Biography

• Born on 9th July 1942 in Madrid.
• Doctorate in Physics; Fulbright scholarships at several American universities; Professor for Solid-State Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid; wrote more than 30 articles in this field.
• In 1964 joined the Spanish Socialist Party; from 1977 Member of Parliament.
• From 1982 to July 1988 he was Spanish Minister for Culture, at the same time from July 1985 to July 1988 also Government Spokesman, before heading the Ministry of Education and Science for four years. 
• From July 1992 to December 1995 he was Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain.
• On 5th December 1995 he was elected Secretary General of NATO.
• On 18th October he took office as High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary General of the Council of the European Union; on 25th November 1999 he took on in addition the position of Secretary General of the Western European Union.
• In June 2004 he was confirmed in his office for another five years.