He served as Chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Trade, Energy and Research until 2003. In 2003 he was elected Member of the Madrid Regional Assembly and Speaker on Economy of the Socialist Group. He was co-founder and Executive Vice-President of the Toledo Center for Peace and is now member of its board. After the elections of 2004 he was appointed Ambassador to the United States of America, a position he occupied until 2008. He is currently principal advisor to Felipe González, Chairman of the Reflection Group established by the EU Heads of State and Government to assist the European Union to anticipate and meet the challenges facing in the period 2020 to 2030. He is President of Westendorp International S.L., a private consulting company. He has addressed conferences and lectures and has written articles and books mostly on European Affairs, for which he was awarded the Salvador de Madariaga Prize of Journalism. He has been awarded various Spanish and foreign decorations, including the Great Cross of the Order of Charles III and Officier de la Légion d’Honneur.