Born in 1956 in Oviedo, Pedro Cervilla Martínez graduated in Law from the University of Oviedo in 1978. After five years as a professor of European Law, in 1982, he launched, at the request of the then Minister of the Presidency, Bernardo Fernández, the first Advisory Office to the Government of the Principality of Asturias on the (then) European Communities. From 1986 to 1994, he was Director for European Affairs in the Government of the Principality of Asturias. In 1994, he joined the newly established Committee of the Regions of the European Union as Director of the general secretariat and the legal service.