Spain Will Work for the Establishment of the New Institutions of the Union

H.E. Mr. Jorge Fuentes Monzonis-Vilallonga, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Spain

H.E. Mr. Jorge Fuentes Monzonis-Vilallonga was born on April 12, 1940 in Valencia. He earned Bachelor’s degrees in Law and Political and Economic Sciences and later a Master’s degree in International Studies from the Diplomatic School in Madrid.
Head of sector East European Countries Policy in the General Sub-directorate of European Affairs at the General Directorate of Foreign Policy (1973), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
First Secretary at the Trade Representation of Spain in Belgrade (1976–1978). First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of Spain to the UN, New York (1978–1982), counsellor at the Embassy of Spain in Tunisia (1982–1984). Director in charge of political affairs for Eastern Europe in DG Europe Foreign Policy General Directorate (1985–1989). Deputy Ambassador at the Embassy in Washington (1989–1993). Ambassador (1992–1997) to the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia (from 1995). Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the Western European Union, Brussels (1997–2000). Adviser in the technical office of the Deputy Secretary of the Foreign Ministry and Ambassador-at-Large for political dialogue with the countries of the forthcoming EU enlargement (2000). He led the OSCE field operation in Croatia (2005–2009).
Married, with three children.

• We are partners with Bulgaria in the EU and we should have a lot of dialogue
• I feel that I am in a country that has much communication with Spain

The Spanish EU Presidency is the first to operate in the conditions of the new Treaty of Lisbon. At the same time, the reform of the Union institutions has not been completed yet. In this sense, this ‘transitional’ rotating presidency will be really very important for the strengthening and successful functioning of the European Union. How will Spain, as presiding country, work to fulfil the priorities laid down in its six-month program?
The Spanish Presidency of the European Union is going to be a combination of a traditional one and a completely new one. Here in Bulgaria, being a full member of the European Union, there is no Delegation of the EU, there is a Representation with which we have a very good relationship and we will take care to fulfil our obligations and with the ambassador trio, i.e. Spain, Belgium and Hungary, to implement those points of the rotating presidency that have to be done in your country. And in this sense this is going to be a traditional presidency. We had an initiative to mark the beginning of the presidency – we organized an opening concert in the Bulgaria Hall with Spanish music – Manuel de Falla, and also music of Spanish inspiration – Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. It was a full house and I think it was a very nice and successful concert. I am already organizing meetings in the Spanish residence with politicians. We had a meeting with Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, with Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Mladenov, with the Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Naidenov, with European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva. We are going to meet with President Georgi Parvanov, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, with the Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, the ministers of health, culture, environment, as well as with the religious leaders of the country, and the ambassadors of the new enlargement countries.

The second aspect is that we are going to try to have a presidency that will take in consideration the new institutions that have been created in Brussels – the first long-term President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. Spain is going to try to make them the stars of this story and we will help them to land properly in this new Europe that is going to be created. They will do all they can and if they cannot do something – then Spain will do it. So this is the idea of the new Europe, and we hope that toward the end of the Spanish Presidency the new institutions will be completely established and consolidated.

Would you say a bit more about the main priorities of the Spanish EU Presidency?
The first priority is really to try to cope with the international economic crisis that has created extremely dangerous situations in Europe. Only in the countries of the Union we have 10% of the population unemployed, which means altogether close to 50 million unemployed people in the European Union, which is unacceptable. So, Spain is going to fight this plague, organizing seminars to try to resolve the problem of unemployment from different angles (women, young people, pensioners) and to create new employments in completely new areas, in what we call green collar, blue collar and white collar workers. The green collar will be in the new resources of energy, the blue collar will be the new technologies, and the white collar will meet the new necessities in administration. Altogether in this field we hope we will be able to create at least 10 or 20% of employment, a very difficult task. Of course, in six months it will be impossible to accomplish everything but we do hope that Belgium and Hungary will continue to work in this direction through their presidencies.

The second priority is going to be the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, to get a good start and be implemented properly.

An important task would be the expansion of the European idea in the world by different means. For example, by reinforcing the results from the Copenhagen conference, which was not successful, and seeking a European position that will be common to project this idea to the world.

The next thing will be to support the gender issue, to fight against violence against women, unemployment among women, etc. Another aspect will be the Stockholm Conference that affects issues such as the fight against terrorism, migration, defence of human rights, etc. So this priority could be formulated as: Projection of Europe, more Europe in the world.

The third priority of the Spanish Presidency will be the enlargement of Europe. We are 27 and there are still more than 20 countries in Europe that are not members of the EU. And we hope that during the Spanish presidency Croatia will complete the integration and if it proves to be impossible we hope we will do it within the year 2010. With Turkey we intend to open a couple of chapters, to continue the negotiation process, to give some impulse. As regards the other Western Balkan countries, we hope that we will stimulate them also to approach the idea of integration. Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina – all of them have to become a part of the EU in a medium-term perspective.

Another basic priority is to have a really well balanced foreign policy. We are going to organize about 10 summits – with Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean countries. The summit planned in the USA will be postponed. Two will be in the Mediterranean – with Morocco and one with the group from Barcelona and Paris, three in Asia – in Japan, with ASEAN and then in Russia. There will be one summit with Africa, but this will be implemented during the Belgian Presidency.

There is another priority connected with Bulgaria. The main objectives of Bulgaria will be taken into consideration: the entrance of your country in the Schengen area and in the Eurozone, the energy affairs. We want to sign a convention of the European countries for energy in order to assure the sources and the provision of energy to all the countries of the EU. And finally, we hope that during the Spanish presidency we will be able to advance in the mechanisms of cooperation and verification upon the presence of Bulgaria in the European Union.

You have already been Ambassador to Bulgaria. What changes do you notice and in what respect? What are your new impressions?
I was Ambassador in Bulgaria from 1993 to 1997, so I am an old friend of your country. For four years I’ve enjoyed the generosity and the hospitality of your country. I’m not trying to be polite, I really must insist that your country treated me in such a way that I couldn’t avoid coming back. In my first post here I got the most important rewards that any foreign diplomat can get in your country – the decoration of Stara Planina 1st class, the Horseman of Madara 1st class, I became Doctor Honoris Causa of the Sofia University and I am an honorary citizen of the city of Sofia. In addition I am an honorary member of the Atlantic Club and of the Music Academy. So, it is a privilege to come back now, 12 years later, and to meet the old friends and to make new friends among the new politicians. Of course, I do expect that I will be able to help your country in this moment of consolidation of Bulgaria into the European Union. You are now a member of NATO and I’m very happy I fought a lot for that. You are a member of the EU and your presence in the European Union should be reinforced in order for you to be a full member without any ambiguity and to be able to receive the funds that you need very badly.

Now, what I found in Bulgaria coming back 12 years after… I found a completely different country in the sense, for example, that the big cities have grown a lot: Sofia has doubled in population, and on the contrary – the whole country has shrunk, because you lost many people who emigrated for economic reasons; many of them to Spain. We hope that one day they will come back when the situation in Bulgaria is strong enough and you have a good strong industry to provide work for everybody. The city of Sofia is full of malls, shops, restaurants, clubs – things that didn’t exist before, and you have millions of cars in the streets. So it’s almost a megalopolis, and the people are dynamic and they have adapted to the new necessities and realities, yet they continue to be nice and hospitable with the visitors. I feel very well here and I promenade the streets of Sofia with my wife happily.

Do you have a favourite place in Bulgaria? When you were coming to our country for the second time, besides the thought of your activity here, did you think of some place that you would like to revisit by all means?
In Bulgaria I have several favourite places – I enjoy enormously making the tour of the monasteries. The Orthodox monasteries in your country are extremely beautiful. It is my advice to the new visitors to try to visit as many of them as possible not only because the monuments are beautiful but also because the locations are extraordinary. And then a good promenade in the mountains and in the coast from north to south. Of course, some points have been a bit spoiled by the construction of so many hotels bur there are many other ones that remain very pure and proper. My wife and I often walk in the streets of Sofia, we visit shops, malls, cinemas, the Opera, concerts, restaurants and cafes. There are indeed many beautiful places here and the social and cultural life is very intensive.

Would you outline tourism as a possible sphere of interest in the bilateral relations between Spain and Bulgaria?
Yes, I would. We have more than 50,000 Spanish tourists coming to Bulgaria every year and we have a sort of tourism of Bulgarians in Spain, because there are about 300,000 people who have decided to live and work in Spain and they generate a lot of tourists when their families travel to Spain. Every time I fly to my country in the Bulgarian air companies I travel with plenty of people that speak Spanish already and that are going there to see their parents or children, relatives or friends. So this is a sort of a combination of tourism and migration – many of them will stay in Spain, marry there, which creates very stable links between us. We are sure that the more Bulgaria increases in the economic situation the more tourism you will generate and at the same time a lot of immigration – people from Africa, Asia and America will come to work here because you are a EU member state – and this will be a transformation that you are going to see in the future of your country. But for the time being Spain is doing well here – we have a lot of investments; our specialists are doing important works here – for example, the bridge Vidin-Kalafat, plenty of new plants of eolic or solar energy, etc. The cultural cooperation with your country is also developing very well. So, I can say that in this new presence of mine in Bulgaria I feel that I am in a country that has much more communication with Spain than it had before.

Do you find that there’s room for improvement in other spheres of our bilateral relations?
I would like to see more political communication, more political exchange of visits. When I came here back in 1993, three months after my arrival I was very happy for I was able to bring the King and Queen of Spain. Ten years afterwards they paid a second visit to Bulgaria. Several presidents of your country have visited Spain too. Now we are preparing the visit of President Georgi Parvanov and I hope it will take place this year. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov will go to Spain in a few weeks.

This is the kind of thing I wish. I hope more politicians from Spain will come here, I am stimulating this. We are partners in the European Union and we should have a lot of dialogue. Of course, there is dialogue in Brussels but I want the Spanish politicians to come here, to see how beautiful your country is, how many changes have been made, what your necessities are in this moment, how we can help you. This is what I want to do during this term. The economic aspects of our exchange are fine. The commercial exchange is correct and is well balanced. The investment is much stronger in the case of Spain – we have invested here hundreds of millions of euros, and Bulgaria, of course, is investing in Spain very, very little. The interest in Spanish culture in Bulgaria is enormous – paintings, music, literature, Spanish language. This is very important. We have many bilingual schools in the whole country, Spanish professors come over, and thousands of students at every moment are studying Spanish here. I am very proud with the Spanish cultural centre we have in Sofia – the Cervantes Institute. It is housed in the beautiful building of the former US embassy, next to the archaeological museum – eight floors, hundreds of students, concerts, films, books, anything you want – you will be impressed by the job we are doing there.