European Commission appoints new Head of Representation in Spain

Mr Fonseca Morillo, a Spanish national, will take up office on 1 September 2018 as the new Head of the Commission’s Representation in Madrid. Currently he is Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. A highly experienced civil servant with over 30 years of working experience in the European Commission, including as acting Director-General and Head of a Commission Representation, Mr Fonseca Morillo brings excellent knowledge of the EU institutions and relevant management and communication skills to his new post.

Mr Fonseca Morillo joined the Commission in 1986 and since then he has occupied several different positions. Having started as an administrator in the Directorate-General for Budgets, he worked later as Assistant to the Director-General of the Forward Studies Unit becoming Adviser to the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference task force and Adviser to the Secretary-General in charge of the Amsterdam Treaty monitoring unit.

He has then served as Deputy and later as Head of Cabinet of Commissioner António Vitorino, following which he served as Director for Civil Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizens and later as Director of Judicial Cooperation.

Between 2009 and 2015 he was the Head of the European Commission Representation in Spain, where he developed excellent relations with the national authorities and stakeholders. He successfully led the office to develop an effective communication policy with media and representatives of organised civil society in Spain notably by organising, in the city of Cádiz in September 2012, the first-ever Citizens’ Dialogue.

Since 2015 he has been working in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, first as Director and later as Deputy Director-General.

Before joining the European Commission, Mr Fonseca Morillo was a tenured professor of Public International Law. He obtained his PhD in Law at the University of Valladolid in 1984, after having graduated in Political Sciences in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1979 and in Law at the University of Valladolid in 1977.

Background

The Commission has Representations in all EU Member States as well as Regional Offices in Barcelona, Belfast, Bonn, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Marseille, Milan, Munich and Wroclaw. The Representations are the Commission’s eyes, ears and voice on the ground in all EU Member States. They interact with national authorities and stakeholders and inform the media and the public about EU policies. The Representations report to the Commission’s headquarters on significant developments in the Member States. Since the beginning of the Juncker Commission, Heads of Representations are appointed by the President and are his political representatives in the Member State to which they are posted.