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Petr Ježek
Born in Prague in 1965. A graduate of Prague’s University of Economics, Petr Ježek joined his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as a diplomat. For some ten years, he held relatively high posts related to the country’s ties with the EU, e.g. heading the Foreign Ministry’s European Integration Department and serving as Deputy State Secretary for European Affairs. He also worked as chief of staff of then Czech Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla. In 2014, Petr Ježek was elected Member of the European Parliament on the ballot of the ANO 2011 party.
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The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Tuesday approved a report on virtual currencies which highlights their significance, as well as that of the underlying technology, and makes the case against overregulating the sector.
The report, which passed with an overwhelming majority of votes, calls for the formation of a distributed ledger technology (DLT) task force that would examine issues related to cryptocurrencies and the technology underpinning them. It also highlights the potential of the blockchain technology in terms of data protection, transparency and trust, and the fight against VAT fraud.
“The report makes clear that we must monitor the evolution of virtual currencies and their underlying technologies which have great potential but also present considerable risks,” said Petr Ježek who followed the file as ALDE shadow rapporteur.
“However, we are also emphasising that now is not the correct time to regulate this sector. We need to encourage innovation, not hinder it. I’m glad the committee took on board all of my amendments, which aimed mainly to clarify the mandate of the future task force and to highlight some of the risks of virtual currencies such as their anonymity, which could be exploited by criminals or used to fund terrorist activities,” Petr Ježek added.
Other amendments tabled by Petr Ježek recognised the potential of the distributed ledger technology in fighting money laundering, fraud and corruption, and highlighted that blockchain could be used to increase data sharing and transparency in both public and private sector transactions.
The report is now set to be put to vote at the European Parliament’s plenary session at the end of May.