Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga (born July 14, 1942 in Madrid) is a Spanish physicist, politician and diplomat.

He is the former Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and also the former European Union foreign policy chief.

Solana was studying in both the United Kingdom and the United States before returning to Spain with Nicolás Cabrera, and becoming a professor of solid state physics in the Complutense University.

Having already joined the banned PSOE left-wing party in 1964, he became one of its leaders when it became legal in 1977. He became a Cabinet Minister, serving first as Minister for Culture and party spokesman, then Minister for Education, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, before being made NATO boss in December 1995, just as the Dayton agreement saw the IFOR NATO peacekeeping mission enter the former Yugoslavia. He was also involved in the Kosovo bombings, and the negotiations that led to an eventual peace.

In March 2020, Solana tested positive for COVID-19.Former NATO chief Javier Solana has coronavirus - source

References

Category:1942 births
Category:Living people
Category:Spanish diplomats
Category:High Representatives of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Category:Secretaries General of NATO
Category:Politicians from Madrid
Category:Physicists
Category:Scientists from Madrid