Senén Florensa

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Senén Florensa (Valls, 1950) is the President of the Delegate Committee and General Director of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) with the range of Executive President, Chair of EuroMeSCo General Assembly, and director of the quarterly afkar/ideas and of the IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook.

A diplomat, he holds a degree in Economic Science and in Law from the Universitat de Barcelona. He studied for his doctorate in Economics at the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (1973-1974); as a Fullbright scholarship holder at New York University , Ph. D. Program (1974-1976), and at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he presented his doctoral thesis in 1979 with the highest qualification of Outstanding Summa Cum Laude. Diploma in International Studies from the Diplomatic School of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Professional experience

  • Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna (2018-2020). Within the United Nations, he has been President of the Governing Board of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and President of the Convention of the Parties to the UNODC.
  • Consul General of Spain in Rome (2017-2018)
  • President of the General Assembly of the EuroMeSCo, a network of think tanks on Euro-Mediterranean policy and security
  • Executive President of the IEMed (2013 – 2017)
  • President of the Mediterranean Commission of the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC)
  • Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs of the Government of Catalonia (2011-2012)
  • Director general of the IEMed (2006-2011)
  • Spanish Ambassador to Tunisia (2000-2004)
  • General Director of the Instituto de Cooperación con el Mundo Árabe, Mediterráneo y Países en Desarrollo (ICMAMPD) of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (1996-2000)
  • Spanish Secretary of the Spanish-Moroccan Averroes Committee (1996-2000)
  • Spanish Consul General in Berlin (1992-1996)
  • Member of the Organizing Committee of the Barcelona Olympic Games COOB’92 (1986-1992)
  • Secretary-General of the departments of Trade, Consumption and Tourism (1986-1989) and of Territorial Policy and Public Works (1989-1992) of the Government of Catalonia
  • First Secretary of the Spanish Embassy at UNESCO (1986)
  • Director of the Technical Office of the Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana (1982-1984)
  • Advisory member of the Office of the President of the Spanish Government (1979-1982)

He has also been Director of Studies at the Diplomatic School of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Professor of International Economics and Development at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and of the Governing Board of the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija in Madrid.

Selection of articles and publications

Before joining the European Institute of the Mediterranean