Carlos Westendorp

Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza (born 7 January 1937 in Madrid) is a Spanish diplomat and current Secretary General of the Club of Madrid.

He joined the Spanish Diplomatic Service in 1966. Following several assignments abroad (1966 -1969: Deputy Consul General in São Paulo, Brazil; 1975-1979: Commercial and Economic Counsellor at the Spanish Embassy in the Hague, the Netherlands) and in Spain (1969–1975: Head of Economic Studies at the Diplomatic School; Director of Technological Agreements in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Industry) he dedicated a great part of his professional career to the process of integration of Spain into the European Communities.

Between 1979 and 1985 at the Ministry of European Affairs, he successively served as Advisor to the Minister, as Head of the Minister’s Private Office and as Secretary General, presiding over the technical team in charge of the accession negotiations. In 1986, when Spain joined the European Communities, he was appointed its first Ambassador Permanent Representative. He chaired the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) during the first Spanish Presidency of the EEC in 1989.

From 1991 to 1995 he was Spain’s Secretary of State for the European Union. He was centrally involved in the Spanish Presidency of the EU in 1995, which coincided with the adoption of the Euro, the launching of the Barcelona process and the signing of the transatlantic agenda. In this last capacity, he chaired the Reflection group set up to prepare the negotiations on treaty change which led to the Treaties of Amsterdam and subsequently, Nice.

In December 1995, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and served in that capacity until the end of the last government presided by Felipe González.In July 1996 he was appointed Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations in New York.

From 1997 to 1999 he served as the High Representative of the International Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina. At his request, the Bonn conference empowered him to take the necessary decisions to implement the peace agreements (the flag, the national anthem, the single currency, common license plates, the laws on citizenship, privatization and others, refugee return, removal of elected officials, etc.)

In 1999 he was elected Member of the European Parliament representing the PSOE. He served as Chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Trade, Energy and Research until 2003. In 2003 he was elected Member of the Madrid Regional Assembly and Speaker on Economy of the Socialist Group.

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