Ana Palacio
Encyclopedia
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
(PP) government of José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
from July 2002-March 2004. Before this she was a lawyer in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and then a Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
from 1994 to 2002.
Ana Palacio graduated from the Lycée Français (Baccalauréat on Mathematics) with honors granted by the French Government to “the best foreign student who finished studies that year”. She holds degrees in Law, and Political Science and Sociology; her performance in her degree studies merited the Award for Academic Achievement (Premio Extraordinario Fin de Carrera).
Legal career
As a lawyer she has held the most senior positions in the governing bodies of the Madrid Bar, as well as the European Bar (CCBE). She is an honorary member of the Bar of England and Wales. She also served as a member of the Board of Trustees and former Executive President of the Academy of European Law (ERA); and Distinguished Professor of the European College in Parma. She has worked as a practicing lawyer specializing in EU internal market law.Career as MEP
She spent eight years (1994–2002) with the European Parliament where she has chaired the Legal Affairs and Internal Market Committee and the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, and was elected by her peers to chair in two half legislatures the Conference of Committee Chairmen, the Parliament’s most senior body for the coordination of its legislative work. Inspired by legal legitimacy as the mark of identity of the EU, her main addresses and reports have pinpointed the legislation on internal market as well as the security area, especially focused on justice and home affairs and human rights.Career as minister and parliamentary deputy
She was the first woman to serve as Spain’s Foreign Minister and, at the time, held the most senior post ever filled by a woman in the Spanish government. Prior to her current appointment to the world bank, she served as member of the Spanish Parliament, representing ToledoToledo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Toledo is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha...
, where she chaired the Joint Committee of the two Houses for European Union Affairs. As Prime Minister Aznar’s representative to the European Convention and the Convention’s Presidium, Ana Palacio was at the forefront of the debate on the future of the European Union and actively participated in the drafting and legal discussions pertaining the reform of the treaties governing the Union European.
In December 2000 she was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. She refused to wear a wig or a hat when the chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
made her hair fall out. She currently serves as a member of the international advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Her sister, Loyola de Palacio
Loyola de Palacio
Loyola de Palacio y del Valle-Lersundi was a Spanish politician. She was one of the first women to rise to political prominence in Spain during the early years of democracy. She was a minister in the Spanish government from 1996 to 1998, and a member of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004...
, was a minister in the Spanish government from 1996 to 1998, and a member of the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
from 1999 to 2004.
World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
President Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz is a former United States Ambassador to Indonesia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, and former dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University...
announced on 19 June 2006 her appointment as Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of the World Bank effective August 28, 2006. One of her primary duties, as General Counsel, involves Ms. Palacio's serving as Secretary General of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, which is the division of the World Bank responsible for administrating arbitrations and conciliation between individuals and States under investment protection treaties, concession agreements and other foreign investment protection instruments, including certain national investment laws.
In January 2004 she was listed among the Wall Street Journal’s 75 ‘global opinion leaders’. In October 2001 the same newspaper, under the heading ‘Europe’s Lawyer’, published an extensive feature article on her in its supplement on ‘12 influential players on the world business stage’. Among the awards and decorations she has been bestowed upon, she is the recipient of the 2004 American Jewish Committee Ramer Award for Diplomatic Excellence, which recognizes her role in upholding democracy and the values of open society.
She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and sits on the Advisory Board of different institutions; among others: Council on Foreign Relations, Institut Montaigne, Aspen Institute Italia, Instituto de Empresa –IE-, Fundación para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales -FAES-, Foundation pour l’ Innovation Politique, Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales -FRIDE- and CSIS Initiative for a Renewed Transatlantic Partnership. She is member of the Global Advisory Council of “The American Interest” and the Revue de Droit de l’Union européenne.In 2003, she created together with other prominent European personalities the Medbridge Strategy Center, whose goal is to promote dialogue and mutual understanding between Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Middle-East. She also is a senior strategic counsel for Albright Stonebridge Group
Albright Stonebridge Group
The Albright Stonebridge Group is a global strategy company led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albrightand former National Security Advisor Samuel Berger, and former Senator Warren Rudman...
, an international strategic consulting firm.
World Justice Project
Ana Palacio serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice ProjectWorld Justice Project
-Mainstreaming:The World Justice Project holds action-oriented meetings with leaders from a range of fields to mainstream rule of law advancement and make strengthening the rule of law as fundamental to the thinking and work of all professionals as it is to lawyers...
. The World Justice Project
World Justice Project
-Mainstreaming:The World Justice Project holds action-oriented meetings with leaders from a range of fields to mainstream rule of law advancement and make strengthening the rule of law as fundamental to the thinking and work of all professionals as it is to lawyers...
works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.
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