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Spanish PM reshuffles government

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Saturday reshuffled his government for the first time since the left-wing coalition came to power in January 2020.

Published: 10 July 2021 15:38 CEST

Spanish PM reshuffles government

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to announce government reshuffle. Photo: PETRAS MALUKAS / AFP

Sánchez said it represented “a generational renewal” because the mean age of the ministers was now 50 instead of 55.

And women now make up 63 percent over 54 percent in the previous government.

“This will make our country once again the reference for women-men equality,” Sánchez said.

His minority coalition is composed of Socialists and the radical-left Podemos party. Podemos kept their five portfolios in the 22-member cabinet.

Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González Laya was replaced by Jose Manuel
Albares, who was Spain’s ambassador to France. Socialist Carmen Calvo, who was
number two in the government, has also left the cabinet.

Sánchez presented the reshuffle to the king earlier in the day.

The Spanish government had been weakened over the past several months.

Early in May, Podemos and the Socialists were routed in regional elections in Madrid by the conservative Popular Party (PP).

The PP has surged ahead of the Socialists in opinion polls following that election – at the end of May, polls showed the PP and the far-right Vox together would win an absolute majority in parliament if a general election were held.

The government’s decision in June to pardon nine Catalan separatists has also drained support.

The pardons have been condemned by Spain’s right-wing opposition as well as
by the Supreme Court, but Madrid hoped they would give impetus to talks with
Catalonia’s new leader, Pere Aragonès, who was more open to dialogue than his
hardline predecessor.

Since Sánchez’s coalition came to power, it has relied in part on the support of ERC, a leftist Catalan separatist party, which in return demanded talks on resolving the separatist conflict in wealthy Catalonia.

A week after the pardons, Aragonès said separatists would resume talks with the government in the second half of September.

An Ipsos poll in June found that 53 percent of Spaniards opposed the pardons, but 68 percent of Catalans were in favour.

READ ALSO: Spain will ‘never’ allow independence vote in Catalonia: PM

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'Pedro stay!': Thousands of Spanish PM's supporters take to the streets

The 52-year-old, who has been in office since 2018, stunned Spain on Wednesday when he put his resignation on the line after a Madrid court opened a preliminary investigation into suspected influence peddling and corruption against his spouse Begona Gomez.

Sanchez said he would suspend all public duties until he announces his decision on Monday. The normally hyperactive premier has since remained out of sight and silent.

“I need to stop and think whether I should continue to head the government or whether I should give up this honour,” he wrote in a four-page letter posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Supporters on Saturday held up placards saying “Spain needs you”, “Pedro don’t abandon us’, and shouted slogans such as “Pedro leader”.

“I hope that Sanchez will say on Monday that he will stay,” said Sara Domínguez, a consultant in her 30’s, adding that his government had “taken good steps for women, the LGBT community and minorities”.

Jose María Diez, a 44-year-old government official who came from Valladolid in northern Spain to express his support, said there was a real possibility that the far-right could take power if Sanchez quit.

“This will mean a step backwards for our rights and liberties,” he warned.

Inside the party headquarters, there were similar passionate appeals.

‘Pedro stay’

“Pedro stay. We are together and together we can … take the country forward, Spain can’t step back,” said Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero, the government number two.

“Today all democrats, all progressives, are summoned to Madrid against a pack whose only aim is to overthrow a democratic and legitimate government,” said Felix Bolanos, Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations.

At one point, Socialist leaders took to the streets to thank those gathered. “They won’t succeed,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria told the crowd.

The court opened the investigation into Sanchez’s wife in response to a complaint from anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), whose leader is linked to the far right.

The group, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, said on Wednesday its complaint was based on media reports and could not vouch for their veracity.

While the court did not give details of the case, online news site El Confidencial said it focused on links Gomez had to Spanish tourism group Globalia when carrier Air Europa was in talks with the government to secure a huge bailout.

The airline sought the bailout after it was badly hit by plunging paseenger numbers during the Covid-19 crisis.

At the time, Gomez was running IE Africa Centre, a foundation linked to Madrid’s Instituto de Empresa (IE) business school, which had signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020.

Spain’s public prosecutors office on Thursday requested the dismissal of the investigation, which Sanchez said was part of a campaign of “harassment” against him and his wife waged by “media heavily influenced by the right and far right”.

If Sanchez decides to remain in office, he could choose to file a confidence motion in parliament to show that he and his minority government are still supported by a majority of lawmakers.

If he resigns, an early election could be called from July — a year after the last one — with or without Sanchez at the helm of the Socialist party.

The right-wing opposition has accused the prime minister of being irresponsible for putting the country on hold while he mulls his decision.

“It’s very clear to us that this is all a tactic… We know Pedro Sanchez and things with him always turn out like a soap opera,” Cuca Gamarra, the number two of the main opposition conservative Popular Party, said on Friday.

“He is making us all wait and the country is at a standstill,” she added.

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