The Diplomat
The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will appoint the diplomat Antonio Ramos Membrive, who until recently was chief of staff of the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde Pumpido, as the new consul general in Moscow, as The Diplomat learned from diplomatic sources.
The name of Antonio Ramos was proposed to the Diplomatic Career Board, in charge of evaluating the candidates for the position, by the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Cuesta, a fact that normally means that it is the person who the minister – who always has the final say in appointments – wants for the position.
The proposal surprised the members of the Board, because Ramos occupied sixth place in seniority among the eight diplomats who had applied for the position, so he did not have much chance of winning it, if only the possible report had been taken into account. of the Board. However, in addition to seniority, other merits are taken into account for the election, such as, for example, knowledge of the language of the country to which one is assigned or experience in consulates. Ramos speaks Russian and has also been consul general in Quito (Ecuador), conditions that, on the other hand, other candidates also met, according to the sources consulted.
Antonio Ramos entered the Diplomatic Career in 2005 and, after having been stationed in Albania, Ukraine and the Dominican Republic, in August 2016 he was appointed head of the Cabinet of the then president of the Constitutional Court, Francisco Pérez de los Cobos. With the arrival of Juan José González Rivas to the position a few months later, he continued in the position, until in 2019 he was appointed to head the Spanish Consulate in Quito. In 2021 he returned to the Constitutional Court, again as director of the President’s Cabinet, who was then Pedro González-Trevijano. When Conde Pumpido arrived at the High Court, in January of this year, he decided to keep him in the position, until, at the beginning of September, he resigned.
The Consulate General in Moscow was put out to tender by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last September in a call to fill various positions abroad, known in diplomatic jargon as “the bombito”, because its current owner, María Isabel Vicandi will reach retirement age in February of next year. Vicandi will remain in the position until then, but the Ministry called the position in time to avoid a vacuum in a destination that is so sensitive at this time, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, Foreign Affairs called for several more positions that have now been awarded, including that of cultural advisor in Germany, a position to which the diplomat and writer Helena Cosano will go.
