Involvement in local politics Borrell joined the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1975 and started his political activity during
Spain's transition to democracy in the
Socialist Grouping of Madrid along with
Luis Solana and
Luis Carlos Croissier. He ran for office as the number 5 in the PSOE list for the
1979 municipal election in
Majadahonda, becoming city councillor. Borrell also became a member of the 1979–1983 corporation of the
Provincial Deputation of Madrid and managed the Financial Department of the provincial government body in the pre-autonomic period.
Role during the González's governments , Spokesman of the Government, in
La Moncloa, 1984 In the
1982 general election the PSOE won a landslide victory, returning the socialists to power for the first time since the years of the
Second Republic. Under Prime Minister
Felipe González, Borrell was appointed to several prominent positions within the Ministry of Economy and Finance, first as General Secretary for the Budget and Public Spending (1982–1984), and then as
Secretary of State for Finance (1984–1991). During his tenure as Secretary of State for Finance, Spain joined the
European Economic Community in 1986. He became known for his actions seeking to combat fraud and
tax evasion, going after the rich and famous, including celebrities such as
Lola Flores,
Marujita Díaz or Pedro Ruiz. In the
1986 general election he was for the first time elected to the
Congress of Deputies, remaining as an
MP representing
Barcelona until 2004. In 1991 he joined the
Council of Ministers as
Minister of Public Works and Transport. , during a joint press conference He took a role in the process of
liberalization of telecommunications in Spain, promoting the 1991–2001 National Plan of Telecommunications (PNT); in 1993, Borrell threatened nonetheless the
European Commission with blocking the liberalization unless the concession of a moratory Spain was given, as Borrell deemed imperative to achieve first the universalization of service before the complete liberalization. Following the
1993 general election, Borrell continued with a seat at the
Council of Ministers, assuming the portfolio of Minister of Public Works, Transport and Environment in the last government presided by Felipe González. He left the office after the arrival to power of the
People's Party in 1996, remaining as an MP for Barcelona in the Spanish Congress.
Brief spell as leader of the opposition In 1998 Borrell decided to run against the
PSOE's then party leader
Joaquín Almunia in the first national
primary election ever held in the PSOE since the
Second Republic, intended to determine who the party would nominate as its prime ministerial candidate vis-à-vis the
2000 general election. Borrell ran as the underdog, campaigning as the candidate of the socialist base against the party establishment, and surprisingly won the voting, commanding 114,254 of the member's votes (54.99%), versus the 92,860 (44.67%) obtained by Almunia. Thus began an uneasy relationship and power-sharing—the "
bicefalia" (
duumvirate)—between the official party leader, Almunia, and the prime ministerial candidate elected by the members in the primaries, Borrell. However, in May 1999, a fraud investigation was launched into two officials whom, several years earlier, Borrell had appointed to senior posts in the finance ministry. Though not involved in the inquiry into property purchases, Borrell resigned from the role of Prime Ministerial candidate, stating that he did not want the affair to damage his party's chances in the upcoming local and general elections.-->
Involvement in European politics Amid the sixth term of the Cortes Generales, Borrell was elected to chair the
Joint Congress-Senate Committee on the European Union in October 1999, replacing
Pedro Solbes. Reelected as
MP for Barcelona in the
2000 general election, Borrell repeated as president of the Joint Committee for the European Union for the full 7th parliamentary term. Then, in 2001, Borrell was also appointed the
Spanish parliament's representative on the
Convention on the Future of Europe. In 2004, the prime minister and PSOE's leader
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero proposed Borrell to lead the Socialist Ticket in the
2004 European elections. The PSOE won the elections with 6,6 million votes (43,30%), obtaining 25 MEP seats, although turnout was relatively low at 46%. Borrell sat with the
Party of European Socialists (PES) group, and served as leader of the Spanish delegation. In July 2004 Borrell was elected
President of the European Parliament, as a result of an agreement between the
EPP and the
Socialists, becoming the third Spaniard to hold this position after
Enrique Barón and
José María Gil-Robles. In the presidential vote, out of 700
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) he received an absolute majority with 388 votes in the first ballot. The other two candidates were the Polish Liberal
Bronisław Geremek (208 votes) and the French communist
Francis Wurtz (51 votes). He was the first newly elected MEP to hold the post since direct elections were held in 1979. As part of a deal with the conservative faction in the parliament, the
EPP, he was succeeded as president of the parliament by the German conservative politician
Hans-Gert Pöttering in the second part of the five-year term. In his capacity as president, Borrell also chaired the Parliament's temporary committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007–2013. From 2007 until leaving the Parliament in 2009, he served as chairman of the
Committee on Development. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the Parliament's delegation to the
ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Step back from the political front , between
Mario Vargas Llosa and
Albert Rivera during a mass rally defending the unity of Spain held in Barcelona on 8 October 2017 Borrell was nominated president of the
European University Institute on 12 December 2008, and assumed this position in January 2010. In 2012, he was forced to resign after failing to disclose a financial relationship with
Abengoa, which paid him €300,000 yearly as a board member for the company. He also stood out as one of the most outspoken opponents of
Catalan secessionism. Borrell co-authored
Las cuentas y los cuentos de la independencia ("The calculations and tales behind independence"), a 2015 essay that vowed to dismantle the economic arguments laid out by the pro-independence movement. He also took a leading role in a mass rally defending the unity of Spain held in Barcelona on 8 October 2017, in which Borrell gave an impassionated speech demanding "not to bring up more frontiers" while displaying a European Union flag that he called "our
estelada" (starred flag), bringing him back to the media first line. He also took part on a second mass rally on 29 October 2017 under the slogan "We are all Catalonia".
Foreign Minister, 2018–2019 (June 2018) Following the
2018 successful motion of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy and subsequent investiture of
Pedro Sánchez as new prime minister, Borrell was announced on 5 June as Sánchez's choice for the post of foreign minister in
his new government. 22 years after the end of his last tenure as member of the
Government of Spain, Borrell assumed the portfolio of
Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation on 7 June along the rest of the new cabinet in
La Zarzuela. The new minister relocated some of the high-rank officials appointed by the government of Mariano Rajoy with a diplomatic background to ambassadorial posts, including secretaries of State and, most notably, the former foreign minister (
Alfonso Dastis) and the
prime minister's chief of staff (
Jorge Moragas). Borrell decided to reformulate the High Commissioner for the 'Marca España' (Spain Brand), a one-person body functionally dependent directly on the Office of the Prime Minister but organically included within the Foreign Office structure to the post of
Secretary of State for Global Spain. The officeholder responsible for the 'Marca España' since 2012, The
Marquess of Valtierra, was replaced by
Irene Lozano. In June 2018, Borrell accompanied
King Felipe VI on an official visit to the US. Borrell had a meeting with
Mike Pompeo, where the Spanish delegation expressed concern over the US protectionist drift; discrepancies were found between the two countries in their approach to migration policies. In September 2018, the
National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) settled a disciplinary action against Borrell opened in 2017 due to the latter's
insider trading in the sale of stocks of
Abengoa (whose
board of directors Borrell was a member of) in November 2015, sanctioning him with a fine of €. Regarding the negotiations with the
United Kingdom on
Gibraltar in the context of
Brexit, Borrell vowed to prioritise improvement of the living conditions in neighbouring
Campo de Gibraltar On the other hand, he renounced attempts to include the longstanding bid for sovereignty as an element of the negotiations. Borrell highlighted the fact that this soft approach was the same stance used by his predecessor, Dastis, outlining a continuity in the negotiations with the former government, with the ministry keeping the same negotiating team as before the government change. In November 2018, he signed four
MoUs negotiated with the United Kingdom, settling aspects of the future relationship with the
British Overseas Territory.
Spitzenkandidat Frans Timmermans and
Pedro Sánchez in January 2019 Given the aggravation of the
political crisis in Nicaragua, in December 2018 Borrell pressed EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
Federica Mogherini for EU-wide involvement in the situation. In May 2019, the
Spanish Embassy in Caracas lodged Venezuelan dissident
Leopoldo López as a guest following the
Venezuelan uprising, as the latter had been freed from domiciliary imprisonment by forces endorsing
Juan Guaidó. However, Borrell warned Spain was not going "to allow the embassy to become a centre of political activism", vowing to restrict the political activities of López as a guest. For the
2019 European Parliament election in Spain, Borrell ran first in the PSOE list. During the electoral campaign, he appealed to the unity of Europe and stressed the need for EU member states to pool sovereignty in order to survive as a civilization. Shortly after his election, he gave up his newly won seat before the inaugural session of the legislature, arguing that acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez and he had agreed that, amid the uncertainty regarding the second investiture of Sánchez, the post of foreign minister should not be left vacant for an indefinite period. In October 2019, Borrell condemned the
Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria against
Syrian Kurds, adding that "We don't have magic powers" to stop the Turkish invasion. He stepped down from the office on 29 November 2019 and was succeeded
ad interim by the
Minister of Defence,
Margarita Robles.
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in 2019 in a hearing for his confirmation as High Representative.
2019 On 2 July 2019,
President of the European Council Donald Tusk announced that the
European Council would nominate Josep Borrell as
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The portfolio had been reportedly beefed up with additional responsibilities in
humanitarian aid, support of development policies in Africa and the external dimension of immigration. Also in July 2019, he announced the acquisition of double Argentine–Spanish citizenship, assumed on 18 July 2019, thus gaining the citizenship his father was born with. He passed the hearing before the
European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) on 7 October 2019. His nomination was green-lighted the next day by a vote of AFET members. To counter its negative image in the EU,
China sent medical aid and supplies to EU countries affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Borrell warned that there is "a geopolitical component, including a struggle for influence through spinning and the 'politics of generosity'." He also said that "China is aggressively pushing the message that, unlike the US, it is a responsible and reliable partner."
2020 on 7 February 2020 Borrell said that
proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank "could not pass unchallenged" and warned that "failure to adequately respond would encourage other states with territorial claims to disregard basic principles of international law". He said that "In line with international law and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, the EU does not recognize Israel's sovereignty" over the
Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Borrell hailed the
peace agreement between
Israel and the
United Arab Emirates as benefiting both nations and being important for stability in the Middle East. He also called Israeli suspension of its annexation plans positive and stated that the European Union hoped for a
two-state solution. at the
South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) Summit in Antalya, Turkey on 17 June 2021 On 9 April 2020, Borrell, on behalf of the EU, with the release of the first report of the Investigation and Identification Team to the Executive Council of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and to the
Secretary-General of the
United Nations on 8 April 2020, declared that "We fully support the report's findings and note with great concern its conclusions. The European Union strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by the
Syrian Arab Air Force as concluded by the report. Those identified as responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable for these reprehensible acts." On 24 April, the EU's foreign security policy agency, the
European External Action Service (EEAS), published a report on
disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New York Times reported that the language had been toned down amid
criticism from China. The final report differed in key areas from both an internal version and an earlier draft planned for public release. At a parliamentary hearing on 30 April, Borrell acknowledged that China had expressed concerns about the report after it leaked, but he denied the EU had bowed to pressure or that the report had been revised. Borrell said that there were two separate reports, one for internal consumption and one for publication. Responding to questions from members of the European Parliament, Borrell accused staff of damaging the EU by leaking. He also appeared to suggest that analysts' views were biased and cast doubt on their credibility: "I cannot accept that the personal belief or feeling of a member of staff leaking mails—maybe being written to be leaked—created damage to the credibility of the institution", he said, later asking MEPs why "more credibility" was being given "to the personal opinion of a member of a staff". Multiple EU officials told
BuzzFeed News and
The New York Times that they were angry and disappointed by Borrell's focus on leaks and, in particular, his singling out of junior staff members. Concerning the long-standing
Aegean dispute between Turkey and Greece, Borrell in August 2020 expressed "full solidarity" with
Greece and
Cyprus (Turkey has
occupied northern Cyprus since July 1974) and called for "immediate deescalation" by Turkey and "reengaging in dialogue." on 9 March 2020 In October 2020, Borrell called on
Armenia and
Azerbaijan to cease fighting in the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region and return to the negotiating table. High Representative Josep Borrell with U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken in
Triangle building,
Brussels, 2022
2021 in November 2021 In February 2021, Borrell voiced "strong concern" about China's "treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, in particular" ethnic
Uyghurs in
Xinjiang. In March 2021, he said China's
sanctions on EU officials had created "a new atmosphere" and "a new situation". High Representative Josep Borrell with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv in April 2022 on 11 November 2022 Although warned against doing so by several EU countries, Borrell decided on his own initiative to make the first high-level EU trip of its type in four years to Russia amidst the
2021 Russian protests, to meet with
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The visit was described by
MEPs, diplomats and other political observers as a humiliation for Borrell, as he stood by while Lavrov called the EU an "unreliable partner" and Russia expelled three EU diplomats while Borrell and Lavrov held their joint press briefing. This led to a group of over 70 MEPs to call for Borrell's resignation. In May 2021, Borrell called for a
ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian
Islamist group
Hamas. In June 2021, the Spanish newspaper
ABC published a mail that described that Borrell had informed the Cuban embassy about the debate in the European Parliament about the situation in
Cuba and that showed his intention to stop the debate and prevent it from reaching the Parliament's floor. A group of at least 16 MEPs asked Borrell for explanations. In August 2021, Borrell received criticism for sending a high-ranking EU representative,
Enrique Mora, to attend the inauguration of
Iranian president
Ebrahim Raisi. Mora was seated directly behind senior leaders of
Hamas and
Hezbollah during the ceremony. In September 2021, Borrell compared the situation on the
Belarus–Poland border to the migrant crisis on the
Morocco–Spain border. In October 2021, he went to
Saudi Arabia after visiting
Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates. Borrell said that the EU "now has human rights dialogues with all Gulf States and we launched such a dialogue with Saudi Arabia this week. This is an area where there is much to gain for both sides from closer cooperation." Borrell and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister
Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also discussed the conflict in
Yemen and the humanitarian situation in
Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan. Borell described the situation in Yemen as a "terrible tragedy" and called for a peaceful solution to the
war in Yemen, which is largely seen in the region as a
proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia. On 8 October 2021, Borrell said the EU's
relations with Turkey has significantly improved and he called his relationship with Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "excellent". On 18 October 2021, Borrell argued that the
2021 global energy crisis had "deep geopolitical roots. ... the price of gas, the scarcity, is something that has to be looked at from a geopolitical perspective." In December 2021, he criticised EU member states for not imposing sanctions on
Ethiopia, which was accused of
war crimes during the Tigray War. Borrell said the situation in Ethiopia was "one of my biggest frustrations" of the year because the EU was not able to react properly to the large-scale human rights violations, "mass rapes using sexual violence as a war arm, killings and concentration camps based on ethnic belonging."
2022 in 2022. On 22 February 2022, after Russia recognised the breakaway
Donetsk People's Republic and
Lugansk People's Republic and subsequently sent troops into the two regions, Borrell issued a statement condemning the actions and called upon Russia to return to the tenets of the
Normandy Format. Following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, Borrell and European Commission president
Ursula von der Leyen were part of an EU delegation visiting Kyiv on 8 April. Borrell said he wants EU countries to confiscate frozen
foreign-exchange reserves of the Russian central bank—which amount to over $300 billion—to cover the costs of rebuilding Ukraine after the war. In September 2022, he welcomed a
UN report on the
human rights abuses of the
Uyghur minority in China. On 13 October 2022, when speaking at the European Diplomatic Academy's inauguration ceremony in Bruges, Belgium, Borrell declared that "Europe is a garden and the rest of the world is a jungle." He added that the garden could be invaded by the jungle and that the gardeners would need to travel there in order to defend it. On 18 October, in response to his comments, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates summoned the acting head of the EU mission at UAE to explain Borrell's remarks, stating that the remarks were "inappropriate and discriminatory" and "contribute to a worsening climate of intolerance and discrimination worldwide."
2023 ,
Germany on 4 June 2023 In March 2023, after the
Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement was signed and after talks with US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken, Borrell said that the European Union and the United States would normalize relations with Ethiopia "in a gradual way, step-by-step". In April 2023, he criticised
China for its
support of Russia, saying that "We have been clear with China that its position on Russia's atrocities and war crimes will determine the quality of our relations with Beijing." on 17 February 2023 On 3 June 2023,
Indonesian Defense Minister
Prabowo Subianto proposed a multi-point
peace plan for the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling for a ceasefire, a demilitarized zone observed and monitored by
UN peacekeepers, and a U.N. referendum in what he called "disputed territory". Borrell criticized Prabow's proposal, saying that "We need to bring peace to Ukraine", but it must be a "just peace, not a peace of surrender." On 21 September 2023, Borrell released a statement which condemned the
military operation by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of
Nagorno-Karabakh and deplored the casualties and loss of life caused by the offensive. He condemned the "barbaric and terrorist attack" by
Hamas on Israel, which started the
Gaza war. On 10 October 2023, Borrell accused Israel of breaking international law by imposing a
blockade of the Gaza Strip. On 3 January 2024, he condemned the comments of the Israeli ministers
Itamar Ben-Gvir and
Bezalel Smotrich, writing, "Forced displacements are strictly prohibited as a grave violation of [international humanitarian law] & words matter." In March 2024, Borrell said Israel's depriving food from Palestinians was a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and described the
Flour massacre as "totally unacceptable carnage". German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz confronted Borrell over his months-long criticism of Israel, saying Borrell did not speak for Germany.
2024 in Astana, 1 August 2024 In April 2024, Borrell "strongly condemned" the
Iranian strikes on Israel, calling them "an unprecedented escalation and a grave threat to regional security". Previously in March 2024, Borrell had stalled efforts by nine EU foreign ministers to sanction Iran over its missile and drone program, because he felt that new sanctions might hamper efforts to bind Iran to a nuclear non-proliferation deal. On 15 May 2024, Borrell called on Israel to immediately halt its
assault on Rafah, stating it was disrupting humanitarian aid and causing a humanitarian crisis, while also calling on Hamas to release all
Israeli hostages. Borrell condemned the
Tel al-Sultan attack, saying that Israel's military actions needed to stop. ==Post Brussels, 2025–present==