The end of a government's term of office is always a good time to carry out an evaluation of its foreign policy. However, it should not be a matter of merely carrying out a critical review of the specific actions taken by the government during the past four years, but also assessing the country’s international position at the end of the period and, particularly, evaluating what the future prospects are for Spain's foreign policy. This analysis should also cover the internal, organisational aspects of foreign policy, how it links into a system of changing international relations and Spain's contribution to European Union external action, which is a key element in terms of our incorporation on an international level.

The CIDOB Foundation has invited three leading analysts to take part in a round table debate on the abovementioned issues. Esther Barbé is the director of the Observatory of European Foreign Policy and coordinator of the study 'Spain in Europe 2004-2008', the main conclusions of which she will review during the debate. Nicolás Sartorius is the director of the Observatory of Spain's Foreign Policy from the Alternativas Foundation; he has recently published the study 'Spain's Objectives in its External Action'. Darío Valcárcel is the editor of the magazine Política Exterior and a columnist on the daily newspaper ABC.