The Diplomat in Spain

The Ambassador, in his farewell, with Méndez de Vigo to the left. /Picture: German Embassy.

Eduardo González. Madrid.

As of next week, and after five years leading the German Embassy in Spain, Reinhard Silberberg will hold the leadership of the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany before the European Union in Brussels.

Last 2 September, more than 250 guests went to the Ambassador’s Residence in the afternoon to say goodbye to Silberberg, whose speech assured that, despite his transfer to Brussels, he will not lose sight of Spain and waits hopefully “the contacts with the Spanish partners” in his new position, according to information provided by the Embassy this Monday in a statement.

Besides, Silberberg thanked those attending the celebration –among them the secretary of State for the EU, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, the ambassadors of other countries, the German consuls and Spanish business, cultural and political representatives- for “the good reception in Spain and the excellent collaboration” during the last five years.

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Married to a Spanish woman, he has a house in Galicia and learned Spanish reading El Faro de Vigo

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The Ambassador was born on 17 May 1953 in Burgsteinfurt, he is married to a Galician woman and he is the father of four children. Silberberg learned Spanish reading El Faro de Vigo, as he confessed to the daily of Vigo. The couple has a house in Galicia, which they consider as their “second homeland”.

His first diplomatic destination was the Embassy of Dhaka, in Bangladesh (1980- 1984). Subsequently, between 1987 and 1990 he worked as the assistant director of Mission in the Guatemalan Embassy and during the next two years he assumed the Permanent Representation before the EU in Brussels.

After assuming successive positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Chancellery (director general for European Union Affairs and secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), in 2009 he was appointed ambassador in Spain.