javier solana

Javier Solana Madariaga (born July 14, 1942) is the current Secretary-General and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union. He was a physicist who became an important Spanish politician, and then served as NATO Secretary General in 1995 for four years before becoming Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union and of the Western European Union. In July 2004 he was appointed for a second five-year term as EU Secretary-General and High Representative for the CFSP, and was designated to serve as the Foreign Minister of the European Union in 2006 under its new proposed constitution.

Family history

Solana was born on July 14, 1942 in Madrid, Spain. On his maternal side, he is the grandson of famous Spanish diplomat and writer Salvador de Madariaga. Solana's maternal grandmother, Constance Archibald de Madariaga, was Scottish and was a well known scholar and economic historian. Javier Solana is the younger of the two sons of scholar and writer Nieves de Madariaga. She worked for 20 years in at the United Nations' Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). His older brother Luis was opposed to Franco's dictatorship and was imprisoned for his political activities.

Student and Physicist

He went to the Complutense University in Madrid where he was sanctioned by the University in 1963 for having organised an opposition forum. He also clandestinely joined PSOE, at the time an illegal party under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. He graduated in chemistry in 1964. He gained a Master's and a doctorate in physics in Britain in 1965 and then went to the United States of America for six years, studying at various universities on a Fulbright Scholarship. He taught physics for a time at the University of Chicago during this period.http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r104:S08DE5-237: During this time he joined in the protests against the war in Vietnam. He received his doctorate in 1968 from the University of Virginia, where he taught and researched until 1971. Returning to Spain he became a lecturer at the Complutense University, becoming a professor 2 years later. During this time he published more than 30 articles. He is fond of saying that in a previous incarnation he worked as a solid state physicist.

Spanish politics

He was elected as the Secretary of the socialist PSOE party in its first legal, national congress in decades in 1976, and continued in that role for five years. As a leading PSOE member, personal friend of PSOE leader Felipe Gonzlez and representative of a teacher's union from the University, he won a parliamentary seat as the PSOE candidate. He was designated secretary of PSOE's Federal Executive Commission. In 1976 and 1977 he represented the Socialists at an international Socialist Congress held in the French province of Suresnes. On December 2 1982 Gonzlez came to power. Solana was immediately named Minister for Culture. On 5 July 1985 he was also made the official spokesman for the Government until 1988. Two weeks later he became Education Minister. He was then made Minister for Foreign Affairs on July 22 1992. It was during these 13 years that his reputation as a discreet diplomat grew. By going to the foreign Ministry in the later years of Gonzlez administration he avoided the political scandal that characterised its last years.

Barcelona Process and European Neighborhood Policy

In 1995, as part of Solana's work with the coinciding dual presidencies of the EU and the WEU, he convened and chaired the first Barcelona Conference. Held on November 27-28, 1995, in Barcelona, Spain, it was said by Solana to become part of a process to foster cultural and economic unity in the Mediterranean basin. A treaty was achieved between the 27 nations in attendance and Solana was given sole credit for the "diplomatic accomplishment". The Barcelona Process since has become an integral part of the European Neighborhood Policy for the Mediterranean region.

NATO

Four months before the end of the PSOE era, and amid rumours that Solana would run for the premiership in those elections, he was named as the dark horse candidate to be the Secretary General of NATO, replacing Willy Claes, and becoming the last Minister to leave Gonzlez' original cabinet. His election cam as a surprise to many as he had been a prominent opponent of NATO and he had been on a US subversives list for his opposition to NATO, and for writing a pamphlet called 50 Reasons to say no to NATO. In October 1982, when PSOE came to power they changed their previous anti-NATO attitude into a pro-Nato, pro-USA stance. In March 1986 Spain held a referendum on whether to join NATO, with the government successfully campaigning in favour. When criticised about his past Solana argued that he was happy to represent a NATO dissassociated from it's cold war origins. The first issue Solana had to deal with was the NATO peace mission that came about as a result of the Dayton agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On January 30, 1999, he was given the authority to make all military decisions over NATO's Balkan operations. This included the decision about whether or not military action should occur. Madeline Albright, US Secretary of State at the time, said by way of explanation, "Solana has the power and has had it since January 30, 1999. We are speaking with one voice through Javier Solana". In 1997 he obtained an agreement with Russia that allowed the countries of the former Eastern European block to join NATO, something that was considered a considerable diplomatic achivement, as it formally ended hostilities between Russia and the NATO axis. He was replaced as Secretary General by George Robertson on 6 October 1999, leaving NATO two months earlier than scheduled. General Wesley Clark once asked Solana the secret of his diplomatic success. He answered, "Make no enemies, and never ask a question to which you do not know or like the answer." He has been described as a "squarer of circles".

EU Foreign Affairs

Solana immediately became the newly created High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy after leaving NATO, and also the Secretary-General of the European Union. The latter post gives continuity between the EU's rotating presidencies. On November 20 1999 he was also selected to be the new Secretary General of the Western European Union (WEU). In this role he presides over Europe's Political and Security Committee (PSC). In these roles Solana has been widely called the "czar" of EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. The White House announced in May 2000 that Javier Solana was the fulfillment of Henry Kissinger's long stated wish to have a telephone number to ring to talk to Europe. http://www.aegis.com/news/afp/2000/AF0005B6.html. In December 2003 he released the European Security Strategy. Solana has also negotiated numerous Treaties of Association between the European Union and various Middle Eastern and Latin American countries. He has played an important role working with the UN, Russia and the USA quartet in the Middle East. He continues to be a primary architect of "The Roadmap" to work towards peaceful end to the conflict in Palestine. On July 20 2004 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refused to meet Solana, saying that Israel would not work with the EU. Solana played a pivotal role in unifying the remainder of the former Yugoslavian federation. He proposed that Montenegro formed a union with Serbia instead of having full independence. Solana stated this was done to avoid a domino effect from Kosovo and Vojvodina independence demands. Local media sarcastically named the new country "Solania". On June 29, 2004 Solana was selected by the Council of the European Union to be its first Foreign Minister in 2006 if the new EU constitution is ratified. Solana is effectively exercising these powers already and has a 26 billion euro budget. Solana has received criticism for the extent of his new powers. He has however said that even under the new constitution the Foreign Minister can only act when there is unanimity amongst EU member states. In November 2004, Solana assisted Britain, France, and Germany in negotiating a nuclear material enrichment freeze with Iran. The EU stated it hoped to avoid another invasion like the Iraq one through this and future negotiations. On 21 January 2005 Solana invited Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko to discuss future EU membership.

Personal life

Solana is married to Concepcin Gimnez Solana, and they have 2 children. He has reportedly never moved his immediate family – wife and children – to Brussels, his main residence since taking his NATO post in the late fall of 1995 and his European Union posts thereafter. He has admitted that his family life has suffered as a result of the schedules from his NATO post and EU jobs forward. He has been said to eat little and sleep less, surviving on a diet of fish and fruit. He is a gun collector. He is a frequent speaker at the prestigious US based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is likewise active with the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) as well as the New York City based East West Institute. He is a Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George, a member of the Spanish section of the Club of Rome, and has received the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholic in Spain. He has also received the Manfred Wrner Medall of the Defense Minister in Germany.

Trivia

Many Christian fundamentalist apocalyptic webites claim that Solana is the Antichrist, pointing to paragraph 666 of the 1998 EU General Report http://europa.eu.int/abc/doc/off/rg/en/1998/x0666.htm. (see Number of the Beast).

External links

Solana, Javier Solana, Javier Solana, Javier Solana

<< Previous

Word Browser

Next >>

biffa bacon
u.s. national center for complementary and alternative medicine
bryan allen (hockey player)
buckingham palace gardens
france albert ren
jamie allison
abdul illah, regent of iraq
chris holmes
jason allison
thorismund
val peterson

tony amonte
royal mews
theodoric ii
gray catbird
psychic tv
cao ren
isabella clark
wallace stegner
matrilocality
perdiccas i of macedon
perdiccas ii of macedon

perdiccas iii of macedon
mosh feldenkrais
princess charlotte, princess royal
portlandia
richard grosvenor, 2nd marquess of westminster
minor baha'i divisions
philip christison
basophil granulocyte
mad season
actons corners, ontario
glinda

berlin state opera
adamsdale, ontario
adamsville, ontario
battle of alesia
judith, countess of listowel
curator
adanac, nipissing district, ontario
adanac, parry sound district, ontario
marista hall
frances harper
addington, ontario