Cristina Gallach is the Head of Public Relations in the Council of the EU. Expert on communication matters and foreign and security policy issues, she has a profound knowledge of the EU Institutions and the role of Europe in the World. She is also an active promoter of gender equality. For 15 years she was spokesperson and senior communications advisor to Javier Solana, as Secretary General of NATO (1995-1999), and as High Representative of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (1999-2009).
In 2010 she was the spokeswoman for the Spanish Presidency of the EU. Before her professional experience in international organisations, she developed a long career as a journalist in particular as correspondent in several countries and regions, namely the former Soviet Union, Easter Europe, the Balkans and other crisis areas. She has a degree in Journalism from the Universidad Autónoma of Barcelona and a Master degree in International Relations from Columbia University (New York). She lectures regularly in several Universities and Academic institutions, such as Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), Universidad de Navarra (Spain), Maastricht University (The Netherlands), among others, on EU's Foreign Policy, Public Relations and Communication. She is a regular speaker to senior groups of visitors to the EU Institutions.
Her work in communication has been rewarded with several distinctions, in particular by the Journalism Associations of Barcelona and Madrid. In addition, her engagement in support of gender equality was recognised by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in 2010, with the distinction as one of the 12 women fighting for equality and EU values. In 2009, she was recognised by the Financial Times as one of the 30 most influential persons of the EU Institutions in Brussels.
Married with one son and one daughter, she has Spanish nationality and lives in Brussels since the end of 1992.