Justin Harman during the presentation of The Diplomat./ Picture: Casa de América.
Eduardo González. Madrid
The Spanish Government has granted the former ambassadors of Germany, Reinhard Silberberg; Ireland, Justin Harman; and Costa Rica, Ekhart Peters Seevers, the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. The decorations were approved by the Cabinet last 31 October and published last Monday by the Official State Gazette.
Justin Harman joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as third secretary in 1974. Since then, he has been head of delegation before the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, permanent representative before the Council of Europe, ambassador in Russia (also accredited in Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) between 2003 and 2009, and ambassador in Spain (also accredited in Andorra and Tunisia) between 2009 and 2014.
During the presentation event of The Diplomat in Spain, which took place last 12 May at Casa de América of Madrid, Justin Harman pronounced some words on behalf of the Diplomatic Corps.
Silberberg considers Galicia “his second homeland” and Harman actively participated in the presentation of The Diplomat
Reinhard Silberberg, born on 17 May 1953 in Burgsteinfurt and married to a Galician woman (in fact, he has a house in Galicia, which he considers to be his “second homeland”), worked between 1987 and 1990 as deputy head of mission at Guatemala’s Embassy and for the next two years he assumed the Permanent Representation before the EU in Brussels.
After finishing his work for the positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Chancery (director general for European Union Affairs and secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), in 2009, he was appointed ambassador in Spain, a position he held until last September, when he was appointed for the headship of the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany before the European Union in Brussels.
For his part, Ekhart Peters Seevers is a Costa Rican businessman and diplomat born in 1943. Between 1982 and 1984, he worked as secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since then, he has worked as ambassador in France (1984-1986), Germany (1994-1998), Dominican Republic (2002-2006), Panama (2006-2010) and Spain (from 2011 until now).
