Club of Madrid

The Club de Madrid pushed for a constitutional reform in Haiti[3] and promoted the adoption of a National Pact in 2014 to reach a democratic consensus.[4]

In June 2022, the Club de Madrid called on the Tunisian President Kais Saied to release the politician Hamadi Jebali.[5]

As of April 2023, there are 128 full members, all of whom are previous government officials with full voting rights. The club also has institutional members and foundations – private and public organizations that share similar democratic objectives, including FRIDE, the Gorbachev Foundation of North America (GFNA), both original sponsors of the founding conference in 2001, the Madrid City Council, the Regional Government of Madrid, and the Government of Spain. Additionally, there are six honorary members (e.g. Kofi Annan, Aung San Suu Kyi) and several fellows, who are experts on democratic change.

The club is based in Madrid (Spain), although meetings are held worldwide. Currently, Danilo Türk, the former President of Slovenia (2007-2012), is the organization's president, and it has two vice presidents: Han Seung-soo (Korea) and Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica). A former president of the Club of Madrid is Vaira Vike-Freiberga (2014–2019).

The club was created from an event that was held in October 2001 in Madrid, a four-day Conference on Democratic Transition and Consolidation (CDTC). This event brought together 35 world leaders, over 100 academics, and policy specialists from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa to discuss ideas and a means of implementation from both objective and subjective perspectives. The conference discussed eight main topics:

• Constitutional design
• The Legislative branch and its relation with the Executive branch
• The Judicial branch and its relation with the Executive branch
• Anti-corruption procedures
• The role of the armed forces and security forces
• Reform of the state bureaucracy
• Strengthening of political and social pluralism and political parties
• Economic and social conditions

The Club de Madrid's primary asset is its membership, which includes 95 distinguished former heads of state and government of democratic nations. The comparative advantage of the Club de Madrid is based on the following key assets:

• Personal experience and status of its Members
• Access to the world's leading experts on democracy
• Specialization in democratic transition and consolidation issues
• Practical approach to its activities, through the implementation of projects with tangible results

Full Members are members of the Club de Madrid who provide their personal and political experience as former Heads of State and Government. Their appointment, based on a proposal from the Board of Directors, is approved by the General Assembly.

Direct exchanges with current leaders of countries in the process of democratic transition on a peer-to-peer basis, and the Member's ability to deliver the right message at the right time, are two of the major assets of the Club de Madrid.[2] In this sense, the Members of the Club de Madrid can also help focus much needed international attention on targeted countries and leverage the work of other institutions trying to promote democracy.

The club's members are supported by a network of world-class experts who work together to offer assistance on a range of democratic reform issues. The Club de Madrid is composed of four executive and advisory bodies:

• General Assembly
• Board of Directors
• General Secretariat
• Advisory Committee

The club is a non-profit organization and members offer their services on a pro bono basis. It relies financially on donations which are used to support a permanent secretariat and fund some specific project. The club's accounts are audited annually by an external organization.

The Club of Madrid Foundation Inc. (COMFI) is a grant-making foundation that has US 501(c)(3) tax exemption status.[6] It exists to raise funds in support of the club's charitable and educational activities.

COMFI is independent and not controlled by the Club itself, but solely by a four-person Board of Directors, all of whom reside in the US.

Several members of the Club played prominent roles in the diplomatic and military proceedings aimed at ending the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s:

• In 1991, Milan Kučan, then the President of the newly independent Slovenia, negotiated the Brijuni Agreement, bringing an end to the Ten-Day War.[7][8]
• In 1993, Bosnian politician Zlatko Lagumdžija advised the then-President of Bosnia and Herzegovina against agreeing to the Vance-Owen peace plan.[9] The two had been kidnapped by the JNA in Sarajevo in 1992, before their release was negotiated through the U.N.[10]
• Former Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki was a special U.N. emissary to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 and, in 1993, issued a report on human rights violations in the former Yugoslavia. In 1995, Mazowiecki stepped down in protest of the lack of international response to the atrocities being committed in Bosnia, particularly the Srebrenica massacre.[11]
• U.S. President Bill Clinton was instrumental in pushing NATO to intervene in Bosnia and Kosovo. In 1995, his efforts produced Operation Deliberate Force, resulting in the Dayton Accords which ended the Bosnian War. In 1999, the U.S. and other NATO powers sought to end the Kosovo War with the Rambouillet Agreement, but Yugoslavia felt that the agreement forced them to concede too much and refused to sign. This refusal resulted in Operation Allied Force, during which NATO utilized air supremacy and strategic bombing to cripple Serbian forces and force them to withdraw from Kosovo.
• Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt served as the EU's Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia and was a co-chairman of the Dayton Conference. He became the first High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war, from 1995 to 1997, and was the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans from 1999 to 2001.[12]
• Other Club de Madrid members involved in the diplomatic process include the late Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor of Germany who oversaw the reunification of East and West Germany, who was a signee to the Dayton Accords,[13] Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who urged support for Canada's participation in Operation Allied Force, and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari who, along with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, convinced Serbian President Slobodan Milošević to retreat from Kosovo in accordance with NATO's demands.

List of current members

List of members as of 30 April 2022.[14]

	Name	Age	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Valdas Adamkus	96	Lithuania	None	President of Lithuania (1998–2003, 2004–2009)
	Esko Aho	68	Finland	Centre	Prime Minister of Finland (1991–1995)
	Óscar Arias	82	Costa Rica	PLN	President of Costa Rica (1986–1990, 2006–2010)
	José María Aznar	70	Spain	PP	President of the Government of Spain (1996–2004)
	Michelle Bachelet	71	Chile	Socialist	President of Chile (2006–2010, 2014–2018) Executive Director of UN Women (2010–2013) United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2018–2022)
	Jan Peter Balkenende	67	Netherlands	CDA	Prime Minister of the Netherlands (2002–2010)
	Joyce Banda	73	Malawi	People's Party	President of Malawi (2012–2014)
	Rupiah Banda	86	Zambia	MMD	President of Zambia (2008–2011)
	José Manuel Barroso	67	Portugal	PSD	Prime Minister of Portugal (2002–2004) President of the European Commission (2004–2014)
	Carl Bildt	73	Sweden	Moderate	Prime Minister of Sweden (1991–1994) High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995–1997)
	Valdis Birkavs	80	Latvia	LC	Prime Minister of Latvia (1993–1994)
	Kjell Magne Bondevik	75	Norway	Christian Democratic	Prime Minister of Norway (1997–2000, 2001–2005)
	Gordon Brown	72	United Kingdom	Labour	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007–2010)
	Gro Harlem Brundtland	84	Norway	Labour	Prime Minister of Norway (1981, 1986–1989, 1990–1996) Director-General of the World Health Organization (1998–2003)
	John Bruton	75	Ireland	Fine Gael	Taoiseach of Ireland (1994–1997) EU Ambassador to the United States (2004–2009)
	Jerzy Buzek	82	Poland	Civic Platform	Prime Minister of Poland (1997–2001) President of the European Parliament (2009–2012)
	Felipe Calderón	60	Mexico	PAN	President of Mexico (2006–2012)
	Micheline Calmy-Rey	77	Switzerland	Social Democratic	Member of the Federal Council (2003–2011) (President in 2007 and 2011)
	Kim Campbell	76	Canada	Progressive Conservative	Prime Minister of Canada (1993)
	Fernando Henrique Cardoso	91	Brazil	Social Democracy	President of Brazil (1995–2003)
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	83	Portugal	Social Democratic	Prime Minister of Portugal (1985–1995) President of Portugal (2006–2016)
	Laura Chinchilla	64	Costa Rica	PLN	President of Costa Rica (2010–2014)
	Joaquim Chissano	83	Mozambique	FRELIMO	President of Mozambique (1986–2005)
	Jean Chrétien	89	Canada	Liberal	Prime Minister of Canada (1993–2003)
	Helen Clark	73	New Zealand	Labour	Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999–2008)
	Bill Clinton	76	United States	Democratic	President of the United States (1993–2001)
	Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca	64	Malta	Labour	President of Malta (2014–2019)
	Dominique de Villepin	69	France	RS	Prime Minister of France (2005–2007)
	Philip Dimitrov	68	Bulgaria	SDS	Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1991–1992)
	Luísa Diogo	65	Mozambique	FRELIMO	Prime Minister of Mozambique (2004–2010)
	Leonel Fernández	69	Dominican Republic	PLD	President of the Dominican Republic (1996–2000, 2004–2012)
	José María Figueres	68	Costa Rica	PLN	President of Costa Rica (1994–1998)
	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir	93	Iceland	None	President of Iceland (1980–1996)
	Vicente Fox	80	Mexico	PAN	President of Mexico (2000–2006)
	Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	80	Chile	Christian Democratic	President of Chile (1994–2000)
	Yasuo Fukuda	86	Japan	Liberal Democratic	Prime Minister of Japan (2007–2008)
	César Gaviria	76	Colombia	Liberal	President of Colombia (1990–1994) Secretary General of the Organization of American States (1994–2004)
	Amine Pierre Gemayel	81	Lebanon	Kata'eb	President of Lebanon (1982–1988)
	Felipe González	81	Spain	PSOE	President of the Government of Spain (1982–1996)
	Dalia Grybauskaitė	67	Lithuania	None	President of Lithuania (2009–2019)
	Alfred Gusenbauer	63	Austria	Social Democratic	Chancellor of Austria (2007–2008)
	António Guterres	74	Portugal	Socialist	Prime Minister of Portugal (1995–2002) UN High Commissioner for Refugees (2005–2016) UN Secretary-General (2016–present)
	Tarja Halonen	79	Finland	Social Democratic	President of Finland (2000–2012)
	Han Seung-soo	86	South Korea	Saenuri	Prime Minister of South Korea (2008–2009)
	François Hollande	68	France	PS	President of France (2012–2017)
	Osvaldo Hurtado	83	Ecuador	Christian Democratic	President of Ecuador (1981–1984)
	Hamadi Jebali	73	Tunisia	Ennahdha (until 2014) None (since 2014)	Head of Government of Tunisia (2011–2013)
	Ellen Johnson Sirleaf	84	Liberia	None	President of Liberia (2006–2018)
	Mehdi Jomaa	61	Tunisia	None (until 2017) Tunisian Alternative (since 2017)	Head of Government of Tunisia (2014–2015)
	Ivo Josipović	65	Croatia	SDP	President of Croatia (2010–2015)
	Alain Juppé	77	France	UMP	Prime Minister of France (1995–1997)
	Horst Köhler	80	Germany	Christian Democratic	President of Germany (2004–2010)
	Milan Kučan	82	Slovenia  Yugoslavia	Communist (until 1990) None (since 1990)	President of Slovenia (1991–2002)
	John Kufuor	84	Ghana	NPP	President of Ghana (2001–2009) Chairman of the AU (2007–2008)
	Chandrika Kumaratunga	77	Sri Lanka	SLFP	President of Sri Lanka (1994–2005)
	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	68	Poland	None (since 1995)	President of Poland (1995–2005)
	Luis Alberto Lacalle	81	Uruguay	PN	President of Uruguay (1990–1995)
	Ricardo Lagos	85	Chile	PPD	President of Chile (2000–2006)
	Zlatko Lagumdžija	67	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Social Democratic	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001–2002)
	Lee Hong-koo	67	South Korea	NKP South Korea	Prime Minister of South Korea (1994–1995)
	Yves Leterme	56	Belgium	CD&V	Prime Minister of Belgium (2009–2011)
	Enrico Letta	56	Italy	PD	Prime Minister of Italy (2013–2014)
	Doris Leuthard	60	Switzerland	CVP/PDC/PPD/PCD	Member of the Federal Council (2006–2018) (President in 2010 and 2017)
	Thabo Mbeki	80	South Africa	ANC	President of South Africa (1999–2008)
	Rexhep Meidani	78	Albania	Socialist	President of Albania (1997–2002)
	Carlos Mesa	69	Bolivia	FRI	President of Bolivia (2003–2005)
	James Michel	78	Seychelles	US	President of Seychelles (2004–2016)
	Festus Mogae	83	Botswana	BDP	President of Botswana (1998–2008)
	Mario Monti	80	Italy	None	Prime Minister of Italy (2011–2013)
	Olusegun Obasanjo	86	Nigeria	PDP	Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria (1976–1979) President of Nigeria (1999–2007)
	Roza Otunbayeva	72	Kyrgyzstan	Social Democratic (2007–2010)	President of Kyrgyzstan (2010–2011)
	Anand Panyarachun	90	Thailand	None	Prime Minister of Thailand (1991–1992)
	George Papandreou	70	Greece	Socialist	Prime Minister of Greece (2009–2011)
	Andrés Pastrana	68	Colombia	Conservative	President of Colombia (1998–2002)
	Pratibha Patil	88	India	INC	President of India (2007–2012)
	P.J. Patterson	88	Jamaica	PNP (until 2011)	Prime Minister of Jamaica (1992–2006)
	Sebastián Piñera	73	Chile	None	President of Chile (2010–2014; 2018–2022)
	Romano Prodi	83	Italy	Democratic	President of the European Commission (1999–2004) President of the Council of Ministers of Italy (1996–1998, 2006–2008)
	Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat	81	Mongolia	None	President of Mongolia (1990–1997)
	Jorge Quiroga	63	Bolivia	PODEMOS	President of Bolivia (2001–2002)
	Iveta Radičová	66	Slovakia	SDKÚ-DS (2006–2012)	Prime Minister of Slovakia (2010–2012)
	Mariano Rajoy	68	Spain	PP	President of the Government of Spain (2011–2018)
	José Manuel Ramos-Horta	73	East Timor	None	Prime Minister of East Timor (2006–2007) President of East Timor (2007–2012)
	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	79	Denmark	Social Democrats	Prime Minister of Denmark (1993–2001)
	Mary Robinson	78	Ireland	None	President of Ireland (1990–97) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997–2002)
	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero	62	Spain	PSOE	President of the Government of Spain (2004–2011)
	Petre Roman	76	Romania	FSN (1989–1991)	Prime Minister of Romania (1989–1991)
	Kevin Rudd	65	Australia	ALP	Prime Minister of Australia (2007–2010, 2013)
	Julio María Sanguinetti	87	Uruguay	PC	President of Uruguay (1985–1990, 1995–2000)
	Wolfgang Schüssel	77	Austria	ÖVP	Chancellor of Austria (2000–2007)
	Jenny Shipley	71	New Zealand	National	Prime Minister of New Zealand (1997–1999)
	Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir	80	Iceland	Social Democratic Alliance	Prime Minister of Iceland (2009–2013)
	Fuad Siniora	80	Lebanon	FM	Prime Minister of Lebanon (2005–2009)
	Alexander Stubb	55	Finland	NCP	Prime Minister of Finland (2014–2015)
	Hanna Suchocka	77	Poland	UD	Prime Minister of Poland (1992–1993)
	Boris Tadić	65	Serbia	Social Democratic	President of Serbia (2004–2012)
	Jigme Thinley	70	Bhutan	DPT	Prime Minister of Bhutan (2008–2013)
	Helle Thorning-Schmidt	56	Denmark	Social Democrats	Prime Minister of Denmark (2011–2015)
	Martín Torrijos	59	Panama	PRD	President of Panama (2004–2009)
	Aminata Touré	60	Senegal	APR	Prime Minister of Senegal (2013–2014)
	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj	60	Mongolia	Democratic Party	Prime Minister of Mongolia (2004–2006) President of Mongolia (2009–2017)
	Danilo Türk	71	Slovenia	None	President of Slovenia (2007–2012)
	Cassam Uteem	82	Mauritius	MMM	President of Mauritius (1992–2002)
	Herman Van Rompuy	75	Belgium	CD&V	Prime Minister of Belgium (2008–2009) President of the European Council (2009–2014)
	Guy Verhofstadt	70	Belgium	VLD	Prime Minister of Belgium (1999–2008)
	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga	85	Latvia	None	President of Latvia (1999–2007)
	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono	73	Indonesia	Democratic Party	President of Indonesia (2004–2014)
	Ernesto Zedillo	71	Mexico	PRI	President of Mexico (1994–2000)

List of Secretary-Generals

	Name	Start	End	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Fernando Perpiñá-Robert		2010[15]	Spain		Spanish diplomat
	Carlos Westendorp	2010[15]		Spain	SSWP	Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995-1996)

List of honorary members

	Name	Age	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Aung San Suu Kyi	77	Myanmar	NLD	State Counsellor of Myanmar (2016–2021)
	Ban Ki-moon	79	South Korea	None	Secretary-General of the United Nations (2007–2016)
	Jimmy Carter	98	United States	Democratic	President of the United States (1977–81)
	Enrique V. Iglesias	93	Uruguay  Spain	(unknown)	President of the Inter-American Development Bank (1998–2005) Secretary General of the Iberoamerican General Secretariat (2005–13)
	Jacques Delors	97	France	Socialist	President of the European Commission (1985–95)
	Javier Solana	80	Spain	Socialist	Secretary General of NATO (1995–99) and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (1999–2009)

List of members of the constituent foundations

	Name	Age	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Diego Hidalgo	80	Spain	(unknown)	Founder and President of, and donor to, Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE) Founding Member and Senior Fellow of the Gorbachev Foundation of North America (GFNA)[16]
	T. Anthony Jones	(unknown)	(unknown)	(unknown)	Vice-president and executive director of GFNA[17]
	George Matthews	(unknown)	United States	(unknown)	Chairman and co-founder of GFNA[18]
	José Manuel Romero Moreno	82	Spain	(unknown)	Vice President of FRIDE[19]

List of former members (deceased)

	Name	Died	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Jorge Sampaio	September 10, 2021(2021-09-10) (aged 81)	Portugal	Socialist	President of Portugal (1996–2006)
	Òscar Ribas Reig	December 18, 2020(2020-12-18) (aged 84)	Andorra	AND	Prime Minister of Andorra (1990–1994)
	Tabaré Vázquez	December 6, 2020(2020-12-06) (aged 80)	Uruguay	PS	President of Uruguay (2005–2010, 2015–2020)
	Sadiq al-Mahdi	November 26, 2020(2020-11-26) (aged 84)	Sudan	Umma	Prime Minister of Sudan (1966–1967, 1986–1989)
	Benjamin Mkapa	July 24, 2020(2020-07-24) (aged 81)	Tanzania	CCM	President of Tanzania (1995–2005)
	Abdurrahim El-Keib	April 21, 2020(2020-04-21) (aged 70)	Libya	None	Acting Prime Minister of Libya (2011–2012)
	Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	March 4, 2020(2020-03-04) (aged 100)	Peru	UPP	Secretary-General of the United Nations (1982–1991) President of the Council of Ministers of Peru (2000–2001)
	Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie	September 11, 2019(2019-09-11) (aged 83)	Indonesia	Golkar	President of Indonesia (1998–1999)
	Belisario Betancur	December 7, 2018(2018-12-07) (aged 95)	Colombia	Conservative	President of Colombia (1982–1986)
	Wim Kok	October 20, 2018(2018-10-20) (aged 80)	Netherlands	Labour	Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1994–2002)
	Kofi Annan	August 18, 2018(2018-08-18) (aged 80)	Ghana	None	Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997–2006)
	Álvaro Arzú	April 27, 2018(2018-04-27) (aged 72)	Guatemala	Unionist	President of Guatemala (1996–2000) Mayor of Guatemala City (2004–2018)
	Ruud Lubbers	February 14, 2018(2018-02-14) (aged 78)	Netherlands	Christian Democratic	Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982–1994) UN High Commissioner for Refugees (2001–2005)
	Quett Masire	June 22, 2017(2017-06-22) (aged 91)	Botswana	BDP	President of Botswana (1980–1998)
	Helmut Kohl	20170616June 16, 2017(2017-06-16) (aged 87)	Germany  West Germany	Christian Democratic	Chancellor of West Germany (1982–1990) Chancellor of Germany (1990–1998)
	James Mancham	20170108January 8, 2017(2017-01-08) (aged 77)	Seychelles	Democratic	President of Seychelles (1976–1977)
	Mário Soares	20170107January 7, 2017(2017-01-07) (aged 92)	Portugal	Socialist	Prime Minister of Portugal (1976–1978, 1983–1985) President of Portugal (1986–1996)
	António Mascarenhas Monteiro	20160916September 16, 2016(2016-09-16) (aged 72)	Cape Verde	MPD	President of Cape Verde (1991–2001)
	Patricio Aylwin	20160419April 19, 2016(2016-04-19) (aged 87)	Chile	PDC	President of Chile (1990–1994)
	Abd Al-Karim Al-Iryani	20151108November 8, 2015(2015-11-08) (aged 81)	Yemen  North Yemen	GPC	Prime Minister of North Yemen (1980–1983) Prime Minister of Yemen (1998–2001)
	Adolfo Suárez	20140323March 23, 2014(2014-03-23) (aged 81)	Spain	MN (until 1977) UCD (1977–82)	President of the Government of Spain (1976–81)
	Tadeusz Mazowiecki	20131028October 28, 2013(2013-10-28) (aged 86)	Poland PR Poland	KO "S" (1980–91) UD (1991–94)	Prime Minister of Poland (1989–91)
	Inder Kumar Gujral	20121130November 30, 2012(2012-11-30) (aged 92)	India	Janata Dal	Prime Minister of India (1997–98)
	Václav Havel	20111218December 18, 2011(2011-12-18) (aged 75)	Czech Republic  Czechoslovakia	OF (1989–93) None (1993–2004)	President of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003)
	Ferenc Mádl	20110529May 29, 2011(2011-05-29) (aged 80)	Hungary	None	President of Hungary (2000–05)
	Raúl Alfonsín	20090331March 31, 2009(2009-03-31) (aged 82)	Argentina	UCR	President of Argentina (1983–89)
	Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo	20080503May 3, 2008(2008-05-03) (aged 82)	Spain	UCD	President of the Government of Spain (1981–82)
	Lennart Meri	20060314March 14, 2006(2006-03-14) (aged 76)	Estonia  Soviet Union	Isamaa (since 1992)	President of Estonia (1992–2001)
	Valentín Paniagua	20061016October 16, 2006(2006-10-16) (aged 70)	Peru	AC	President of Peru (2000–01)
	Fidel V. Ramos	July 31, 2022 (age 94)	Philippines	Lakas	President of the Philippines (1992–1998)

• CC9

• Official website
• "Members of the Club of Madrid by region (March 2014)" (PDF). Club of Madrid. March 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 November 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.