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As Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (2011-2016) and throughout his political career José Manuel García-Margallo has been characterized by the way he boldly speaks his mind on major issues in international, European and national politics. His talks are noted for always being educational and direct and offer an overview of current affairs.
He has been involved in Spanish politics since the transition to democracy, formed part of the 1977 Constituent Assembly and was a member of the Congress of Deputies for thirteen years (1977-1982 and 1986-1994). He went from the Spanish Parliament’s lower house to the European Parliament, of which he was a member for seventeen years (1994-2011) and held the post of Vice-president of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Now, during the Spanish Parliament’s 12th Legislature he is the representative for the province of Alicante.
In 2011 Mariano Rajoy gave him control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He worked tirelessly on matters such as Spain’s candidature of the UN Security Council, the country’s repositioning in the EU, re-launching relations with the US, the revival of relations with Latin America, Spain’s involvement in international forums dealing with the situations in Syria and Libya, the launch of the Spain Brand and the creation of the ministry’s regulatory framework, as well as developing the new report on Foreign Policy Strategy. During the 10th Legislature he became the government’s most valued minister according to the CIS (Center for Sociological Research) Barometer.
He has a solid background in Law and Economics, holding a degree in those subjects from the University of Deusto. In 1973 José completed a master’s in Law and the International Tax Program at Harvard University. In 2004 he obtained a PhD from the Miguel Hernández University in Elche with a thesis on the European welfare model.
He has written numerous articles and several books, including 'Por una convivencia democrática' (Deusto, 2017), 'Europa y el porvenir' ('Europe and the Future') (Península, 2016) and 'Todos los cielos conducen a España' ('All Skies Lead to Spain') (Planeta, 2015). He has received the Grand Cross for Civil Merit and the Order of Constitutional Merit along with awards from more than ten countries.
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