Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, 1st Marquess of Oreja (born 13 February 1935) is a Spanish lawyer, diplomat and politician of the People's Party. He served as Foreign Minister of Spain between 1976 and 1980. Between 1984 and 1989 he was

Secretary General of the Council of Europe The Secretary General of the Council of Europe () is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly from a shortlist proposed by the Committee of Ministers for a term of five years. The secretary general is entrusted with the responsibility of meetin ...

. In 1989 he became member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

and he served until 1993. In 1994 he was appointed

European Commissioner for Transport The European Commissioner for Transport is a member of the European Commission whose portfolio includes the planning and development of homogeneous transport policies and regulations across the Union, of the Trans-European Transport Network as ...

and Energy and then European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy.

Career

Oreja was born on 13 February 1935 in Madrid, his father was Marcelino Oreja Elósegui. In May 1973 he and a number of Madrid-based individuals founded the , a group of intellectuals, politicians and journalists, some of them coming from the Franco regime and others from the democratic and monarchist opposition to the dictatorship. They - by the prospect of Franco's death - advocated a democratic solution to the dictatorial regime and had influence in different sectors linked to the system, and where active during the period of the

Spanish Transition The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

between 1973 and 1976. Oreja came up with the name after the Roman historian

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

, meaning that due to government censorship not everything could be said. The had its origins in a meeting of the Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas’ (''Catholic National Association of Propagandists'') and group’s early influence was largely determined by its access to the Catholic press. Oreja served as Spanish minister of foreign affairs from 5 July 1976 to 1980. July 1976 Oreja set out to reform Spain's 1953 Concordat with the Vatican, which resulted the same month in agreements with the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

laying out the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

.https://www.ru.nl/publish/pages/816038/oreja-m-19april2017.pdf Marcelino Oreja Aguirre Bio, Université du Luxembourg CVCE.EU The Spanish chief of state no more had the right to nominate Roman Catholic bishops, in exchange the Vatican dropped its right of "ecclesiastical forum". Two months later Oreja signed the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

on behalf of Spain. On 24 November 1977, in Strasbourg, Oreja signed Spain's accession to the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, with the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

entering into force in Spain on 4 October 1979. He was

from 1984 to 1989. He was elected to the

in 1989. His membership ended on 28 June 1993. In 1994 Oreja was appointed

and Energy and then European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy. At the end of his mandate, Oreja retired from political life, returning to Spain. He continued to be active in many fields, being appointed Head of the Institute for European Studies at the CEU San Pablo University Foundation, Vice-Chair of the BBV Foundation (1996) and Doctor Honoris Causa at

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Universities (1996).

Other activities

* Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Member of the Board of Trustees * Spanish Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (RACMP), Member * Spanish Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation (RAJL), Member

Recognition

On 8 April 2010 Oreja was made Marquess of Oreja.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Oreja, Marcelino 1935 births Living people Politicians from Madrid People's Party (Spain) politicians Foreign ministers of Spain Council of Europe Secretaries-General MEPs for Spain 1989–1994 Spanish European commissioners Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Marquesses of Spain Spanish people of Basque descent Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 2nd Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 5th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the Senate of Spain