives to halt biodiversity decline, leading to the introduction of the first-ever Nature Restoration (entered into force on 18 August 2024) and Soil Health (proposed on 5 July 2023) Laws and the EU's pioneering anti-Deforestation Regulation (entered into force on 29 June 2023). She also guided the EU's negotiations for the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 19 December 2022, and a key deliverable under the European Green Deal, further solidifying her role as a global advocate for nature-based solutions and smarter resource management.^[33][34]

In her capacity as Director-General for Environment, Fink-Hooijer also oversaw the revision of the Environmental Crime Directive (entered into force on 20 May 2024), setting new standards for environmental protection through criminal law and minimum rules with regards to the definition of criminal offences and penalties.

Under her leadership, further progress has been made toward a toxic-free environment through groundbreaking initiatives on air, water, soil, and chemicals, such as the updated Industrial and Livestock Rearing Emissions Directive (IED 2.0) (entered into force on 4 August 2024), the Zero Pollution Action Plan (adopted on 12 May 2021) and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (adopted on 14 October 2020), providing regulatory predictability for industry, stimulating industrial competitiveness, and fostering investment in sustainable clean-tech solutions.

Additionally, Fink-Hooijer has become a prominent global advocate for preserving green and blue water cycles and enhancing water efficiency, driving the development of an EU Water Resilience Agenda.^[35][36]

She speaks German (her mother tongue), English, Dutch and French fluently.

She is married to fellow European Commission official Johannes Jeroen Hooijer and has three adult children: Valentin, Benjamin and Charlotte Hooijer.^[37]

• European Commission CV
• Florika Fink-Hooijer on LinkedIn
• Florika Fink-Hooijer on X
• European Commission: Florika Fink-Hooijer
• DG Environment: Florika Fink-Hooijer (German)
• Wikipedia: Florika Fink-Hooijer (German)