Antonio Tajani has been the Vice President of the European Commission for Transport since May 2008. Prior to this, he was a Spokesman for the President of the Italian Council of Ministers during the first Berlusconi Government. He was elected as member of the European Parliament in 1994, 1999 and 2004 with over 120 000 preference votes. During his 15 years of parliamentary activity he took part in many committees (Foreign Affairs, Constitutional Affairs, at the time chaired by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, Transport and Tourism, Fisheries, Security and Defence).

Tajani was the Vice-Chair of the European People's Party, elected at the EEP Congress in Estoril in 2002 and re-elected at the EEP Congress in Rome in 2006. He was also a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe, which drew up the text of the European Constitution, as well as the head of the Forza Italia delegation in the European Parliament and a member of the Bureau of the Group of the European People's Party. He has taken part in all EPP summits in preparation of the European Councils.

He has lived in Paris, Bologna and Rome and was an Officer in the Italian Air Force. He completed officer training at the Florence AirWarfare School (Scuola di Guerra Aerea) and attended a specialisation course for Air Defence Controller at the Training Technical Centre at Borgo Piave. Assigned to the Operational Base of the 33rd Air Force Radar Centre, he worked as Air Defence Controller and was Head of the Operations Room monitoring Italian and European civil and military air traffic.He is a professional journalist and has held various positions in this field. He was the editor of the Italian weekly 'Il Settimanale', a presenter for the RAI 1 radio news programme, head of the Rome editorial office of the Italian daily 'Il Giornale' and special correspondent in the Lebanon, the Soviet Union and Somalia. Together with Silvio Berlusconi, he was one of the signatories of the founding act of Forza Italia.

He holds a degree in Law from 'La Sapienza' University, Rome and speaks French and English.