José Manuel García-Margallo

The Most Excellent
José Manuel García-Margallo
OCM MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
In office
22 December 2011 – 4 November 2016
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
Preceded by Trinidad Jiménez
Succeeded by Alfonso Dastis
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Assumed office
13 January 2016
Constituency Alicante
In office
22 June 1986 – 19 July 1994
Constituency Valencia
In office
15 June 1977 – 28 October 1982
Constituency Melilla
Member of the European Parliament
for Spain
In office
19 July 1994 – 22 December 2011
Personal details
Born José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil
(1944-08-13) 13 August 1944
Madrid, Spain
Political party People's Party (1989–present)
People's Democratic Party (1983–1989)
Union of the Democratic Centre (1978–1983)
People's Party (1976) (1976–1978)
Alma mater University of Deusto
Harvard University

José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil (born 13 August 1944) is a Spanish politician. Between 2011 and 2016, he served as Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Previously García-Margallo was a Member of the European Parliament with the People's Party, part of the European People's Party and vice-chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He was also a substitute for the Committee on International Trade and a vice-chair of the Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America.

Early life and education

García-Margallo was born in Madrid. In 1960, he joined the Young Spanish Monarchists. He graduated in Law and Economics from the University of Deusto in Bilbao (1965) and subsequently received a master's degree in Law (LLM) from Harvard University (1972). His great-grandfather was Juan García y Margallo, who was killed during the First Melillan campaign, otherwise known as the Margallo War.[1]

Political career

In 1976, Margallo was one of the founding members of the center-right People's Party (Partido Popular), a party unrelated to the current party of the same name. In 1977, that party joined others in forming the Union of the Democratic Centre, a coalition which won the first democratic elections of the modern era in Spain and formed the government from 1977 to 1982. At the 1977 election, he was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies as member for the single member district of Melilla[2] and was re-elected in 1979, although he lost his seat at the 1982 election to the PSOE.

After the UCD disbanded in 1983, Margallo joined the Democratic Popular Party (Partido Demócrata Popular/PDP) and returned to the Congress at the 1986 election as member for Valencia Province, retaining his seat until 1994 when he resigned after being elected to the European Parliament.[3]

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–2011

Throughout his time in the European Parliament, Margallo served on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy; between 2002 and 2011, he was the committee’s vice-chairman. In this capacity, he led the Parliament’s work on the European Banking Authority (EBA). He also called for the creation of a European Financial Protection Fund that would bail out large banks in times of crisis and would be financed primarily by contributions from banks themselves.[4]

Margallo also served on the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis between 2009 and 2011 as well as on the Special Committee on the policy challenges and budgetary resources for a sustainable European Union after 2013 between 2010 and 2011. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the parliament’s delegation for relations with the countries of Central America.

Margallo led the EU-Election Observer Mission for the 2010 presidential election in Togo.

Foreign Minister of Spain, 2011–2016

On 22 December 2011, Margallo was inaugurated as the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.[5]

In March 2012, Margallo announced that, in response to savage killings and human rights abuses in Syria, his country would cease activities at its embassy in Damascus, but would not formally close its mission.[6]

In November 2012, Margallo announced that Spain would follow France in announcing it will support a bid of the Palestinian National Authority for enhanced status at the United Nations when the issue goes to a vote of the General Assembly.[7]

In 2014, amid negotiations towards an accord with the European Union aimed at opening up Cuba, Margallo irritated Raúl Castro's government with his call for Cuba to grant free travel rights to dissidents arrested in the Black Spring of 2003 and later released under strict conditions. During a visit to the country, Margallo was denied an audience with Castro and instead met with First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel.[8]

Following the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the nuclear program of Iran in 2015, Margallo led a high-level government and business delegation to Iran, joining other countries drawn to Tehran by the possibility of lucrative opportunities that could be unlocked by a nuclear deal.[9] A day after sanctions against Iran were lifted in January 2016, Margallo entered into negotiations with the Iranian government over the construction of an Iranian-owned oil refinery at the Gibraltar strait.[10]

Almost 50 years after coming close to possibly provoking a nuclear disaster, Margallo and his counterpart John Kerry of the United States agreed in 2015 to remove contaminated soil from an area in southern Spain where an American warplane accidentally dropped hydrogen bombs. The deal, announced on a visit by Kerry to Spain, followed years of wrangling between the two countries over how to clean up the area around the seaside village of Palomares, over which the accident took place in 1966.[11]

Other activities

  • ELCANO – Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Member of the Board of Trustees
  • Instituto Cervantes, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees

Controversy

Often seen as a controversial figure, Margallo has often been critical of Gibraltar. In February 2015 he ordered the closure of the Instituto Cervantes in Gibraltar stating that there was no need for Spanish classes in Gibraltar as 'everyone speaks (Spanish) except for the apes'.[12]

In June 2016 Margallo said Spain would demand control of Gibraltar the "very next day" after a British withdrawal from the EU.[13] Under Margallo’s leadership, the Foreign Ministry on 11 July 2016 summoned Britain's ambassador following what it said were "reckless" moves by a Royal Gibraltar Police patrol boat.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Cadena Ser article
  2. ↑ Biography at Spanish Congress site
  3. ↑ Dictionary of Valencian Politicians Archived 20 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Brunsden, Jim (10 March 2010). "Showdown over supervision". European Voice.
  5. ↑ MAEC News: Inauguration of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, 22/12/2011 Archived 14 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Nakhoul, Samia (10 March 2012). "Syria begins pulling envoys out of EU: diplomats". Reuters.
  7. ↑ Morris, Harvey (28 November 2012). "Europe Divided Ahead of U.N. Palestinian Vote". New York Times.
  8. ↑ Robin Emmott and Daniel Trotta (9 December 2014), EU-Cuba talks delayed by dispute over cultural event Reuters.
  9. ↑ Adrian Croft (4 September 2015), Spain sending high-level business delegation to Iran Reuters.
  10. ↑ Angus Berwick and Robin Emmott (18 January 2016), Spain seizes on end of Iran's sanctions with plan for joint refinery Reuters.
  11. ↑ Raphael Minder (19 October 2015), U.S. Will Clean Area in Spain Where Hydrogen Bombs Accidentally Fell New York Times.
  12. ↑ Madrid closes Gibraltar language school as 'only apes don’t speak Spanish', in The Telegraph
  13. ↑ "Spanish PM's anger at David Cameron over Gibraltar". BBC News. 16 June 2016.
  14. ↑ "Spain summons British ambassador over 'reckless' Gibraltar police boat". Daily Telegraph. 11 July 2016.
Political offices
Preceded by
Trinidad Jiménez		 Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
2011–2016		 Succeeded by
Alfonso Dastis
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