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His father taught chemistry at the local university. Solana grew up in the liberal and democratic climate of his parents' home amid Franco-fascism. He attended an elite school and studied physics at the University of Madrid. Already during his studies, Solana attracted attention through political activity in the left-wing socialist camp: membership in the then banned Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) resulted in his forced exmatriculation. He continued his studies abroad from 1963, first in the Netherlands and then in England.
Thanks to a scholarship, Solana was able to study abroad in the USA from 1966 to 1968, which he completed with a doctorate. In 1968, Solana worked as a research assistant at the University of Virginia. In 1971 he returned to Spain, where he initially worked under Franco at the University of Madrid as a private lecturer in physics, but was then fired for political reasons. With the liberalization after Franco's death, Solana was able to resume his academic career as a physics professor at the University of Madrid in 1975.
His political commitment to the PSOE also intensified, for which he entered the Spanish Parliament several times and was the press secretary. Solana was appointed government spokesman and culture minister in the new PSOE government under Felipe González in 1982. In 1988 the Prime Minister put him in charge of the Ministry of Education and Science, and in 1992 he moved to the office of Foreign Minister. In this role, Solana gained international recognition for the first time. In 1995, he confidently led Spain through the six-month EU presidency.
In December 1995, Solana was appointed NATO Secretary General in Brussels. In this position he distinguished himself by starting the NATO peacekeeping operation in Bosnia that same month. He also subsequently pushed for the development of a partnership with Russia, which resulted in an agreement in 1997 on reducing the mutual nuclear threat. In the spring of 1999, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland joined NATO. Also in the spring of 1999, Solana also attracted the world's attention with the attack on Serbia, as it was the first attack by the defense alliance against a sovereign state.
In October 1999, Solana again took up a high military-diplomatic position: He served as the European Union's "High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy" (CFSP) until 2004. In this role, the Spanish politician tried to coordinate the relationship between the EU, NATO and Russia. He also repeatedly distinguished himself with mediation initiatives in the Middle East conflict. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Solana was unable to prevent a division among the EU states over the war policy of the US government under George W. Bush.
The Iraq War led to a temporary polarization of war supporters and opponents in Europe and significantly weakened the position of the Spanish EU diplomat. Even before Solana's term as EU representative for common foreign and security policy expired in October 2004, he was confirmed for a second five-year term in office in July of that year. At the same time, the Council of the EU appointed him as the future first Foreign Minister of the European Union, who will take office when the European Constitution comes into force in 2006. In mid-May 2005, the EU foreign policy chief visited Poland, during which Solana discussed Poland's further integration into the Union in Warsaw.
Solana's visit to the Palestinian Autonomous Territories followed in July 2005, where he campaigned for the continuation of the Middle East peace process. In the following months, the EU minister played a key role in initiating EU accession negotiations with Turkey. On October 3, 2005, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül officially began accession negotiations with the EU in Luxembourg. On May 17, 2007, Solana received the International Charlemagne Prize in Aachen. He was honored for his services to Europe.
Javier Solana is married to Concepción Jiménez and has two children.
