José Manuel Albares
Official portrait, 2023
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation
Assumed office
12 July 2021
Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez
Preceded byArancha González Laya
Ambassador of Spain to France
In office
5 February 2020 – 12 July 2021
Preceded byFernando Carderera Soler
Succeeded byVictorio Redondo Baldrich
Ambassador of Spain to Monaco
In office
13 May 2020 – 12 July 2021
Preceded byFernando Carderera Soler
Secretary-General for International Affairs, European Union, G20 and Global Security
In office
21 June 2018 – 29 January 2020
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Assumed office
17 August 2023
ConstituencyMadrid
Personal details
Born (1972-03-22) 22 March 1972
Madrid, Spain
Political partySpanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse
Hélène Davo
​
​
(m. 1997; div. 2021)​
Children4
OccupationDiplomat

José Manuel Albares Bueno (pronounced [xosemaˈnwel alˈβaɾes]; born 22 March 1972) is a Spanish diplomat who has been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation in the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez since 2021.[1]

As a politician from the PSOE he was elected to the 15th Congress of Deputies in the 2023 Spanish general election from Madrid.[2]

Early life and education

Born in 1972 in Madrid,[3] he was raised in a humble family from Usera.[4] Albares earned a licentiate degree in Law from the University of Deusto and also a diploma in Business Sciences.[5]

Career in the diplomatic service

As he joined the diplomatic career, Albares served as consul in Bogotá, as well as advisor in the Permanent Representation of Spain before the OECD.[5]

Key advisor of PSOE's Pedro Sánchez during the latter's first spell as party leader,[6] Sánchez appointed Albares to a post in the Prime Minister Cabinet Office, once he became Prime Minister in June 2018: Secretary General of International Affairs, European Union, G20 and Global Security, with rank of Under-Secretary. Albares, who left then a post as cultural attaché in the Spanish embassy in Paris,[4] was sworn in on 21 June.[7] Affiliated to the PSOE's grouping in Paris, he was chosen as one of the drafters of the framework presentation for the party's 40th federal congress.[8]

Albares was appointed as Ambassador to France in February 2020[9] and to Monaco in May 2020.[10]

Minister of Foreign Affairs

In July 2021, Albares was revealed as Sánchez' pick as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation in a cabinet reshuffle.[8] He was sworn on into office on 12 July 2021.[11]

During his first days as head of the Foreign Department, Albares managed to reduce tensions with Morocco and rebuild relations after Spain allowed, for humanitarian reasons, the Saharawi leader, Brahim Ghali, to be treated in a hospital in Logroño.[12] Proof of this were the declarations of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, who assured in August 2021 that he wanted to "inaugurate an unprecedented stage" in relations between the two countries.[13]

Albares addressed the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress of Deputies for the first time on 30 August 2021, to give an account of his first decisions as head of the Foreign Ministry, the general lines that he would develop and the 2021 Afghanistan crisis. In his appearance, he revealed that on 15 July 2021 his Department, through the Embassy in Afghanistan, warned and recommended the Spanish nationals in the country to leave it. This allowed that, when the Afghan crisis broke out, only five Spanish nationals remained, in addition to diplomatic and security personnel.[14] He also announced that the government had no intention of recognizing the new Taliban government and that they would continue to remove people from Afghanistan by other means.[14] In October 2021, in a joint operation with the Ministry of Defence, the government evacuated via Pakistan more than 240 collaborators and their families.[15]

As for general policy, Albares demanded that the opposition treat foreign policy as a "state policy",[16] and regarding the restructuring that he carried out in the Ministry as soon as he took office, he affirmed that one of his objectives was to strengthen the policy on North Africa, the Sahel and Latin America, highlighting about the latter that he considers "all Ibero-American countries equally important, regardless of their size or economic weight".[16]

Albares with Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Eva-Maria Liimets in 2022

Another issue that he had to deal with as head of the Foreign Ministry was to guarantee the permanence in Spain of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). For a few months, it had been rumored that Saudi Arabia planned to make a proposal to move the headquarters to his country and that the then Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili, wouldn't oppose it.[17] Despite being only rumors and the silence of the Secretary-General in this regard,[18] the government, headed Albares, carried out a diplomatic offensive consisting of fulfilling the existing promise to give the UNWTO a new headquarters and a series of consultations with ambassadors from different countries,[19][20] which allowed Spain to guarantee a blocking minority with European and Latin American countries in the event of the Saudi proposal.[21] Finally, Saudi Arabia informed the Government of Spain that it would not present any candidacy.[22]

In relation to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, he declared in January that the Spanish government was committed to dialogue as a distinguishing feature of European foreign policy but that "it had to be very clear [with Russia], dialogue it is not negotiation. We cannot accept things that are unacceptable", and said "no one can mark who can be a member of an international organization and who cannot", in relation to the possible accession of Ukraine to NATO or the European Union.[23][24] Following the Bucha massacre in April 2022, Albares expelled some 25 Russian diplomats and embassy staff from Madrid, joining other European Union countries in its response to alleged war crimes by Russian troops in Ukraine.[25]

Other activities

References

  1. ↑ Belén Carreño (10 July 2021), Spanish foreign minister goes, economy minister stays in cabinet reshuffle Reuters.
  2. ↑ Piñol, Silvia Ayuso, Miguel González, Àngels (17 August 2023). "Albares pide al Consejo de la UE que incluya el catalán, el gallego y el euskera como lenguas oficiales". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Iglesias, Leyre; Suanzes, Pablo R. (4 December 2018). "Los tres hombres del presidente que renegociaron Gibraltar en 41 horas". El Mundo.
  4. 1 2 Mármol, Iolanda (27 January 2019). "José Manuel Albares, el 'sherpa' que brilla a la sombra de Pedro Sánchez". El Periódico.
  5. 1 2 Fernández, Victoria. "El hombre que susurra a Pedro Sánchez en asuntos europeos". El Español.
  6. ↑ "Pedro Sánchez ficha al diplomático José Manuel Albares como consejero de Asuntos Internacionales". Europa Press.
  7. ↑ "Tomas de posesión de altos cargos de Presidencia del Gobierno". La Moncloa.
  8. 1 2 Díaz, Sato (10 July 2021). "José Manuel Albares, el regreso del carnet socialista al Ministerio de Exteriores". Público.
  9. ↑ Juez, Beatriz (16 January 2020). "Del Falcon a la embajada: José Manuel Albares, el nuevo embajador en París con esposa en el Elíseo". El Mundo.
  10. ↑ OpenHost,SL. "El Gobierno nombra a José Manuel Albares nuevo embajador de España en el Principado de Mónaco". Crónicas de la Emigración (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  11. ↑ "Toma de posesión de los nuevos cargos del Gobierno de Pedro Sánchez". El Periódico. 12 July 2021.
  12. ↑ SOBERO, YOLANDA (20 May 2021). "¿Quién es Brahim Gali y por qué está en el centro de la crisis migratoria de Ceuta?". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  13. ↑ González, Ricard (20 August 2021). "El rey de Marruecos expresa su deseo de abrir una nueva etapa 'inédita' en la relación con España". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  14. 1 2 "José Manuel Albares: 'El Gobierno no se plantea reconocer al régimen talibán impuesto por la fuerza'". abc (in Spanish). 30 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Spain evacuates 160 more Afghans via Pakistan". AP NEWS. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  16. 1 2 "Site verification". www.europapress.es. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  17. ↑ Barciela, Alberto (18 August 2021). "España y Europa pueden perder la sede de OMT, por Alberto Barciela". elperiodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  18. ↑ Hosteltur. "Pololikashvili no corta los rumores sobre el cambio de sede de la OMT | Economía". Hosteltur: Toda la información de turismo (in European Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  19. ↑ Allievi, Matteo (15 September 2021). "El Gobierno ratifica su compromiso con la nueva sede de la OMT en Madrid para 2022". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  20. ↑ Digital, Confidencial (9 September 2021). "Ronda de consultas diplomáticas de Albares para frenar la fuga a Arabia Saudí de la Organización Mundial del Turismo". Confidencial Digital (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  21. ↑ Rodríguez, Antonio (22 September 2021). "España logra una minoría de bloqueo para frenar las pretensiones saudíes con la OMT". www.vozpopuli.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  22. ↑ Gutiérrez, Hugo (27 September 2021). "Arabia Saudí renuncia a llevarse de Madrid la sede de la OMT". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  23. ↑ "Albares advierte a Podemos: "La acción exterior de España la marca el presidente del Gobierno"". abc (in Spanish). 21 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  24. ↑ Hernández, Marisol (21 January 2022). "Albares rebaja la tensión bélica con Rusia: "España quiere darle una oportunidad al diálogo"". elperiodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  25. ↑ Belén Carreño, Emma Pinedo and Inti Landauro (5 April 2022), Spain to expel around 25 Russian diplomats, foreign minister says Reuters.
  26. ↑ Board of Trustees Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies.
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