Spain contributes €20,000 to the College of Europe, the oldest center for European studies

Eduardo González Last Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved a voluntary contribution of €20,000 to the College of Europe, the oldest center for European studies in the world. The College of Europe is a non-profit, public-interest association whose mission is to train postgraduates from all over Europe, empowering them to work for the construction of Europe, both in political institutions and in the private sector. As a member country of the European Union, Spain serves on the Board of Directors of the College of Europe through its Permanent Representative Ambassador to the European Union. Spanish politician Íñigo Méndez de Vigo served as President of the Board of Directors for ten years, between 2009 and 2019. The Board of Directors' duties include agreeing on the annual budget of the College of Europe and setting the contributions due from each Member State. On March 30, the College of Europe, through the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union, requested the payment of €20,000 as a Spanish contribution for 2024, which was finally approved by the Council of Ministers. The school, founded in 1949 at the initiative of, among others, the Spanish thinker Salvador de Madariaga, has two campuses: one in Bruges (Belgium), founded in 1949, and the other in the Natolin Palace in Warsaw (Poland), established in 1992. Furthermore, the College of Europe boasts one of the best and most comprehensive libraries of European studies in the world and a research department that collaborates with the European Commission and other international organizations on issues related to EU law. Each year, 450 students from more than 50 countries are trained at this institution after undergoing a complex selection process coordinated by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of each country. To this end, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers scholarships each year for studies at this center. Many current European Union diplomats, ambassadors, politicians, and civil servants have completed their postgraduate studies at the College of Europe. Prominent among the Spanish graduates are former Vice President of the European Commission and former Speaker of the Congress of Deputies, Manuel Marín; diplomat José Joaquín Puig de la Bellacasa, former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Secretary General of the Royal Household; and Pelayo Castro Zuzuárregui, current Head of Division for Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan at the European External Action Service (EEAS). The current rector of the College of Europe is the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Italian Federica Mogherini, and the President of the Board of Directors has been, since 2019 (when he replaced the Spaniard Méndez de Vigo), the Belgian Herman van Rompuy, the first permanent President of the European Council from 2009 to 2014.

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