Carles A. Gasòliba is a Doctor of Economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a Master of Arts in Industrial Economics from the University of Sussex, Great Britain. He is a numerary member of the Institute of Catalan Studies (Philosophy and Social Science section) and of the Spanish Royal Academy of Economics and Finance. He has lectured in Industrial Economics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and is currently guest speaker-lecturer on European Integration at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona.

As an economist, he worked from 1968 as an adviser on industrial investments until 1980, when he became MP for CiU in the Spanish Parliament, where he was spokesman for the Parliamentary Group of the Catalan Minority for economic and budgetary issues. From 1980 to 1986 he chaired the government of Catalonia delegation in the Generalitat of Catalonia-Spanish Government Commission for overseeing the negotiations for the entry of the Kingdom of Spain into the EEC. From 1982 to 2004 he was secretary-general of the Patronat Català Pro Europa under the presidency of Jordi Pujol. From 1986 to 2004 he was a Euro MP for CiU in the Liberal Group of the European Parliament, and was spokesman for same in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. In 2004 he was elected CiU Senator for Barcelona, and was also Chairman of the Senate Committee for the Economy and Treasury. During the same period he was an MP in the European Council. He has been a member of European Parliament delegations to Japan, South America, Mexico and Central America.

At present he is Chairman of AXIS. Consultoría Europea, SL; Senior Advisor to RJ Consultoría de Empresas, and Special Advisor to FIPRA International of London. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of EUCOMED (Medical Devices Association) in Brussels. He is Chairman of the Spanish Committee of the European League for Economic Cooperation (LECE) and of its Mediterranean Committee in Brussels. He is a board member of the Fundació Cercle d’Economia.

Carles A. Gasòliba is Trustee and Chairman of the Board of CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs) as from 14 May 2012.

CV C.A. Gasòliba (pdf 69kB)

Javier Solana Madariaga (Madrid, 1942) was awarded a doctorate in Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a professorship from the Complutense University. A member of the PSOE, he first became a member of parliament in 1977, while in 1982 he was made a minister of the Spanish government: In the three years that followed he held the portfolios of Culture, Education and Science, and Foreign Affairs.

In 1995 he was appointed Secretary General of NATO, from which post he directed peacekeeping and military operations in the Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo conflicts, in addition to negotiating the new Russia-NATO framework for cooperation.

In 1999, the European Council chose him to be Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and the first High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP); he was also appointed Secretary General of the UEO. In the following decade, Solana coordinated the execution of what was known as the second pillar of the EU, a task that gained him widespread prominence and international recognition, and for which he was awarded the Charlemagne Prize. As a European official, he headed the political dialogue with non-member countries, drafted the EU's first Strategic Security Doctrine and gave substantial input to the European Security and Defence Policy (ESPD), which developed operative bodies and launched its first crisis management missions; as a facilitator, he successfully mediated in the disputes in Macedonia, Serbia-Montenegro and Ukraine, at all times defending multilateral solutions.

In December 2009, after bidding farewell to Brussels, he joined ESADE in Barcelona, and in March 2010 he was appointed President of Honour of CIDOB. He also heads the Madariaga Foundation of the College of Europe.

Dr. Jordi Vaquer i Fanés is Director of CIDOB. He is the coordinator of EU4Seas, a European Commission funded research program bringing together partner institutions from 8 European countries to study the effects of EU policies on cooperation around the Mediterranean, Baltic, Caspian and Black Seas. Dr. Vaquer entered the CIDOB staff as the Europe Programme Coordinator in 2007. Prior to this he worked in the international affairs department of the Government of Catalonia, where he served in the Europe and in the Asia and Mediterranean sections before he became the Head of the International Relations Office. He also has professional experience as a guest lecturer of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as an observer in elections in 7 different countries, and as a junior consultant in European Commission-funded projects. Most of his publications in English and Spanish focus on Spanish foreign policy, relations between the European Union and the countries of the Maghreb, and the conflict of Western Sahara. Dr. Vaquer i Fanés received a master’s degree from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and he completed a Ph.D. in International Relations at the London School of Economics in 2004.

Curriculum vitae (pdf 39kB)