Carlos Robles Piquer
 Carlos Robles Piquer    (politician, diplomat) | ||||||||||
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| Born | 13 October 1925 Madrid, Spain | |||||||||
| Died | February 8, 2018 (Age 92) | |||||||||
| Nationality | Spanish | |||||||||
| Member of | Le Cercle | |||||||||
Cercle visitor.
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Carlos Robles Piquer was a Spanish diplomat and politician. He attended Le Cercle in 1983.
Life
At university, he studied law, Philosophy and Literature, and Political and Economic Sciences, taking a doctorate degree, before joining the diplomatic service. His career in this field included the positions of secretary of the embassy in Bogotá, Colombia (1955-1959), consul in Nador (Marocco), ambassador in Libya and Chad (1973-1975) and ambassador to Italy and Malta(1976-1979).[1]
His political career in the Spanish government developed both in the last years of the Franco regime and during the first years of the Transition. Between 1962 and 1967 he was Chief Information Officer[2] and between 1967 and 1969 for Popular Culture and Entertainment.[3] After the death of Franco, he was Minister of Education and Science (1975-1976), in the government of Carlos Arias Navarro. He was Spanish ambassador to Italy (1977-1979).
During the Adolfo Suárez government, he held the positions of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1979-1981), general director of Radio Televisión Española (1981-1982) and president of the Ibero-American Cooperation Institute (1982).
He was an independent deputy of the legislature of the Madrid Assembly (1983-1987) within the AP-PDP-UL parliamentary group. In June 1983 he was appointed senator by appointment. When Spain joined the European Union in 1986, he was appointed deputy to the European Parliament by the Spanish Senate. He was elected in the European Elections of 1987 and reelected in 1989 and 1994, holding that position until 1999.
He was married to Elisa Fraga Iribarne, sister of Manuel Fraga, leader of the party Popular Alliance, and he was general coordinator, senator, and deputy in the European Parliament for that party. Later, he joined the think tank FAES Foundation as a trustee.
He was the father of seven children, among whom are the politician and diplomat José María Robles Fraga and the diplomat Carlos Robles Fraga.
In 2006, he published a summary of his doctoral thesis under the Taurus publishing house, called 'Europe and the drama of Africa'. In 2011, at the age of 86, he published his memoirs, under the title Memoria de cuatro Españas, in which he recounted his personal, political and diplomatic life, during the Second Republic, the Civil War, the Franco regime and finally the democracy.
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Cercle/1983 (Bonn) | 30 June 1983 | 3 July 1983 | Germany Bonn |
