He has worked for front-rank European politicians such as Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, and Josep Borrell, former president of the European Parliament. He also served senior officials such as the spokesperson of Javier Solana, EU high representative for the common foreign and security policy, the Parliament’s director general for external relations, and the UN’s communications director for Western Europe. Peñalver has also worked in the EU’s Delegation in Tunisia. He has a master’s from the College of Europe in Bruges and another from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He is the author, together with Sir Julian Priestley, of the book The Making of a European President, on the first pan-European presidential campaign (Palgrave Macmillan, May 2015).