IAPP AI Governance Global Europe 2025

Michael McGrath assumed the role of EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection on 1 December 2024, as a member of the European Commission under the leadership of President Ursula von der Leyen.

As a member of the College of Commissioners, Commissioner McGrath contributes to delivering on the Commission’s overall political priorities, set out in the Political Guidelines underpinning the European Commission 2024 – 2029.

Commissioner McGrath has specific responsibility for upholding the rule of law, protecting democracy and fundamental rights, tackling disinformation, improving criminal justice cooperation and strengthening the rights of victims of crime, and improving EU competitiveness through the reform of company law and civil law. Commissioner McGrath has lead responsibility for consumer protection policy for almost 450 million consumers in the EU, and . He works to ensure full enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation and promoting trusted data flows with international partners.

Commissioner McGrath has been appointed by President von der Leyen as Chairperson of the Commission Project Group on Democracy and is a member of the Project Groups on Artificial Intelligence; Startups and Scaleups; European Savings and Investment Union; and European internal Security.

Prior to this, Commissioner McGrath served as Ireland’s Minister for Finance from 2022 to 2024, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform from 2020 to 2022, and was an elected member of the Irish Parliament between 2007 to 2024. As Minister for Finance, he had a key role in decisions made across government. He was Ireland’s representative at the Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings of European Finance Ministers and was Governor of a number of international bodies that Ireland is a member of, including the European Investment Bank, the IMF, the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Commissioner McGrath holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Cork. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has undertaken studies with the London School of Economics and Political Science. He held senior roles in both the private and public sectors before entering politics full-time.

Niamh Smyth is Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation. She was appointed to this role on 29 January 2025.

Dr. Daniel Susskind is a writer and economist. He explores the impact of technology, and particularly AI, on work and society. He is a Research Professor in Economics at King’s College London, a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and an Associate Member of the Economics Department at Oxford University.

His new book, “Growth: A Reckoning” (2024), was chosen by President Obama as one of his ‘Favorite Books of 2024’ and was a runner-up for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2024. He is also the author of “A World Without Work” (2020), described by The New York Times as "required reading for any potential presidential candidate thinking about the economy of the future” and a runner-up for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2020, and co-author of the best-selling book, “The Future of the Professions” (2015). His TED Talk, on the future of work, has been viewed more than 1.6 million times. He is currently working on his next book, “What Should Our Children Do? How to Flourish in the Age of AI”.

Previously he worked in various roles in the British Government – in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and in the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.