Dr. Javier Solana

Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union/High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy

(The Economist - 06/04/00; NATO; Western European Union; Nando Media)

Javier Solana, secretary-general of the Council of the European Union/high representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and secretary general of the Western European Union, was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1942. The son of an illustrious Spanish family, Solana earned a doctorate in physics and was a Fulbright scholar at several American universities. He taught solid-state physics at Madrid Complutense University before entering politics.

Solana, who joined the Spanish Socialist Party in 1964, was known as a radical in his youth under the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco. The physicist was elected a member of parliament in 1977, and from 1982 he held a number of cabinet posts including minister of culture, government spokesman and minister of education and science. In July 1992 he became minister of foreign affairs for a staunchly pro-NATO government in Madrid, a post he held until becoming NATO secretary general in December 1995.

Solana’s tenure as head of this organization spanned a period of intense NATO involvement in the Balkans. Within days of taking up his new job, the NATO-led, multinational Implementation Force (IFOR) was deployed in Bosnia to enforce the military aspects of the Dayton peace agreements. During the Kosovo crisis, NATO directed air strikes against Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999.

Alexander Vershbow, the American ambassador to NATO, said of Solana at that time, “He is an extraordinary consensus-builder who works behind the scenes with leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure that NATO is united when it counts.”

In October 1999, Solana left NATO to become secretary-general of the Council of the European Union and its first “high representative” for the common foreign and security policy. His task is to put forth ideas and analyse policy options in an effort to help EU leaders agree on foreign and security policy issues, thereby affording the Union more political weight in international affairs.

He is married and has two children.