(Abel_Matutes)_José_María_Aznar_junto_al_ministro_de_Asuntos_Exteriores

Abel Matutes y Juan (born 31 October 1941) is a Spanish politician who served as Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 6 May 1996 to 2000. Matutes was born in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

on 31 October 1941 and his early political life was in that region. He was

Mayor of Ibiza In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

in 1970 and 1971 and became Senator for Ibiza and

Formentera Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area of ...

in 1977. In 1982 Matutes left the Senate and became a member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Spanish Parliament The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meet ...

, representing the Balearic Islands until 1985. In 1986, Matutes became a member of the Commission of the European Community (the

Delors Commission The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the eighth President of the European Commission. Delors presided over the European Commission for three terms (though the last one lasted for around a year). The first term lasted ...

), where he was in charge of the departments of Credit and Investment, Financial Engineering and Policy for Small and Medium Enterprises, North–South relations, Mediterranean Policy, and Relations with Latin America and Asia. In 1993 his brief changed to Transportation, Energy and the Supply Agency for Euratom. He was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

and spokesman for the Partido Popular at the European Parliament from 1994 onwards. As a Founder Chairman of the Balaerics' "Unió Liberal" Party. He was also deputy chairman of Alianza Popular and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Partido Popular. Outside politics Matutes is married and a father of four children. He holds a degree in Law and Economics and has been a professor of

Public Finance Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achie ...

, and is also a member of the Economics and Finance Academy. He is

Emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

University of Santiago de Chile The University of Santiago, Chile (Usach) ( es, Universidad de Santiago de Chile) is one of the oldest public universities in Chile. The institution was born as ''Escuela de Artes y Oficios'' (Spanish: ''School of Arts and Crafts'') in 1849 by I ...

and of the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

a member of the Honor Committee of the

Royal Institute of European Studies Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, an honorary member of the Filipino Academy of Spanish Language. As a business man, he has been involved in tourism, aviation, biotechnology and banking companies, and is Deputy chairman of the Ibiza and Formentera Tourism Employers Organisation.

References

Basic biographical information fro
NATO who's who
''Note that this article is dated 8 September 2002 – the above information may be out of date...''
Biography at Spanish Congress site
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Matutes, Abel 1941 births Living people People from Ibiza Spanish European Commissioners People's Party (Spain) politicians Members of the 2nd Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the Senate of Spain Complutense University of Madrid alumni Foreign ministers of Spain European Commissioners 1985–1988 Recipients of the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay