Ambassador Marcos Alonso Alonso

Ambassador Marcos Alonso Alonso
Spanish Permanent Representation to the European Union

The Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union is a senior diplomat of the Spanish government representing the Kingdom of Spain before the Institutions of the European Union

The European Union ( EU ) is an organization open to the world, founded on common values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Among its strategic objectives is the consolidation of a stable and united Europe, endowed with its own voice on the international scene.

The responsibilities and influence of the European Union in the world are increasing, in line with its economic, commercial and diplomatic weight: it is the world’s leading trading power, has a reference currency and is the main donor of humanitarian aid

The European Communities began their journey in the 1950s without the presence of Spain, initially excluded by the nature of its political regime at that time. With the transition to democracy in Spain, a process of rapprochement and homologation began with Europe that culminated in our entry into the European Communities in 1986. Previously, Spain had applied for membership in 1962 and had completed a Preferential Trade Agreement with the Common Market in 1970 that allowed to integrate the Spanish economy into the community one.

With the request of the Spanish Government to the Council of Ministers of the European Communities, of July 26, 1977, The process that would culminate with the entry of Spain into the European Economic Community was formally started. The Government of Adolfo Suárez placed relations with Europe among its priorities and opened a direct and determined dialogue that it conducted on February 5, 1979, to the opening of the accession negotiations. The governments of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo and Felipe González led the negotiations with broad parliamentary support.

The incorporation of a large economy like the Spanish one, with still a certain disparity of development with Europe, necessarily raised questions of mutual adaptation that were resolved after seven years of negotiations and that led to the establishment of transitional deadlines for the full incorporation of Spain into community agricultural and fisheries policies and in matters such as customs union, monopolies or services, in order to soften the impact of our accession on the Spanish economic scheme.

Finally, on June 12, 1985, Spain signed, at the same time as Portugal, the Treaty of Accession to the European Communities. Gathered in the Column Hall of the Royal Palace in Madrid, the President of the Government ( Felipe González ), the Minister of Foreign Affairs ( Fernando Morán ), the Secretary of State for Relations with the European Communities ( Manuel Marín ) and the permanent representative ambassador to the European Communities ( Gabriel Ferrán ) initialed the historic document, that it would be unanimously ratified by the Congress of Deputies.