Josep Borrell

Josep Borrell    (politician)
Born	24 April 1947
Nationality	Spanish, Argentine
Alma mater	Technical University of Madrid, Complutense University of Madrid
Vice-President of the European Commission  In office 1 December 2019 - Present Preceded by Frans Timmermans  High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy In office 1 December 2019 - Present  Spain/Minister of Foreign Affairs In office 7 June 2018 - 30 November 2019 Formally 'Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation'  President of the European Parliament  In office 20 July 2004 - 16 January 2007 Preceded by Pat Cox  Spain/Minister of Public Works and Environment In office 12 March 1991 - 6 May 1996

Josep Borrell Fontelles is a Spanish politician.

Early Life

After completing primary education, the remote location of his home village in Catalonia led Josep Borrell to be home-schooled. He continued his higher education thanks to several scholarships, including from the March Foundation and the Fulbright Program. In 1964 he moved to Barcelona to study industrial engineering, but left after a year in 1965 to study aeronautical engineering at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), graduating in 1969.

In the summer of 1969 Borrell worked as volunteer at the Gal On kibbutz in Israel, where he met his future French wife Caroline Mayeur, from whom he is now divorced. During this time he also began to study a bachelor's degree and later a PhD in Economics at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Borrell also holds a degree from Stanford University, and a postgraduate in energy economics from the French Institute of Petroleum in Paris (France). In May 1976 Borrell defended his PhD thesis in economics at the UCM.

Politics

Borrell joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1975 and started his political activity during Spain's transition to democracy in the Socialist Grouping of Madrid. In the 1982 general election the PSOE won a landslide victory, returning the socialists to power for the first time since before the Franco dictatorship. Borrell was appointed to several prominent positions within the Ministry of Economy and Finance, first as General Secretary for the Budget and Public Spending (1982–1984), and then as Secretary of State for Finance (1984–1991). During his tenure as Secretary of State for Finance, Spain joined the European Economic Community in 1986.

In 1991 he joined the Council of Ministers as Minister of Public Works and Transport. He took a role in the process of selling of the state part of telecommunications in Spain.

EU political career

Borrell was elected to chair the Joint Congress-Senate Committee for the European Union in October 1999. Then, in 2001, Borrell was also appointed the Spanish parliament's representative on the Convention on the Future of Europe, which drafted the European Constitution that eventually led to the Treaty of Lisbon. During his time at the convention, he unsuccessfully pushed for a mention to a "federal model" in the draft.

In July 2004 Borrell was elected President of the European Parliament, as a result of an agreement between the conservative faction in the parliament EPP and the Socialists. He was the first newly elected MEP to hold the post since direct elections were held in 1979.

Step back from the political front

Borrell became president of the European University Institute, an institute involved in among other things energy, in January 2010. In 2012, he was forced to resign in the face of allegations of a conflict of interest. Borrell is being paid €300,000 a year as a board member of the Spanish energy company Abengoa.

In 2012, the University of Lleida appointed Borrell to a professorship of competition and regional development sponsored by energy company Repsol. He also held the Jean Monnet Chair at the Institute of International Studies at Complutense University of Madrid.

He also stood out as one of the most outspoken opponents of Catalan secessionism, and took a leading role in a mass rally defending the unity of Spain held in Barcelona on 8 October 2017, in which Borrell gave an impassionated speech demanding "not to bring up more frontiers" while displaying a European Union flag that he called "our estelada" (starred flag), bringing him back to the media first line.

Foreign Minister

Following investiture of Pedro Sánchez as new prime minister, Borrell was revealed on 5 June as the Sánchez's choice for the post of foreign minister in his new government. 22 years after the end of his last tenure as member of the Government of Spain, Borrell assumed the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.

In September 2018 the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) settled a disciplinary action against Borrell opened in 2017 due to the later's insider trading in the sale of stocks of Abengoa (whose board of directors Borrell was a member of) in November 2015, sanctioning him with a fine of 30,000€.

During the U.S. regime change effort in Nicaragua, in December 2018 Borrell pressed the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, for an EU-wide involvement in the situation.

In May 2019 the Spanish Embassy in Caracas lodged Venezuelan activist Leopoldo López as guest following an violent attempt at regime change, as the later had been freed from house arrest by forces endorsing Juan Guaidó.

He stepped down from the office on 29 November 2019.

Back to European politics

For the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain, Borrell ran first in the PSOE list. During the electoral campaign he appealed to the unity of Europe and stressed the need for the EU member states to pool sovereignty in order to survive as civilization.

On 2 July 2019, President of the European Council Donald Tusk announced that the European Council would nominate Josep Borrell as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.] The portfolio had been reportedly beefed up with additional responsibilities in humanitarian aid, support of development policies in Africa and the external dimension of immigration. Also in July 2019 he announced the acquisition of double Argentine-Spanish citizenship, assumed on 18 July 2019, thus gaining the citizenship his father was born with.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, China sent medical aid and supplies to EU affected countries. Borrell warned that there is "a geo-political component including a struggle for influence through spinning and the ‘politics of generosity’. He also said that "China is aggressively pushing the message that, unlike the US, it is a responsible and reliable partner."

“Disinformation in times of the coronavirus can kill. We have a duty to protect our citizens by making them aware of false information, and expose the actors responsible for engaging in such practices. In today's technology-driven world, where warriors wield keyboards rather than swords and targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns are a recognised weapon of state and non-state actors, the European Union is increasing its activities and capacities in this fight.”
Josep Borrell (10 June 2020) 

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2023	18 May 2023	21 May 2023	Portugal Lisbon Pestana Palace Hotel	The 69th Bilderberg Meeting, held in Lisbon, with 128 guests on the official list. The earliest in the year since 2009.
Brussels Forum/2011	25 March 2011	27 March 2011	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and NATO-close German Marshall Fund.
Munich Security Conference/2019	15 February 2019	17 February 2019	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."
Munich Security Conference/2020	14 February 2020	16 February 2020	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 56th Munich Security Conference, in 2020, "welcomed an unprecedented number of high-ranking international decision-makers."
Munich Security Conference/2022	18 February 2022	20 February 2022	Germany Munich Bavaria	Slightly less than 1/3 of the 664 of the participants have pages here
Munich Security Conference/2023	17 February 2023	19 February 2023	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists. The real decisions are made by deep politicians behind the scenes, elsewhere.
Munich Security Conference/2024	16 February 2024	18 February 2024	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects

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References

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