International civil servant and art critic. Member of the Jury of the Prince of Asturias Awards (1999 and 2000) and of the I Reina Sofía International Prize for the restoration of Monuments in Latin America. Member and Vice President of the European Union Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Contest, until his election as President in 2012. Consultant of the Holy See for the Cultural Assets of the Church (1996-2008).
In 1979 he entered the Council of Europe by competitive examination, where he successively performed the functions of Head of the Division of Land Management, Monuments and Sites, Head of the Division of Cultural Heritage, Head of the Service of Cultural and Natural Heritage, and Director of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage until the end of 2003.
In 2004, the Botin Foundation entrusted him with the design and management of a Development Programme, based on the intelligence of the Territory and the enhancement of heritage resources in an area of Cantabria, the Nansa Valley and Peñarrubia.
Before joining the Council of Europe, he was an advisor in the Cabinet of the General Directorate of Fine Arts (1968-1970), Exhibition Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1969-1979), Director of the Centre for New Expressive Forms, Ministry of Culture, between 1978 and 1979, when he was appointed Secretary of the National Council of Plastic Arts, a position that he did not take possession of due to his incorporation to the Council of Europe.
He has acted as a speaker for the Culture Commissions of the European Parliament and of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the former Supreme Soviet of Moscow and the Senate of the French Republic, on the subject of illicit circulation of Cultural Goods.
