Luis Ayllón
The Government has asked the Croatian authorities for their approval to appoint the former State Secretary for the European Union, Juan González-Barba, who was dismissed from his post after serious disagreements with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, as The Diplomat has learned from reliable sources.
González-Barba was dismissed on 21 December, after several weeks of differences with Albares, who wanted greater control over the activity of the secretary of state responsible for relations with the European Union.
In view of these disagreements, González-Barba tried to get the government to support his appointment as the UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Cyprus, a post that was vacant. In order to do so, he first obtained the backing of the authorities in Cyprus and Greece, a country where he was stationed and where he learned to speak Greek. In addition, he obtained what seemed to be the most difficult thing, which was the agreement of the Turkish government, which is not very inclined to accept a person from an EU country for this post, but appreciated the figure of González-Barba, who had been ambassador in Ankara.
With these endorsements, all that remained was for the Spanish government to make its proposal to the UN Secretary General in order to formalise the candidacy. However, according to sources consulted by The Diplomat, Albares opposed the presentation of González-Barba’s candidacy and cut off the latter’s aspirations.
The former State Secretary then focused his hopes on being appointed ambassador to one of the embassies that were due to change hands this year and which were put out to tender by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Apparently, González-Barba was aware that given the circumstances of his departure from office, he could not aspire to an embassy of great importance for Spain’s relations, which is often the fate of a former state secretary, especially if the same party that appointed him is still in government. Moreover, there were practically no embassies of this type in the competition. So he opted for two European countries, Hungary and Croatia, and in the end it will be the Balkan country that will authorise his appointment as ambassador if it sees no impediments.
When the Croatian authorities grant their approval, which is expected to take a short time, given the customs between EU countries, González-Barba will replace Alonso Dezcallar, who has been at the head of the Embassy in Zagreb since October 2018.
Juan González-Barba has already been posted to another Embassy, in this case the one in Sudan, when in 2012, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo relieved him of his post as Director General for the Maghreb, Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, after having kept him for a few months in the post he already held under the previous Minister, Trinidad Jiménez.
Between July 2018 and February 2020, he was ambassador to Turkey, a post he left when he was appointed State Secretary for the EU under Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González Laya.
