Josep Borrell is President of CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs). From 2019 to 2024, he served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission. Previously, he was Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation from 2018 to 2019.

From 2004 to 2007, he served as President of the European Parliament, where he subsequently chaired the Committee on Development from 2007 to 2009. In Spain, he was a Member of Parliament from 1986 to 2003 and served as Minister for Public Works, Transport, Telecommunications and the Environment from 1991 to 1996. He also held the positions of Secretary of State for Finance from 1984 to 1991 and Secretary-General for Budgets and Public Spending from 1982 to 1984.

In academia, Borrell held the Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Integration at the Complutense University of Madrid from 2013 to 2017 and served as President of the European University Institute in Florence from 2010 to 2012. Before embarking on his political career, he was a mathematics lecturer at the School of Aeronautical Engineering and the Complutense University of Madrid from 1972 to 1982.