The Diplomat
The Board of Trustees of the Elcano Royal Institute will hold an extraordinary session next September to appoint the person who will succeed José Juan Ruiz as President of the institution.
This decision was made on June 18 during the first of two meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Elcano Royal Institute in 2026, chaired by José Juan Ruiz, in which the activity report and annual accounts for the 2025 fiscal year were approved, and the renewal of the governing bodies was addressed.
“This first meeting of the Board of Trustees in 2026 takes place in a very special year for the Institute, which celebrates its 25th anniversary, reaffirming its commitment to the rigorous and independent analysis of major international challenges,” the Royal Institute highlighted in a press release on Monday.
“Over the last quarter of a century, the Elcano Royal Institute has established itself as a leading think tank and a key forum for dialogue and debate in Spain and Europe,” he continued. “The goal for the coming years—based on the rigor, independence, plurality, and diversity of perspectives that the complexity and rapid transformation of the world demand—is to continue contributing innovative ideas to the public debate that will benefit public institutions and administrations, the private sector, and society as a whole,” it added.
Among those attending the meeting were Miguel Arias Cañete, former Vice-President of the European Commission, former Minister, and representative of the People’s Party on the Board of Trustees; José Luis Bonet, President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce; María Dolores de Cospedal, Vice-President of the Elcano Royal Institute; Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, former President of the Elcano Royal Institute; and Xavier Martí Martí, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. Charles Powell, director of the Elcano Royal Institute; Mario Ruiz-Tagle, CEO of Iberdrola Spain; Francisco Sánchez Segura, president of Airbus Spain; Juan Santamaría, CEO of the ACS Group; Christoph Steck, director of Public Policy for Amazon Spain and Portugal; Gustavo Suárez Pertierra, former president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Rafael Villaseca Marco, president of the Naturgy Foundation; Fernando Vives Ruiz, executive chairman and managing partner of Garrigues; and Cecilia Yuste, director of Institutional Affairs at Banco Santander.
During the meeting, the annual report of activities was approved, reflecting that in 2025, the Institute published 326 documents, organized 193 public events, private meetings, and sessions of its 18 working groups, received nearly 1.5 million website visits, had more than 30,000 newsletter subscribers and 140,000 social media followers, and achieved a record 7,500 mentions in national and international media, with more than 1,000 interviews granted by its research team.
The Board of Trustees also reviewed and approved the 2025 financial statements, a year in which the Elcano Royal Institute achieved revenues of €5.65 million and expenses of €5.92 million. In 2025, private funding (patrons and corporate partners, privately funded projects) accounted for 77% of the Institute’s income, while public patrons and publicly funded projects contributed the remaining 23%.
National and international projects, both public and private, contributed 9% of the Institute’s income. Among these, Generation Europe stands out, an initiative that enabled more than 1,000 young people to apply to contribute their proposals to the debate on the future of the European Union (EU).
As the final item on the agenda, the Board of Trustees addressed the renewal of the Institute’s governing bodies and, in this regard, agreed to renew the mandate of Miguel Arias Cañete as an elected trustee and decided to postpone until an extraordinary session, to be held in September 2026, the appointment of the person who will succeed José Juan Ruiz as President of the Elcano Royal Institute.
Economist José Juan Ruiz Gómez was appointed president of the Elcano Royal Institute in January 2021, following Jaime Lamo de Espinosa’s resignation a month earlier. José Juan Ruiz holds a degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid and is a member of the State Corps of Commercial and Economic Experts.