| Post: | Secretary of State for the European Union |
| Native Name: | Secretario de Estado para la Unión Europea |
| Flag: | SEUE logo.png |
| Flagsize: | 300px |
| Insignia: | Escudo de España (mazonado).svg |
| Insigniasize: | 100px |
| Insigniacaption: | Coat of Arms used by the Government |
| Incumbent: | Pascual Ignacio Navarro |
| Incumbentsince: | December 22, 2021 |
| Style: | The Most Excellent (formal) Mr. Secretary of State (informal) |
| Department: | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation Secretariat of State for the European Union |
| Reports To: | Foreign Minister |
| Nominator: | Foreign Minister |
| Appointer: | The King |
| First: | Raimundo Bassols Jacas |
| Abbreviation: | SEUE |
| Precursor: | Minister for Relations with the European Communities |
| Formation: | February 27, 1981 |
| Website: | exteriores.gob.es |
The Secretary of State for the European Union (SEUE) is a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain. The SEUE is appointed by the Monarch with the advice of the Foreign Minister.
The Secretary of State for the European Union is responsible for the formulation and execution of the policy of Spain within the European Union. Likewise, he assists the Foreign Minister in the formulation and execution of the foreign policy of Spain in the geographical area corresponding to the countries of the European Union, candidate countries, countries of the European Economic Area and other European countries.
As the highest official after the Foreign Minister in European Union affairs, the Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the actions of the different bodies of the different national administrations within the European Union as well as overseeing and giving orders to the Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union.[1]
The origin of this secretariat of state dates back to July 26, 1977[2] when prime minister Adolfo Suárez officially applied for admission of Spain in the European Communities, three days after the Cortes Generales approved it.
To start the negotiations, the prime minister created in July 1978 a Ministry for the Relations with the European Communities and appointed Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo as minister.[3] The negotiations started on February 5, 1979.[4] Eduard Punset succeeded Calvo-Sotelo in the Ministry in 1980 until 1981, when the Ministry was suppressed and was degraded to a secretariat of state within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After this, the Foreign Minister Fernando Morán López assumed a main role in the negotiations being supported by the Secretary of State for Relations with the European Communities, culminating in the signing of the accession agreement in June 1985 and entry into force in January 1986. Before all of this process, in 1962, Spain already requested the accession but was rejected because the country was under a dictatorship.[5]
With the entrance of Spain in the Union, the country quickly became one of the most important and influential countries of the EU by assuming important offices such as High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy with Javier Solana and the Presidency of the European Parliament with Josep Borrell and Manuel Marín (being considered the father of the Erasmus Programme).
The first and second Secretaries of State had to work with a very small staff because this department originally was devised as an auxiliary body to the Minister in the accession negotiations but in 1985 an important reform was carried out in the Foreign Ministry. With the entry in the Union, the Secretariat of State was focused not in negotiations affairs but in coordination between the Spanish administrations and the European institutions.
With the change of government in 1996, the new prime minister elevated the category of the General Secretariat for Foreign Policy to Secretariat of State and merged it with the Secretariat of State for European Communities, being responsible not only for the relations with the European Union but the rest of the world.
In 2000,[6] the secretariat of state split in two and this one was renamed «for European Affairs». In 2004 was adopted the current denomination «for the European Union»,[7] that was briefly changed between 2017 and 2018 «for European Affairs» but recovered by the Sánchez government.[8]
The Secretariat of State is composed of three departments, all of them run by a Director-General:[1]
It's the department responsible for following the European Union policies and coordinate the national departments that collaborate in that policies; for establishing the Spanish position regarding these policies and the preparation of the meetings of the EU General Affairs Council. It is also responsible for overseeing the regional governments actions in the EU; to study the European Union reform proposals as wells as the possible enlargement or withrawal of member states and the promotion of the Spanish language and the presence of Spanish citizens in the European institutions.
It's the department in charge of following the European Union policies and coordinate the national departments that collaborate in that policies along with the Directorate-General for Integration and Coordination of General Affairs of the European Union; the management before the EU institutions of public aids and the following of and the advisement about the European Union law and the actings before the CJEU in coordination with the Office of the Solicitor General. It also prepares the meetings of the EU Competitiveness Council and the EU Internal Market Consultative Committee.
It's the department responsible for the proposal and execution of the Spanish foreign policy over this geographical area and the momentum of bilateral relations with these countries. It's responsible also for the proposal and following of the position of Spain over the Gibraltar dispute in coordination with other departments of the Administration.
From the Secretariat of State also depends organically the Solicitor's Office before the Court of Justice of the European Union although functionally depends from the Solicitor General Office and the Ministry of Justice.
| No. | Image | Name | Term of Office | Ministers serving under | Prime Minister | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Began | Ended | Days of Service | |||||
| 1º | Raimundo Bassols Jacas | 28 February 1981 | 8 December 1982 | José Pedro Pérez-Llorca | Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo | ||
| 2º | Manuel Marín | 8 December 1982 | 28 October 1985 | Fernando Morán López Francisco Fernández Ordóñez | Felipe González | ||
| 3º | Pedro Solbes | 28 October 1985 | 16 March 1991 | Fernando Morán López | |||
| 4º | Carlos Westendorp | 16 March 1991 | 23 December 1995 | Fernando Morán López Javier Solana | |||
| 5º | Emilio Fernández-Castaño | 23 December 1995 | 14 May 1996 | Carlos Westendorp | |||
| 6º | Ramón de Miguel y Egea | 14 May 1996 | 20 April 2004 | Abel Matutes Josep Piqué Ana Palacio | José María Aznar | ||
| 7º | Alberto Navarro González | 20 April 2004 | 15 April 2008 | Miguel Ángel Moratinos | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero | ||
| 8º | Diego López Garrido | 15 April 2008 | 24 December 2011 | Miguel Ángel Moratinos Trinidad Jiménez | |||
| 9º | Íñigo Méndez de Vigo | 24 December 2011 | 27 June 2015 | José Manuel García-Margallo | Mariano Rajoy | ||
| 10º | Fernando Eguidazu Palacios | 27 June 2015 | 3 December 2016 | ||||
| 11º | Jorge Toledo Albiñana | 3 December 2016 | 23 June 2018 | Alfonso Dastis | |||
| 12º | Marco Aguiriano[9] [10] | 23 June 2018 | 5 February 2020 | Josep Borrell | Pedro Sánchez | ||
| 13º | Juan González-Barba Pera | 5 February 2020 | 22 December 2021 | Arancha González Laya | |||
| 14º | Pascual Ignacio Navarro | 22 December 2021 | Incumbent | José Manuel Albares | |||