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Eva Joly (; born Gro Eva Farseth; 5 December 1943) is a Norway-born French juge d'instruction (magistrate) and politician for Europe Écologie–The Greens. She represented that party as a candidate for the presidency of France in the 2012 elections. She also served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 until 2019.
She campaigned against corruption, in particular taking on, among others, former minister Bernard Tapie and the bank Crédit Lyonnais. Her best known case, however, was that of France's leading oil company, Elf Aquitaine. In the face of death threats, she carried on the case to uncover several cases of fraud, leading to the conviction of tens of persons involved in the oil business. In 2001, she received for this work the award for integrity from the non-governmental organisation Transparency International.
In 2002, Joly was asked by the Norwegian Minister of Justice, Odd Einar Dørum, to accept a three-year position as a special advisor on corruption. The Anti-Corruption and Money Laundering project involved cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and Police, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Norway. The project worked on issues related to financial crimes and organized crime, with a special focus on strong international cooperation. Collaboration with the Ministry of Finance was also important, in addition to strengthening connections to the private sector. The project has among other things led to a Norwegian focus on corruption in foreign affairs. During the three-year period Joly also initiated the Paris Declaration Against Corruption in 2003.
In 2009, Joly was employed as a special adviser by the Icelandic government to investigate the possibility that white-collar crime may have played a part in the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis. Eva Joly adviser to Icelandic justice minister On 10 June 2009, during an interview in Kastljós, Joly criticized the Icelandic government for lack of funding and manpower for the investigation. She further stated her opinion that the Attorney General of Iceland, Valtýr Sigurðsson, should step down due his close family ties to the CEO of Exista. He had previously resigned from all cases involving the Special Prosecutor, Ólafur Þór Hauksson, who handled all cases related to the financial crash. Joly enjoyed widespread trust of the population of Iceland for her work during the stay there.
The French film L'Ivresse du pouvoir (English title "Comedy of Power", 2006) is loosely based on Joly.
During her first term in Parliament between 2009 and 2014, Joly held the position of chairwoman of the Committee on Development. After the 2014 European elections, Joly joined the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. She later became vice-chairwoman of the Parliament's special committees created to investigate the Luxembourg Leaks scandal in 2015 into the Panama Papers scandal in 2016, respectively. Within the Greens–European Free Alliance parliamentary group, she served as spokesperson on financial policy.Steve Johnson (1 March 2015), European money market fund reforms likened to 'hand grenade' Financial Times.
In addition to her committee assignments, Joly was a member of the Parliament's delegations for relations with Afghanistan and to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. She previously served as member of the delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly between 2009 and 2014.
Joly also worked in Afghanistan during July 2012 as part of an UN anti-corruption mission. Eva Joly in Afghanistan
When Joly filed a lawsuit in December 2015 on behalf of the company's works council, a preliminary tax inquiry into McDonald's was opened in early 2015.Ingrid Melander (30 May 2016), French finance minister rules out Google tax deal, more firms could be targeted Reuters. Joly accused the company of understating its earnings to avoid a legal obligation to share profits with employees.David Jolly (26 May 2016), French Tax Officials Turn Hungry Eye to McDonald's The New York Times.
In addition, Joly promised to increase minimum income benefits by 50%, freeze rents for three years and introduce new tax rates of 60% for those earning 100,000 euros or more a year and 70% for those earning over 500,000 euros. She also demanded a minimum 17% corporate tax rate on multinational companies.
Ahead of the Green movement's Partisan primary in 2021, Joly endorsed Éric PiolleJannick Alimi (30 June 2021), Présidentielle 2022 : Yannick Jadot annonce sa candidature à la primaire écologiste Le Parisien. and later Yannick Jadot as the movement's candidate for the French presidential election in 2022.Laura Kayali and Pierre-Paul Bermingham (28 September 2021), French Greens narrowly choose MEP Yannick Jadot as presidential candidate Politico Europe.
In November 2011, Joly was criticized for her support of the Greens' deal with the Socialist Party under which they gained safe seats in parliament, in exchange for accepting a slow-motion plan to reduce nuclear energy use to 50 percent of electricity generation by 2025.Nicholas Vinocur (9 April 2012), French Greens in crisis as Joly experiment sours Reuters.
During her 2012 presidential campaign, Joly led reporters on a tour of sites linked to bad publicity or sleaze allegations around then-president Nicolas Sarkozy. Her tour included a Champs-Élysées nightspot in which Sarkozy feted his 2007 victory with millionaire friends, and the home of L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, at the centre of an investigation into illegal alleged cash contributions to his 2007 campaign.Brian Love (19 April 2012), Hollande urges large turnout by French voters Reuters.
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