A graduate of Masaryk University, Schillerová was awarded a JUDr. degree in law and received a PhD. in administrative and agricultural cooperative law, respectively in 1988 and 2000.[3]
Political career
2010s
On 1 January 2016, Schillerová was appointed expert deputy Minister of Finance, replacing Simona Hornochová.[4] By the end of 2017, she showed her priority in the position of deputy was also the preparation of a completely new law on income tax.[5]
At the end of June 2018, Babiš requested Schillerová again for the post of Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic in his second cabinet.[9] She was appointed by Zeman again on 27 June 2018[10] and became vice-president on 30 April 2019.[11]
During her tenure, the government introduced a 7% digital tax in 2019 aimed at boosting state revenue by taxing advertising by global internet giants like Google and Facebook, based on earlier ideas for pan-European legislation.[12]
2020s
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, Schillerová was one of the key people determining the economic strategy, helping the self-employed affected by the effects of the pandemic.[13] According to Neolivní, she lives with an income of CZK 173,000 per month in a luxury apartment of 100 m 2 in Salvátorská Street in Prague 1, while the state pays for her living expenses.[14]
In the 2021 Czech parliamentary election, Schillerová was a non-party leader of the ANO 2011 movement in the South Moravian Region,[15] elected as an MP with 22,968.[16] She became the new chairperson of the ANO 2011 Parliamentary Club on 12 October, replacing Jaroslav Faltýnek [cs].[17] Schillerová joined the ANO 2011 movement on 19 October 2021,[18] later becoming its vice-president at the movement's assembly in February 2022.[19]
In the 2022 Czech municipal elections, Schillerová did not run for the Brno City Council from the 30th place as a candidate of the ANO 2011.[20] She also ran for the Brno-Komín Municipal Council from the last 17th place of the ANO 2011 candidate list, but did not get the mandate of the representative of the city district.[21]
In February 2023, Babiš and Karel Havlíček named Schillerová the new main face of the movement.[22] At the party assembly in February 2024, she defended the position of rank-and-file vice president.[23]
Personal life
Schillerová is married to Jaroslav Schiller; they have two children named Petra and Jaroslav.[24] Her daughter, Petra Rusňaková, is married to David Rusňák [cs], who was investigated in the case of false information from police database.[25] Schillerová has three grandchildren (Jaroslav's children Jaroslav and Laura; Petra's son František).[26]
Controversy
The Czech government's official website states that she speaks English, German and Russian.[3] However, her proficiency in English came under scrutiny in 2020 after a series of reports by Czech news outlets questioning it.[27] Further concerns were raised by the minister's refusal to conduct interviews in English and her reported lack of participation in EU meetings conducted in the language.[27]
At the end of January 2022, Seznam Zprávy reported that the Ministry of Finance had spent almost 2 million CZK on salaries and rewards for the photographer and cameraman, employees of the press department, who took Schillerová's photos and filmed her from her social media profiles.[28] However, the Czech Republic should demand Schillerová's money back, as there might be use of public assets for personal use.[29]
