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Spain’s PM Sánchez reveals names of new ministers

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced two new appointments to the Spanish government for the positions of Health Minister and Industry and Tourism Minister.

Published: 27 March 2023 12:54 CEST
Spain's PM Sánchez reveals names of new ministers
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced two new members of Spanish cabinet. Photo: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

Sánchez revealed that José Manuel Miñones will take over as Health Minister from Carolina Darias, who has announced her candidacy for the mayor of Madrid.

Meanwhile, Héctor Gómez will also replace Reyes Maroto, who is in the running to become mayor of Las Palmas, as the Minister for Industry and Tourism.

This is part of the reshuffle of the Spanish government prior to the regional and municipal elections on May 28th.

The announcement was given in an institutional statement from La Moncloa on Monday March 27th. 

Gómez, deputy for Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is currently president of the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of Deputies. He will be the substitute for Maroto as the head of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. Miñones, the government delegate in Galicia, will be the new Minister of Health.

Sánchez, who has already communicated these changes to King Felipe VI, has stuck to his commitment to only to replace the two outgoing ministers. Gómez and Miñones will be sworn into their new posts this Tuesday, March 28th and will join the Spanish cabinet that same day.

In his statement, Sánchez praised the work of the outgoing ministers Darias and Maroto in “difficult” times due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

He also assured that their replacements “know the industries they work in very well and will be able to carry out their tasks”, which “their experience and qualities guarantee”. “They are two excellent public servants with an impeccable track record and an unwavering commitment to defending the general interest,” Sánchez added.

Gómez was already part of Maroto’s team in the Ministry and has been a spokesman for the PSOE in Congress, while Miñones has a degree in pharmacy and a prize awarded by the University of Santiago de Compostela for several published medical investigations.

Sánchez kept his promise to announce the new replacements before April 4th, before starting an intense schedule of international trips, including to China.

READ ALSO: Spanish PM to visit China next week

The PM also praised Maroto’s work since she first entered his government in 2018 because “her drive” has been “key” to reindustrialise the economy, boost trade and “modernise one of the main sectors that suffered so much from the pandemic”, which was tourism.

He also stressed that the current war in Ukraine has left “consequences” that have been “an unprecedented challenge” and Maroto “has always worked to find adequate solutions” to these problems.

With regards to Darias, who took over from Salvador Illa in January 2021 after serving as Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Function, Sánchez stressed that her work has been “fundamental to definitively leaving the pandemic behind”. “Her name will always be linked to the success of the vaccination campaign” for which Spain has been a “reference”, he added.

Among some of her successes have been the hiring of 90,000 health professionals since the PM started governing.

“I will always keep in my memory the presentation of the first mental health plan”, he continued, and mentioned the launch of the hope telephone number, 024, which has already answered “more than 80,000 calls” and has alerted authorities to “more than 2,000 people at risk of suicide”.

“The data is eloquent and speaks for itself when it comes to assessing the management of both ministers,” he concluded.

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POLITICS

What will Spain’s PM do next after resignation threat?

Sánchez's shock threat of resignation after a dubious corruption probe into his wife has kicked off a period of political uncertainty. What card will the Spanish PM play next according to the experts, or is he truly planning to step down?

Published: 26 April 2024 09:59 CEST
What will Spain's PM do next after resignation threat?

Pedro Sánchez, in office since 2018, wrote in a four-page letter posted on social media on Wednesday that he would suspend public duties while he “reflects” on whether he wants to continue leading the government.

The Socialist leader denounced “the seriousness of the attacks” against him and his wife, saying it was part of a campaign of “harassment” waged by the right and far right who “do not accept the election results”.

READ ALSO: Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM’s partner thrust into spotlight

Sánchez, an expert in political survival who has made a career out of taking political gambles, said he would announce his decision on Monday.

Some analysts said he could decide to stay on, with this move aimed at rallying support and regaining the initiative in the face of the right-wing opposition at a time of extreme polarisation in Spanish politics.

“Sánchez is a political animal,” said Oriol Bartomeus, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, adding “he has decided to go on the attack” to try to “change the rules of the debate”.

Paloma Román, a political scientist at Madrid’s Complutense University, said Sánchez had “slammed his fist on the table” as part of a “strategy aimed at putting the spotlight where he wants it”.

Sánchez could file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers in parliament.

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, whose JxCat party is an unpredictable ally of the government, has urged Sánchez to pick this option.

READ ALSO: What happens and who takes over if Spain’s Prime Minister resigns?

For the confidence motion to succeed, Sánchez would just need the backing of a simple majority in the assembly and most of the parties which prop up his minority government have already shown their unconditional support.

Catalan separatist party ERC said it would vote in favour of a confidence motion while hard-left party Podemos, which has clashed with Sánchez in the past, blasted attacks by “the political, media and judicial right” on the prime minister and the left in general.

While the conservative opposition has accused Sánchez of playing the victim to rally support, analysts said the possibility that he will resign cannot be completely ruled out.

“Sánchez’s closest advisers and the leadership of the Socialist party will probably spend the coming days trying to convince him to stay,” said Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso.

“The fact that the prime minister allegedly did not consult any of his advisers when drafting the letter suggests personal reasons might be his main motivation. This makes Sánchez’s decision particularly hard to predict.”

If Sánchez does step down, the Socialist party could propose that parliament appoint someone else as head of the government, with Budget Minister María Jesús Montero, who also serves as deputy prime minister, touted as a likely contender.

But Barroso said it “would probably be hard for Montero to cobble together a majority” in Spain’s highly fractured parliament.

Sánchez could instead resign and call snap elections but he would not be able to do so before May 29 since a year must pass between consecutive dissolutions of parliament.

With the Socialists trailing the main opposition conservative Popular Party in opinion polls, this is a risky strategy, although analysts said Sánchez may bet that leftist voters will be galvanised by the controversy sparked by his resignation.

READ ALSO: Spanish prosecutors question credibility of corruption probe against PM’s wife

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