Since 2004, she has been elected five times in a row as vice-president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

She graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 1981, majoring in English and literature and German language.

Before her political career, Dubravka Šuica worked for 20 years as a high school teacher, university professor and principal in Dubrovnik.

In 2004, Dubravka Šuica was elected one of the vice-presidents of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

She served as one of the deputy chairs of the EP's Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo (DSEE), as well as taking part in various committees such as ENVI, AFET where she served as vice-president from 2016 to 2019, TRAN, FEMM and the Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US).

In August 2019, Dubravka Šuica was nominated as a candidate for European Commissioner from Croatia, and on 10 July 2019 President-elect Ursula von der Leyen assigned her the role of Vice-President designate for Democracy and Demography.