Posted on 13 June 2018
Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and former President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell visited the Historical Archives of the European Union on 31 May 2018 for a tour of Villa Salviati and to take part in a private interview, organized as a part of our oral history project “Leaders Beyond the State”.
Maurizio Cotta, Professor of Political Science at the University of Siena, interviewed the Spanish politician and former President of the European University Institute and the interview will be made available to researchers soon.
Josep Borrell’s visit included a tour of the gardens, grotto and repositories of Villa Salviati, the latter containing the memory of the European Union deposited at the HAEU.
During President Borrell’s visit to the Archives, he was also presented with key documents on the process of Spain’s accession to the European Communities, from the first contacts through the European Movement until the entrance of Spain into the EC in 1986 and the first direct elections of Spanish MEPs in 1987.
Borrell was particularly interested in some dossiers on the congresses of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, in particular the first Congress held in Spain after the Franco dictatorship, the 27th Congress of the PSOE, held on 5 December 1976 in Madrid.
The visit of President Borrell took place in the framework of a public interview series organized by the EUI’s School of Transnational Governance. The public interview recorded on this occasion can be found here.
Additional photos from his visit to our Archives can be found on our Facebook page.