He is the Director of the Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor since April 2018. The current Supervisor, Giovanni Butarelli, who has just been appointed now, was previously Director of the Office. It is possible that Leonardo will become the supreme head of Data Protection in Europe.

He has a long career in the European Commission, since 1999. He studied Law at the University of Malaga, and has a Master’s Degree in Community Law from the University of Granada in 1993.

That is, he has been working on the preparation and implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation from within the European epicenter.

In a recent interview in ElEconomista.es on May 2019, he clearly states: “We will see important fines for Data Protection misconducts in a few months”. When asked about Consent, he strongly affirms: “Consent always requires an affirmative act, for example: send an email, click on a certain place or fill in a box. Silence or inactivity on pre-checked boxes is not an affirmative act and therefore does not constitute a valid consent in our opinion, which is something that the attorney general also seems to agree».

In the Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Spanish Data Protection Association, Leonardo first provides a video of Elizabeth Dunham (chapter 3 of Who is Who in Privacy), and Mar España, the Director of the OPD (Chapter 2 of Who is Who in Privacy) makes an introduction. He brings a very sharp and – at the same time – serene vision of the reality of our society and of the Regulation.

A few months ago, at the Closing of a Course at the University of Salamanca, he gave a lecture and expressed why data protection is so important (he speaks from minute 24, for 30 min aprox). He explains the ideas that we try to transmit from DocToDoctor.

Leonardo Cervera will be an important piece of our representation in the labyrinths of decision-making in Europe. This year the mandate of the current EU Data Protection Supervisor ends. It is possible that Leonardo rises to this position, although we all know that at those levels of management, appointments are defined with an exquisite balance of territorial and power within the Commission.