Ángel Viñas, has been an Executive Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain

Ángel VIÑAS Economist, historian, diplomat. Born in Madrid, 1941. Studies at the Universities of Berlin, Glasgow, Hamburg and Madrid. Bachelor and Ph D in Economics at the latter with the highest marks. Has held chairs in Political Economy at the Universities of Valencia, Alcala, Open University and Complutense (Madrid). Former staff member at the International Monetary Fund; Former Director General for University Policy; Executive advisor to the Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also the Former counsellor at the Spanish Embassy in Bonn and the Representation to the UE. Former Director for relations with Latin America and Asia and, subsequently, Director for multilateral political relations, security policy and human rights in the European Commission. Former Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations in New York.

Currently he is Professor Emeritus of the Universidad Complutense, Madrid. His publications are numerous and deal basically with contemporary history, international relations and the EU. He was the first historian in highlighting the internal dynamics which led to the crisis of the European Commission in the late 20^th Century in his Al servicio de Europa. Innovacion y crisis en la Comision Europea. His last book (2016) researched the bribing of Spanish Generals by the British Government during World War II. He is now working on highly controversial aspects of Franco’ s conspiracy to launch the rebellion which led to the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

Professor Viñas has been awarded the Great Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish Government as well as honors from several countries. A full cv is available at his history blog in http://www.angelvinas.es