"Sir, I didn't know that His Majesty had such a long arm"

Few are the chosen few who are able to experience history at close quarters. It is even more difficult to be in the front row, or even to be a determining factor in the changing of the times. Diplomat Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Spain's first foreign minister since the Transition, has had the privilege of being one of them. A figure who has been present for decades in all or almost all State bodies. Although his extensive record of service stands out for his recognised work as Spain's representative abroad.

The Aula Magna of the San Pablo CEU University was dressed up this Monday to receive a man of the house. Accompanied by the journalist Bieito Rubido, director of El Debate, Minister Oreja presented 'Europe, vocation and destiny of Spain', a plea in book form in which the author collects the remnants of a life dedicated to politics and where he advocates a greater influence of Spain within the European Union. Something that, for the diplomat, "unfortunately is not being achieved today".

Rubido acknowledged that the book is "a great opportunity to get closer to the figure of Marcelino", whose role was "crucial" in building bridges with the Old Continent after the end of the dictatorship. However, the dialogue began by recalling the figure of his father, Marcelino Oreja Elósegui, who was assassinated before his birth and during the October 1934 revolution in Guipúzcoa, but of whom he has always had "a vivid memory".

Marcelino Oreja highlighted the importance of the Grupo Tácito, a group of journalists, intellectuals and politicians from inside and outside the regime who began to publish articles advocating democratic openness in Spain. "We tried to create a think tank that later led to the Transition," said the former minister. That small club, which was dominated by sectors of the Franco regime and the opposition, was the seed of the change of regime that finally took place in 1975, after Franco's death.

A leading member of the generation of politicians who promoted the Transition, Marcelino Oreja sensed at the time that "there was a need to see how change could be brought about, and to do so it was important to show the illusion that was born along the way". Although one of his maxims was to "carry it out with rigour".

"There was a need to see how change could be translated. It is important to highlight the illusion that was born along the way. It was necessary to carry it out with rigour", Oreja said. Although none of this could have happened if it had not been for the king, the former minister argued. According to Oreja, there was "a democratic pre-transition" when Juan Carlos I travelled to the United States in 1976. It was in the US Congress where the King of Spain included the word "democracy" for the first time.

The performance of the questioned king emeritus was decisive. Juan Carlos I played a fundamental role in Spanish foreign policy at the time. So much so that Minister Oreja had a bi-weekly meeting with the monarch. Today, the figure of the Spanish king continues to carry international weight, but not as much as in the past. The emeritus king was obliged to promote democratic openness and thus earn his own legitimacy. 

One of the dozens of anecdotes that Marcelino Oreja keeps for himself goes back to the time when he held a diplomatic meeting with Argentina in the company of King Juan Carlos during the Videla dictatorship. "A difficulty", according to the former minister, due to the idiosyncrasies of the regime. However, the emeritus king showed his skill and maintained a certain cordiality with Videla in a strange embrace. "Sir, I didn't know that His Majesty had such a long arm", he would later tell the king. 

After the Ministry, Marcelino Oreja went through different state bodies, including the Government Delegation in the Basque Country, until he landed by surprise in the Secretariat of the Council of Europe with the unusual backing of the PSOE. A post he achieved after imminently becoming consul in Lisbon. "I received a call from Felipe González's chief of staff. And the president asked me what I was doing as consul in Lisbon. And he proposed me to be the secretary of the Council of Europe", he said. 

From there he met, among others, the President of the French Republic, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. A "difficult" profile with whom the King maintained close contact. Not so with Suárez. He remained in that post from 1984 to 1989, and then remained "out of circulation", removed from political life. Until he received a call from José María Aznar, the newly inaugurated president of the Partido Popular, who was going to propose his name as European Commissioner in an appointment with the President of the Government, Felipe González.

He would remain there until 1999, the date of his definitive retirement from politics. His curriculum vitae made him a great connoisseur of the European acquis communautaire and, at the same time, a staunch defender of the European Union. For this reason, Marcelino Oreja believes that Spain not only should, but also "can play an important role in the construction of the EU, which is still under construction". And that this destiny is not being fulfilled.

"I am disappointed by what is happening now. What was done in the past, by different parties, set a precedent". Today we must return to Europe with conviction and bringing out that vocation. For Oreja, "Europe is where we had to get to". And we got there, in part, thanks to figures like his.