The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers will today appoint Pascual Navarro as the new State Secretary for the European Union, replacing Juan González-Barba, The Diplomat has learned from government sources.
González-Barba’s departure had been expected for some weeks, as a result of his lack of understanding with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and although there were some attempts to mend the relationship, it has finally been consummated.
The website The Objective reported on 15 February that González-Barba had asked to be relieved of a post he had held since February 2020, appointed by the then minister, Arancha González Laya. He was the only State Secretary whom Albares kept in the post when he arrived at the Palace of Santa Cruz last July, and among his main tasks was to prepare Spain’s EU Presidency for the second half of 2023.
Pascual Navarro was appointed Secretary General of the EU at the end of September, precisely to prepare for the Spanish Presidency, after having been Director General for the Coordination of the Internal Market and other Community Policies in the Ministry for the previous four years.
