Club of Madrid

As of March 2014, there are 95 full Members, all of whom are previous government officials with full voting rights. The Club also has institutional members and foundations – those who belong to 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 a number of fellows, who are experts on democratic changeover.

The Club is based in Madrid (Spain), although meetings are held worldwide. Currently, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the former President of Latvia (1999–2007), is the organization's president, and it has two vice presidents: Jenny Shipley (New Zealand) and Jorge Fernando Quiroga (Bolivia). The former president of the Club of Madrid is Wim Kok (2009–2013).

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 esteemed academics and policy specialists from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa to discuss ideas and 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 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 of 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 of 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. 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 organisation and members offer their services on a pro bono basis, It exists 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 organisation.

The Club of Madrid Foundation Inc. (COMFI) is a grant-making foundation that has US 501(c)(3) tax exemption status. 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, each of whom resides 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.
• In 1993, Bosnian politician Zlatko Lagumdžija advised the then-President of Bosnia and Herzegovina against agreeing to the Vance-Owen peace plan. The two had been kidnapped by the JNA in Sarajevo in 1992, before their release was negotiated through the U.N.
• 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.[2]
• 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.
• 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, 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

	Name	Age	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Valdas Adamkus	94	Lithuania	None	President of Lithuania (1998–2003, 2004–2009)
	Esko Aho	66	Finland	Centre	Prime Minister of Finland (1991–1995)
	Martti Ahtisaari	83	Finland	Social Democratic	President of Finland (1994–2000)
	Óscar Arias	80	Costa Rica	PLN	President of Costa Rica (1986–1990, 2006–2010)
	Hamadi Jebali	71	Tunisia	Ennahdha (until 2014) None (since 2014)	Head of Government of Tunisia (2011–2013)
	Mehdi Jomaa	58	Tunisia	None (until 2017) Tunisian Alternative (since 2017)	Head of Government of Tunisia (2014–2015)
	José María Aznar	67	Spain	PP	President of the Government of Spain (1996–2004)
	Michelle Bachelet	69	Chile	Socialist	President of Chile (2006–2010, 2014–2018) Executive Director of UN Women (2010–2013) United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2018–)
	Rupiah Banda	83	Zambia	MMD	President of Zambia (2008–2011)
	Carl Bildt	71	Sweden	Moderate	Prime Minister of Sweden (1991–1994) High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995–1997)
	Valdis Birkavs	78	Latvia	LC	Prime Minister of Latvia (1993–1994)
	Kjell Magne Bondevik	73	Norway	Christian Democratic	Prime Minister of Norway (1997–2000, 2001–2005)
	Gro Harlem Brundtland	81	Norway	Labour	Prime Minister of Norway (1981, 1986–1989, 1990–1996) Director-General of the World Health Organization (1998–2003)
	John Bruton	73	Ireland	Fine Gael	Taoiseach of Ireland (1994–1997) EU Ambassador to the United States (2004–2009)
	Jerzy Buzek	80	Poland	Civic Platform	Prime Minister of Poland (1997–2001) President of the European Parliament (2009–2012)
	Felipe Calderón	58	Mexico	PAN	President of Mexico (2006–2012)
	Micheline Calmy-Rey	75	Switzerland	Social Democratic	Member of the Federal Council (2003–2011) (President in 2007 and 2011)
	Kim Campbell	73	Canada	Progressive Conservative	Prime Minister of Canada (1993)
	Fernando Henrique Cardoso	89	Brazil	Social Democracy	President of Brazil (1995–2003)
	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	81	Portugal	Social Democratic	Prime Minister of Portugal (1985–1995) President of Portugal (2006–2016)
	Joaquim Chissano	81	Mozambique	FRELIMO	President of Mozambique (1986–2005)
	Jean Chrétien	87	Canada	Liberal	Prime Minister of Canada (1993–2003)
	Bill Clinton	74	United States	Democratic	President of the United States (1993–2001)
	Philip Dimitrov	65	Bulgaria	SDS	Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1991–1992)
	Luísa Diogo	62	Mozambique	FRELIMO	Prime Minister of Mozambique (2004–2010)
	Leonel Fernández	67	Dominican Republic	PLD	President of the Dominican Republic (1996–2000, 2004–2012)
	José María Figueres	66	Costa Rica	PLN	President of Costa Rica (1994–1998)
	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir	90	Iceland	None	President of Iceland (1980–1996)
	Vicente Fox	78	Mexico	PAN	President of Mexico (2000–2006)
	Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	78	Chile	Christian Democratic	President of Chile (1994–2000)
	Yasuo Fukuda	84	Japan	Liberal Democratic	Prime Minister of Japan (2007–2008)
	César Gaviria	73	Colombia	Liberal	President of Colombia (1990–1994) Secretary General of the Organization of American States (1994–2004)
	Amine Pierre Gemayel	79	Lebanon	Kata'eb	President of Lebanon (1982–1988)
	Felipe González	78	Spain	PSOE	President of the Government of Spain (1982–1996)
	Mikhail Gorbachev	89	Russia  Soviet Union	Communist (until 1991)	General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985–1991) Chairman of the Supreme Soviet/President of the Soviet Union (1988–1991)
	Alfred Gusenbauer	60	Austria	Social Democratic	Chancellor of Austria (2007–2008)
	António Guterres	71	Portugal	Socialist	Prime Minister of Portugal (1995–2002) UN High Commissioner for Refugees (2005–2016) UN Secretary-General (2016–present)
	Tarja Halonen	77	Finland	Social Democratic	President of Finland (2000–2012)
	Han Seung-soo	84	South Korea	Saenuri	Prime Minister of South Korea (2008–2009)
	Osvaldo Hurtado	81	Ecuador	Christian Democratic	President of Ecuador (1981–1984)
	Alain Juppé	75	France	UMP	Prime Minister of France (1995–1997)
	Horst Köhler	77	Germany	Christian Democratic	President of Germany (2004–2010)
	Alpha Oumar Konaré	75	Mali	ADEMA-PASJ	President of Mali (1992–2002) Chairman of the AU Commission (2003–2008)
	Milan Kucan	80	Slovenia  Yugoslavia	Communist (until 1990) None (since 1990)	President of Slovenia (1991–2002)
	John Kufuor	82	Ghana	NPP	President of Ghana (2001–2009) Chairman of the AU (2007–2008)
	Chandrika Kumaratunga	75	Sri Lanka	SLFP	President of Sri Lanka (1994–2005)
	Aleksander Kwasniewski	66	Poland	None (since 1995)	President of Poland (1995–2005)
	Luis Alberto Lacalle	79	Uruguay	PN	President of Uruguay (1990–1995)
	Ricardo Lagos	82	Chile	PPD	President of Chile (2000–2006)
	Zlatko Lagumdžija	65	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Social Democratic	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001–2002)
	Lee Hong-koo	65	South Korea	NKP South Korea	Prime Minister of South Korea (1994–1995)
	Thabo Mbeki	78	South Africa	ANC	President of South Africa (1999–2008)
	Rexhep Meidani	76	Albania	Socialist	President of Albania (1997–2002)
	Benjamin Mkapa	82	Tanzania	CCM	President of Tanzania (1995–2005)
	Festus Mogae	81	Botswana	BDP	President of Botswana (1998–2008)
	Olusegun Obasanjo	83	Nigeria	PDP	Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria (1976–1979) President of Nigeria (1999–2007)
	Roza Otunbayeva	70	Kyrgyzstan	Social Democratic (2007–2010)	President of Kyrgyzstan (2010–2011)
	Anand Panyarachun	88	Thailand	None	Prime Minister of Thailand (1991–1992)
	George Papandreou	68	Greece	Socialist	Prime Minister of Greece (2009–2011)
	Andrés Pastrana	66	Colombia	Conservative	President of Colombia (1998–2002)
	P.J. Patterson	85	Jamaica	PNP (until 2011)	Prime Minister of Jamaica (1992–2006)
	Romano Prodi	81	Italy	Democratic	President of the European Commission (1999–2004) President of the Council of Ministers of Italy (1996–1998, 2006–2008)
	Jorge Quiroga	60	Bolivia	PODEMOS	President of Bolivia (2001–2002)
	Fidel V. Ramos	92	Philippines	Lakas	President of the Philippines (1992–1998)
	José Manuel Ramos-Horta	71	East Timor	None	Prime Minister of East Timor (2006–2007) President of East Timor (2007–2012)
	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	77	Denmark	Social Democrats	Prime Minister of Denmark (1993–2001)
	Mary Robinson	76	Ireland	None	President of Ireland (1990–97) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997–2002)
	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero	60	Spain	PSOE	President of the Government of Spain (2004–2011)
	Petre Roman	74	Romania	FSN (1989–1991)	Prime Minister of Romania (1989–1991)
	Jorge Sampaio	81	Portugal	Socialist	President of Portugal (1996–2006)
	Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada	90	Bolivia	MNR	President of Bolivia (1993–1997, 2002–2003)
	Julio María Sanguinetti	85	Uruguay	PC	President of Uruguay (1985–1990, 1995–2000)
	Jennifer Mary Shipley	69	New Zealand	National	Prime Minister of New Zealand (1997–1999)
	Fuad Siniora	77	Lebanon	FM	Prime Minister of Lebanon (2005–2009)
	Hanna Suchocka	74	Poland	UD	Prime Minister of Poland (1992–1993)
	Boris Tadic	63	Serbia	NDS-Greens	President of Serbia (2004–2012)
	Alejandro Toledo	74	Peru	PP	President of Peru (2001–2006)
	Martín Torrijos	57	Panama	PRD	President of Panama (2004–2009)
	Danilo Türk	68	Slovenia	None	President of Slovenia (2007–2012)
	Cassam Uteem	79	Mauritius	MMM	President of Mauritius (1992–2002)
	Guy Verhofstadt	67	Belgium	VLD	Prime Minister of Belgium (1999–2008)
	Vaira Vike-Freiberga	83	Latvia	None	President of Latvia (1999–2007)
	Ernesto Zedillo	69	Mexico	PRI	President of Mexico (1994–2000)

List of honorary members

	Name	Age	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Aung San Suu Kyi	75	Myanmar	NLD	State Counsellor of Myanmar (2016–present)
	Jimmy Carter	96	United States	Democratic	President of the United States (1977–81)
	Enrique V. Iglesias	90	Uruguay  Spain	(unknown)	President of the Inter-American Development Bank (1998–2005) Secretary General of the Iberoamerican General Secretariat (2005–13)
	Jacques Delors	95	France	Socialist	President of the European Commission (1985–95)
	Javier Solana	78	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	78	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)[3]
	T. Anthony Jones	(unknown)	(unknown)	(unknown)	Vice-President and Executive Director of GFNA[4]
	George Matthews	(unknown)	United States	(unknown)	Chairman and co-founder of GFNA[5]
	José Manuel Romero Moreno	80	Spain	(unknown)	Vice President of FRIDE[6]

List of former members (deceased)

	Name	Died	Nation	Party	Office(s) held
	Sadiq al-Mahdi	November 26, 2020(2020-11-26) (aged 84)	Sudan	Umma	Prime Minister of Sudan (1966–1967, 1986–1989)
	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)
	Ketumile 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)
	Abdul-kareem al-Eryani	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)

• CC9

• "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.

• Official website