Secretary of State for the European Union

Last updated
Secretary of State for the
European Union
Secretario de Estado para la Unión Europea
Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg
Coat of Arms used by the Government
SEUE logo.png
Incumbent
Pascual Ignacio Navarro
since December 22, 2021
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation
Secretariat of State for the European Union
Style The Most Excellent (formal)
Mr. Secretary of State (informal)
AbbreviationSEUE
Reports to Foreign Minister
Nominator Foreign Minister
Appointer The King
PrecursorMinister for Relations with the European Communities
FormationFebruary 27, 1981
First holderRaimundo Bassols Jacas
Website exteriores.gob.es
PM Adolfo Suarez with the EU Commission President, Roy Jenkins, and the Minister for Relations with the European Communities, Eduardo Punset. Adolfo Suarez recibe al presidente de la CE y al ministro de Relaciones con las CCEE.jpg
PM Adolfo Suárez with the EU Commission President, Roy Jenkins, and the Minister for Relations with the European Communities, Eduardo Punset.

The Secretary of State for the European Union (SEUE) is a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain. The SEUE is appointed by the Monarch with the advice of the Foreign Minister.

Contents

The Secretary of State for the European Union is responsible for the formulation and execution of the policy of Spain within the European Union. Likewise, he assists the Foreign Minister in the formulation and execution of the foreign policy of Spain in the geographical area corresponding to the countries of the European Union, candidate countries, countries of the European Economic Area and other European countries.

As the highest official after the Foreign Minister in European Union affairs, the Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the actions of the different bodies of the different national administrations within the European Union as well as overseeing and giving orders to the Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union. [1]

History

The origin of this secretariat of state dates back to July 26, 1977 [2] when prime minister Adolfo Suárez officially applied for admission of Spain in the European Communities, three days after the Cortes Generales approved it.

To start the negotiations, the prime minister created in July 1978 a Ministry for the Relations with the European Communities and appointed Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo as minister. [3] The negotiations started on February 5, 1979. [4] Eduard Punset succeeded Calvo-Sotelo in the Ministry in 1980 until 1981, when the Ministry was suppressed and was degraded to a secretariat of state within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After this, the Foreign Minister Fernando Morán López assumed a main role in the negotiations being supported by the Secretary of State for Relations with the European Communities, culminating in the signing of the accession agreement in June 1985 and entry into force in January 1986. Before all of this process, in 1962, Spain already requested the accession but was rejected because the country was under a dictatorship. [5]

With the entrance of Spain in the Union, the country quickly became one of the most important and influential countries of the EU by assuming important offices such as High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy with Javier Solana and the Presidency of the European Parliament with Josep Borrell and Manuel Marín (being considered the father of the Erasmus Programme).

The first and second Secretaries of State had to work with a very small staff because this department originally was devised as an auxiliary body to the Minister in the accession negotiations but in 1985 an important reform was carried out in the Foreign Ministry. With the entry in the Union, the Secretariat of State was focused not in negotiations affairs but in coordination between the Spanish administrations and the European institutions.

With the change of government in 1996, the new prime minister elevated the category of the General Secretariat for Foreign Policy to Secretariat of State and merged it with the Secretariat of State for European Communities, being responsible not only for the relations with the European Union but the rest of the world.

In 2000, [6] the secretariat of state split in two and this one was renamed «for European Affairs». In 2004 was adopted the current denomination «for the European Union», [7] that was briefly changed between 2017 and 2018 «for European Affairs» but recovered by the Sánchez government. [8]

Names

Structure

The Secretariat of State is composed of three departments, all of them run by a Director-General: [1]

From the Secretariat of State also depends organically the Solicitor's Office before the Court of Justice of the European Union although functionally depends from the Solicitor General Office and the Ministry of Justice.

List of SEUE

No.ImageNameTerm of OfficeMinisters serving under Prime Minister
BeganEndedDays of Service
Raimundo Bassols EUDE Business School 2017 (cropped) (cropped).jpeg Raimundo Bassols Jacas28 February 19818 December 1982648 José Pedro Pérez-Llorca Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
Immanuel Marin die 23 Novembris 2009.jpg Manuel Marín 8 December 198228 October 19851055 Fernando Morán López
Francisco Fernández Ordóñez
Felipe González
Pedro Solbes IMF.jpg Pedro Solbes 28 October 198516 March 19911965 Fernando Morán López
Carlos Westendorp.jpg Carlos Westendorp 16 March 199123 December 19951743 Fernando Morán López
Javier Solana
Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Emilio Fernández-Castaño23 December 199514 May 1996143 Carlos Westendorp
Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Ramón de Miguel y Egea14 May 199620 April 20042898 Abel Matutes
Josep Piqué
Ana Palacio
José María Aznar
Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Alberto Navarro González20 April 200415 April 20081456 Miguel Ángel Moratinos José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
(Diego Lopez Garrido) Perez Rubalcaba junto a los galardonados con las Medallas de la Orden al Merito Constitucional. Pool Moncloa. 9 de mayo de 2011 (cropped).jpeg Diego López Garrido 15 April 200824 December 20111348 Miguel Ángel Moratinos
Trinidad Jiménez
Premios Goya 2018 - Inigo Mendez de Vigo.jpg Íñigo Méndez de Vigo 24 December 201127 June 20151281 José Manuel García-Margallo Mariano Rajoy
10º Fernando Eguidazu Palacios (cropped).jpg Fernando Eguidazu Palacios27 June 20153 December 20161806
11º Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Jorge Toledo Albiñana 3 December 201623 June 2018567 Alfonso Dastis
12º Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Marco Aguiriano [9] [10] 23 June 20185 February 2020592 Josep Borrell Pedro Sánchez
13º Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Juan González-Barba Pera5 February 202022 December 2021686 Arancha González Laya
14º Escudo de Espana (mazonado).svg Pascual Ignacio Navarro22 December 2021Incumbent1303 José Manuel Albares

References

  1. 1 2 "Royal Decree 1271/2018, of October 11, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation is developed". boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  2. "Spain and the European Union". www.exteriores.gob.es. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  3. "H.E. Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo - Gold Mercury International". Gold Mercury International. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  4. Royo, Sebastián (2002). "The Experience of Spain and Portugal in the European Union: Lessons for Latin America" (PDF). Archive of European Integration - University of Pittsburgh. Miami, Florida. p. 10.
  5. "home". www.xn--espaa-ue-yyavan30-ixb.eu (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  6. "Royal Decree 1473/2000, of August 4, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is developed". boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. "Royal Decree 1416/2004, of June 11, which modifies and develops the basic organizational structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation". boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  8. "Royal Decree 1271/2018, of October 11, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation is developed and by which Royal Decree 595/2018, of June 22, is modified by the that the basic organizational structure of the ministerial departments is established". boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  9. "Spain MFA on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  10. Union, Publications Office of the European. "EU Whoiswho". EU Whoiswho. Retrieved 2018-11-19.