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Abel Matutes y Juan (born 31 October 1941) is a Spanish former politician who served as Spain's
Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
from 6 May 1996 to 2000. He was also a European commissioner from 1986 to 1994 and a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
.


Early life

Matutes was born in
Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...
on 31 October 1941 and his early political life was in that region.


Political service

He was Mayor of Ibiza in 1970 and 1971 and became Senator for Ibiza and
Formentera Formentera (, ) is a Spanish island located in the Mediterranean Sea, which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain) together with Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza. Formentera is the smallest and most southerly island of the ...
in 1977. In 1982 Matutes left the Senate and became a member of the
Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...
, the lower house of the
Spanish Parliament The (; ) 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 meets in the Palacio de las Cortes. The Senate meets in the Palac ...
, representing the
Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...
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 A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
and spokesman for the People's Party at the European Parliament from 1994 onwards. As a founding leader of the Balearic branch of the Liberal Union party. He was also deputy chairman of the People's Alliance and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the People's Party.


Personal life

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, and is also a member of the Economics and Finance Academy. He is emeritus professor at the University of Santiago de Chile and of the
Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...
a member of the Honor Committee of the Royal Institute of European Studies, an honorary member of the Filipino Academy of Spanish Language.


See also

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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