Luis Ayllón
The diplomat Pascual Navarro Ríos will head the Secretariat General of the European Union, a body recovered by the Government with a view to the Spanish Presidency of the EU, which Spain will take over in the second half of 2023, according to The Diplomat, according to reliable sources.
Navarro has extensive experience in EU affairs and has been the Director General for the Coordination of the Internal Market and other Community Policies since 2017, after having held the post of Head of Cabinet of the Secretary of State for the European Union between 2008 and 2011, when he was appointed ambassador to the Czech Republic.
The Executive’s decision to recover the General Secretariat of the EU was adopted at last Tuesday’s Council of Ministers, which approved the new structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, published yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
The General Secretariat of the EU already existed at other times in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the eve of assuming the rotating Presidency, and was occupied by prominent diplomats such as Alfonso Dastis, who later became the head of the ministerial department; Carlos Bastarreche, former ambassador to the EU and London; and Miguel Ángel Navarro, former ambassador to Japan and former deputy permanent representative to the EU.
The General Secretariat will reinforce and report to the Sate Secretariat for the European Union, which is headed by Juan González Barba.
Navarro’s main objective will be to coordinate, both internally and with European partners, the preparatory work for the rotating Presidency of the European Union, which Spain will hold in the second half of 2023. Before Spain takes on this role, it will form part of the Trio Presidency, along with Belgium and Hungary, which is extended for a period of eighteen months to coordinate the respective six-month presidencies.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has chosen María Lledó Laredo, who had been assigned since August 2017 as coordinator at the Permanent Representation to the EU and was in charge of relations with the European Parliament, to take over the Directorate-General for Internal Market Coordination and other Community Policies, which was occupied by Pascual Navarro.
Just over a week ago, the Council of Ministers appointed Salvador Rueda as the new Director General for Integration and Coordination of General Affairs of the European Union, to fill the vacancy left by José Pascual Marco, who was appointed Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Salvador Rueda also has extensive experience in EU affairs and was Deputy Director General for Institutional Affairs in the Secretariat of State for the EU, where he had previously been Deputy Director General for Justice and Home Affairs. In previous years he held various posts in the Secretariat of State for the EU and was Coordinator (“antici”) in the Permanent Representation of Spain in Brussels.
