The Diplomat in Spain

Gerardo Bugallo presents his Credentials at Pope Francisco./ Photo: © L’Osservatore Romano

Luis Ayllón. 10/08/2018

Spanish Government asked the Vatican agrément to appoint the diplomat Carmen de la Peña as new Ambassador to the Holy See, replacing Gerardo Bugallo, who has been in office since May of last year, sources told The Diplomat.

Bugallo is one of the ambassadors affected by the relay in the Government, since, after the arrival of Pedro Sanchez to La Moncloa, the diplomatic representatives in some of the positions considered of greater importance have been replaced or will be replaced shortly, in spite of having spent a short time in their positions, as it was the case of Jorge Moragas in the UN, Pedro Morenés in Washington, María Victoria Morera in Berlin, or Eduardo Gutiérrez in Lisbon.

It is not, however, the first time that a change of ambassador in the Vatican takes place, in spite of taking little time in the posts. After leaving the position of undersecretary, María Jesús Figa became in April 2011 the first female spanish ambassador to the Holy See, but after PP’s triumph in the elections at the end of the same year, she was replaced in May 2012 and appointed ambassador in Finland.

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The next Ambassador will be the diplomat Carmen de la Peña, current General Consul in Bern 

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If the Vatican authorities grant the agrément for the new Ambassador, she will leave his current post of General Consul in Bern (Switzerland), a position she took over in August last year.

Carmen de la Peña Corcuera is an experienced diplomat who joined the Foreign Service in 1979, and who has been Ambassador to Qatar and Ethiopia, as well as General Director for Africa, between 2008 and 2011, during the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Among other destinations, she has also been Deputy Head at the Embassy of Spain in Israel.