José Manuel García-Margallo, A State Treasury Inspector by profession, he has been active in Spanish politics since the Transition. He was a deputy in the Constituent Cortes with UCD, a deputy in the Spanish Parliament for thirteen years, and later a Member of the European Parliament for seventeen years, where he became Vice-President of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, before joining Mariano Rajoy's government as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In 2016, he returned as a deputy to the Congress, and from 2019 to 2024, he was a Member of the European Parliament.

He holds a degree in Law from the University of Deusto, where he also studied Economics. In 1973, he obtained a Master’s in Law and the International Tax Program from Harvard University. In 2004, he earned a PhD from Miguel Hernández University of Elche with a thesis on the European welfare model.

A regular columnist in the press and also the author of several books, the latest being "Spain: Terra Incognita."