Real Instituto Elcano

The Elcano Royal Institute is a private entity, independent of both the public administration and the companies which provide most of its funding. It was established, under the honorary presidency of HRH the Prince of Asturias, on 27 December 2001 for the purpose of conducting an exhaustive study of the interests of Spain and of Spanish people in international affairs and to place its findings before the public at large.

From its inception the Elcano considers itself a non-partisan -but not neutral- institution that seeks to promote the values by which it was inspired and which, by means of multidisciplinary analysis of existing and, especially, forward developments, aims to establish a global strategy resulting in political proposals having a practical application.

The public activities of the Institute began on 12 February 2002 with a talk given in the Casa de América by Michael H. Armacost, president of the Brookings Institution.