Javier Rupérez has been Spanish Ambassador to Washington (2000-2004), to NATO (1981-1982) and to the OSCE (1979-1981). He was the UN Assistant Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee (2004-2007).
He was active in the Christian Democratic anti-Franco movements in the sixties and seventies, becoming involved in the transitional process from dictatorship to democracy. He was, as a Senator and a Congressman, a member of the Spanish Cortes from 1979 to 2000. He was Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and of the Defense Committee in the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2000. He was also Secretary General and then President of the Christian Democratic International, as well as Chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
A Law and Journalism graduate of the Complutense University in Madrid, he is now the President of the consulting firm Ruperez International LLC and divides his time between Madrid and Washington DC. Author of several books about national and international relations and policies, as well as a novel and a volume of short stories, he regularly publishes his columns in the Spanish national daily ABC and teaches International Relations and Conflict Management at the American University in Washington DC and the Francisco de Vitoria University, the Villanueva University and CEU San Pablo University in Madrid. He is married to Rakela Cerovic and their daughter Laura will be graduating from Georgetown University this year.
We had the privilege of conducting this exclusive interview with Javier, a USEC member, to get his impressions on a number of current issues in different domains.
