He became a representative of a teacher's union in the Complutense University and in this role won a parliamentary seat for PSOE on 15 June 1977 and represented Madrid region until December 1995. On 23 February 1981 he was in the parliament when it was taken over for 18 hours in an attempted coup by armed gunmen led by Antonio Tejero.

On 28 October 1982 PSOE won a historic victory with 202 out of 350 seats in the lower house. On 3 December along with the other members of Gonzlez's first cabinet Solana was sworn in as Minister for Culture where he remained until moving to the Ministry of Education in 1988. On 5 July 1985 he was also made the Official Spokesman for the Government for three years.

He was made Minister for Foreign Affairs on 22 July 1992 the day before the opening of the II Ibero-American conference of heads of state in Madrid replacing the terminally ill Francisco Fernndez Ordez. On 2728 November 1995 while Spain held the Presidency of the Council of the EU Solana convened and chaired the Barcelona Conference. A treaty was achieved between the twenty-seven nations in attendance with Solana gaining credit for what he called "a process to foster cultural and economic unity in the Mediterranean region". It was during these thirteen years as a cabinet minister that Solana's reputation as a discreet and diplomatic politician grew. By going to the foreign Ministry in the later years of Gonzlez administration he avoided the political scandals of corruption and of the dirty war allegedly being fought against ETA that characterised its last years. Towards the end of 1995 Solana the only surviving member of Gonzlez's original cabinet was talked about in the press as a possible candidate to replace him and lead the PSOE in the following March elections. Instead he made the leap to international politics. During and after his spell as NATO secretary general (see below) Solana continued to play an active role in PSOE and Spanish politics. In June 1997 at the 34th PSOE Congress Solana left their Executive Commission and joined their Federal Committee being re-elected in second place three years later. By supporting Colin Powell's 5 February 2003 speech to the UN Security council which claimed that Iraq had WMD'scitation needed Solana contradicted the position of his party leader Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero who opposed the PP government of Jos Mara Aznar's support for the invasion of Iraq. Solana is seen along with Gonzlez as representing the older wing of the party. On 15 February 2005 he criticised the Plan Ibarretxe for its position on Basque Country independence saying that its call for separate Basque representation within the EU had no place within the proposed EU constitution. NATO On 5 December 1995 Solana became the new Secretary-General of NATO replacing Willy Claes who had been forced to resign in a corruption scandal. His appointment created controversy as in the past he had been an opponent of NATO. He had written a pamphlet called 50 Reasons to say no to NATO and had been on a US subversives list.citation needed On 30 May 1982 Spain joined NATO. When PSOE came to power later that year Solana and the party changed their previous anti-NATO positions into an atlanticist pro-NATO stance. On 12 March 1986 Spain held a referendum on whether to remain in NATO with the government and Solana successfully campaigning in favour. When criticised about his anti-NATO past Solana argued that he was happy to be its representative as it had become disassociated from its Cold War origins. Solana immediately had to deal with the Balkans NATO mission Operation Joint Endeavour that consisted of a multinational peacekeeping Implementation Force (IFOR) of 60000 soldiers which took over from a United Nations mission on 20 December. This came about through the Dayton agreement after NATO had bombed selected targets in Bosnia and Herzegovina the previous August and September. He did this by deploying the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). In December 1996 the ARRC was again activated with IFOR being replaced by a 32000-strong Stabilisation Force (SFOR) operating under codenames Joint Guard and later Joint Forge. During Solana's term NATO reorganised its political and military structure and changed its basic strategies. He gained the reputation of being a very successful diplomatic Secretary General who was capable of negotiating between the differing NATO members and between NATO and non-NATO States. In December 1995 France partially returned to the military structure of NATO while in November 1996 Spain joined it. On 27 May 1997 after 5 months of negotiations with Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov an agreement was reached resulting in the Paris NATO-Russia Founding Act. On the same day Solana presided over the establishment of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council to improve relations between European NATO and non-NATO countries. Kosovo war The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (March 2008) Keeping the peace in the former Yugoslavia continued to be both difficult and controversial. IFOR and SFOR had received a lot of criticism for their inability to capture the Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadi and Ratko Mladi. In late 1998 the conflict in the Serbian province of Kosovo between the Yugoslav authorities and the Kosovar Albanian guerilla Kosovo Liberation Army deteriorated culminating in the Raak incident on 15 January 1999 in which 45 Albanians were killed. NATO decided that the conflict could only be settled by introducing a proper military peacekeeping force under their auspices to forcibly restrain the two sides.citation needed On 30 January 1999 NATO announced that it was prepared to launch air strikes against Yugoslav targets. On 6 February Solana met both sides for negotiations at the Chteau de Rambouillet but they were unsuccessful. On 24 March NATO forces launched air attacks on military and civilian targets in Yugoslavia. Solana justified the attacks on humanitarian grounds and on the responsibility of NATO to keep peace in Europe and to prevent recurrences of ethnic cleansing and genocide similar to those which occurred during the Bosnian War (19921995). Solana with Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright 1999 Solana and NATO were criticised for the civilian casualties caused by the bombings.1011 On 2324 April the North Atlantic Council met in Washington D.C. where the Heads of State of the member nations agreed with the New Strategic Concept which changed the basic defensive nature of the organisation and allowed for NATO intervention in a greater range of situations than before. On 10 June Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo and NATO stopped its attacks which ended the Kosovo War. The same day UN Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised NATO to active the ARRC with the Kosovo Force launching Operation Joint Guardian and occupying the province on 12 June. Solana left NATO on 6 October 1999 two months ahead of schedule and was replaced by George Robertson. EU foreign policy chief After leaving NATO Solana took up a role in the European Union. Earlier in the year on the 4 July 1999 he was appointed by the Cologne European Council as Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. An administrative position but it was decided that the Secretary-General would also be appointed High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In this role he represented the EU abroad where there was an agreed common policy. He took up the post on 18 October 1999 shortly after standing down from NATO. The post has a budget of 40 million most of which goes to Balkan operations. From 25 November 1999 he was also appointed Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) overseeing the transfer of responsibilities from that organisation to the CFSP. In 2004 his 5 year mandate was renewed. He has also become president of the European Defence Agency. The Clinton administration claimed in May 2000 that Solana was the fulfilment of Henry Kissinger's famous desire to have a phone number to talk to Europe.citation needed In December 2003 Solana released the European Security Strategy which sets out the main priorities and identifies the main threats to the security of the EU including terrorism. On 25 March 2004 Solana appointed Gijs de Vries as the anti-terrorist co-ordinator for the CFSP and outlined his duties as being to streamline organise and co-ordinate the EU's fight against terrorism. On 29 June 2004 he was designated to become the EU's first "Union Minister for Foreign Affairs" a position created by the European Constitutional Treaty combining the head of the CFSP with that of the European Commissioner for External Relations. It would give a single voice to foreign policy and combine the powers and influence of the two posts with a larger budget more staff and a coherent diplomatic corps. The position (colloquially known as "Mr. Europe") has been partly maintained in the Reform Treaty as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy but Solana is not going to take the post as he announced that he would step down at the end of his term.12 In late 2004 Solana held secret negotiations with Hamas leaders saying that he met them at a time when there seemed to be an opportunity for progress and were to "pass a clear message of what the international community wants" and said that the meetings occurred "months" before.13 Foreign affairs Solana with Colin Powell in April 2003 He has negotiated numerous Treaties of Association between the European Union and various Middle Eastern and Latin American countries including Bolivia and Colombia. Solana played a pivotal role in unifying the remainder of the former Yugoslavian federation. He proposed that Montenegro form a union with Serbia instead of having full independence stating that this was done to avoid a domino effect from Kosovo and Vojvodina independence demands. Local media sarcastically named the new country "Solania".citation needed On 21 January 2002 Solana said that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.citation needed The EU has stated that it hopes to avoid another war like the Iraqi invasion through this and future negotiations and Solana has said the most difficult moments of his job were when the United Kingdom and France the two permanent EU Security Council members were in disagreement. The so-called Vilnius letter a declaration of support by eastern European countries for the United States' aim of rgime change in Iraq and the letter of the eight a similar letter from the UK Italy and six second-tier countries are generally seenby whom as a low-water mark of the CFSP. Solana has played an important role working toward a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and continues to be a primary architect of the "Road Map for Peace" along with the UN Russia and the United States in the Quartet on the Middle East. On 22 July 2004 he met Ariel Sharon in Israel. Sharon had originally refused to meet Solana but eventually accepted that whether he liked it or not the EU was involved in the Road Map. He criticised Israel for obstructing the Palestinian presidential election of 9 January 2005 but then met Sharon again on 13 January. In November 2004 he assisted the United Kingdom France and Germany in negotiating a nuclear material enrichment freeze with Iran. In the same month he was involved in mediating between the two presidential candidates in the post-election developments in Ukraine and on 21 January 2005 he invited Ukraine's new President Viktor Yushchenko to discuss future EU membership.14 In 2010 after he had left office he signed a petition along with 25 other EU leaders directed at his successor Catherine Ashton calling for EU sanctions on Israel in response to continued settlement construction in the West Bank.15 Other Solana is married to Concepcin Gimnez and they have two adult children Diego and Vega. He lives in Brussels where his apartment has a reputation of being a focal point for Spanish politicians in or visiting this capital. Apart from his native Spanish he also speaks fluent French as well as English. General Wesley Clark once asked Solana the secret of his diplomatic success. He answered: "Make no enemies and never ask a question to which you do not know or like the answer."14 He has been described as a "squarer of circles."citation needed U.S. ambassador to NATO Alexander Vershbow said of him: "He is an extraordinary consensus-builder who works behind the scenes with leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure that NATO is united when it counts."citation needed He is a frequent speaker at the prestigious U.S. based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is likewise active in the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) as well as the New York City based East West Institute. In March 2010 Dr. Solana became honorary president of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and in 2011 became a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation an organization which works to promote good governance around the world. He is an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George a member of the Spanish section of the Club of Rome. He has received the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholic in Spain and the Manfred Wrner Medal from the German Defence Ministry. He has been President of the Madariaga - College of Europe Foundation since 1998. He received the Vision for Europe Award in 2003. Also in 2003 he received the 'Statesman of the Year Award' from the EastWest Institute a Transatlantic think tank that organizes an annual Security Conference in Brussels. In 2006 Solana received the Carnegie-Wateler peace prize. He has also been awarded the Charlemagne Prize for 2007 for his distinguished services on behalf of European unification.16 In December 2009 Javier Solana joined ESADE Business School as President of its new Centre for Global Economy and Geopolitics. In January 2010 King Juan Carlos I appointed Javier Solana the 1194th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece for his career in diplomacy.17 See also Enlargement of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council History of Serbia and Montenegro History of the European Constitution History of the European Union List of European Union-related topics Politics of Europe References Biography of Luis Solana (brother of Javier Solana) at his blog (in Spanish): Hered de su abuelo materno Rogelio de Madariaga y Castro la revista Espaa Econmica publicacin que dio cabida a jvenes economistas crticos con el rgimen de Franco. Sobrino nieto de D. Salvador de Madariaga. He inherited from his maternal grandfather Rogelio de Madariaga y Castro the magazine "Espaa Econmica" which accommodated young economists critical of the Franco regime. (He's) the grand nephew of D. Salvador de Madariaga a b Death notice of Obdulia Madariaga Prez widow of Solana Movimiento nobiliario 1934 page 167. News about the marriage between Luis Solana San Martn and Obdulia Madariaga. Feliz Navidad Maribel! post in Luis Solana's blog (Luis Solana is Javier's brother) and the post accounts mentions the five brothers. Death notice of Enrique de Madariaga y Prez-Gros. It mentions Obdulia as sister and Luis Solana San Martn as brother-in-law. Death notice of Juana San Martn Yoldi widow of Ezequiel Solana. It mentions all her sibling including Luis. http://www.luissolana.com/pageid2 http://www.trilateral.org/AnnMtgs/trialog/trlglist.htm Cideob biography New Figures on Civilian Deaths in Kosovo War by Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Letter to NATO Secretary General Javier Solana EU's Solana to step down http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middleeast/4040571.stm a b Clark Wesley K. Waging Modern War. New York: Perseus Books Group 2001-2002 p. 15 http://news.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11968304 Internationaler Karlspreis zu Aachen - News (Spanish) 1 BOE 10-01-23 Spanish Official Journal (accessed on 23 January 2010) This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (September 2007) External links Biography of Javier Solana at CIDOB (Spanish) (updated to 2010update) Solana steps down as EU foreign policy chief EU's quiet diplomat steps aside after 10 years Curriculum Vitae of Javier Solana Assessment of next NATO Secretary General Civil liberties and Solana Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Peace European Neighbourhood Policy IMDB page Interview about EDSP Interview as Spanish foreign minister in conflict with Canada langes&clientfirefox-a Interview with Physics world magazine Online Resource Guide to EU Foreign Policy Madariaga European Foundation Shorter biography of Javier Solana Solana's development of a Common Foreign and Security Policy Solana meets Sharon July 2004 The puzzle of Solana's power Book about Javier Solana 2011 Political offices Preceded by Soledad Becerril Minister of Culture of Spain 19821988 Succeeded by Jorge Semprn Preceded by Eduardo Sotillos Spokesman for the Government of Spain 19851988 Succeeded by Rosa Conde Preceded by Jos Mara Maravall Minister of Education of Spain 19881992 Succeeded by Alfredo Prez Rubalcaba Preceded by Francisco Fernndez Ordez Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain 19921995 Succeeded by Carlos Westendorp Preceded by Jrgen Trumpf High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy 19992009 Succeeded by Catherine Ashton as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Preceded by Jrgen Trumpf Secretary General of the Council of the European Union 19992009 Succeeded by Pierre de Boissieu Diplomatic posts Preceded by Willy Claes Secretary General of NATO 19951999 Succeeded by The Lord Robertson of Port Ellen Preceded by Jos Cutileiro Secretary General of the Western European Union 19992009 Succeeded by Arnaud Jacomet v d eSecretaries General of NATO Lord Ismay  Paul-Henri Spaak  Dirk Stikker  Manlio Brosio  Joseph Luns  Lord Carrington  Manfred Wrner  Sergio Balanzino  Willy Claes  Sergio Balanzino  Javier Solana  Lord Robertson of Port Ellen  Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo  Jaap de Hoop Scheffer  Anders Fogh Rasmussen v d eRecipients of the Charlemagne Prize Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi (1950)  Hendrik Brugmans (1951)  Alcide de Gasperi (1952)  Jean Monnet (1953)  Konrad Adenauer (1954)  Sir Winston S. Churchill (1956)  Paul Henri Spaak (1957)  Robert Schuman (1958)   George C. Marshall (1959)  Joseph Bech (1960)  Walter Hallstein (1961)  Edward Heath (1963)  Antonio Segni (1964)  Jens Otto Krag (1966)  Joseph Luns (1967)  The European Commission (1969)  Franois Seydoux de Clausonne (1970)  Roy Jenkins (1972)  Don Salvador de Madariaga (1973)  Leo Tindemans (1976)  Walter Scheel (1977)  Konstantinos Karamanlis (1978)  Emilio Colombo (1979)  Simone Veil (1981)  King Juan Carlos of Spain (1982)  The People of Luxembourg (1986)  Henry A. Kissinger (1987)  Franois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl (1988)  Frre Roger (1989)  Gyula Horn (1990)  Vclav Havel (1991)  Jacques Delors (1992)  Felipe Gonzlez Mrquez (1993)  Gro Harlem Brundtland (1994)  Franz Vranitzky (1995)  Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1996)  Roman Herzog (1997)  Bronisaw Geremek (1998)  Anthony (Tony) Charles Lynton Blair (1999)  William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton (2000)  Gyrgy Konrd (2001)  The euro (2002)  Valry Giscard d'Estaing (2003)  Pat Cox (2004)  Extraordinary prize: Pope John Paul II (2004)  Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (2005)  Jean-Claude Juncker (2006)  Javier Solana (2007)  Angela Merkel (2008)  Andrea Riccardi (2009)  Donald Tusk (2010)  Jean-Claude Trichet (2011) Persondata Name Solana Javier Alternative names Short description Date of birth 14 July 1942 Place of birth Madrid Spain Date of death Place of death Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Javier Solana