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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

Exiled separatist leader rallies support in France ahead of Catalan election

"Puigdemont, president!" chanted an excited crowd waiting to enter a campaign rally in Argelès-sur-Mer, a French seaside town near the Spanish border in an area Catalan separatists refer to as "Northern Catalonia".

Published: 7 May 2024 13:41 CEST
Exiled separatist leader rallies support in France ahead of Catalan election

It is here that Carles Puigdemont, the self-exiled Catalan separatist leader, has set up his campaign headquarters ahead of Sunday’s elections in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, which lies just 30 kilometres (18 miles) across the border.

It was nearly midday and several thousand activists were waiting to get into the venue to see the 61-year-old former Catalan leader, who led the botched 2017 bid for Catalan independence from Spain before fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.

He lived for several years in Belgium but relocated last month to the southeastern French region of Pyrenees-Orientales, where Catalan culture and language is widespread and which separatists see as the northern part of their homeland.

Unable to enter Spain, where he is still subject to an arrest warrant, Puigdemont, who heads the hardline separatist JxCat party, is campaigning in southern France ahead of the May 12th regional elections.

READ ALSO: Why regional elections in Catalonia matter to Spain’s future

His rallies are drawing busloads of supporters, who are ferried across the border in coaches plastered with posters of Puigdemont’s face and slogans like “Catalonia needs independence!” on a trip that takes at least two and a half hours.

In the carpark outside the venue, several buses were waiting, as nearby loudspeakers vibrated with festive Catalan music that is punctuated by upbeat messages from the organisers.

“It’s quite sad. The president should be allowed to go where he needs to go, to Catalonia, which is why it’s very important that we’re here,” explained Angels Lores, a 58-year-old teacher who refers to Puigdemont as if he were still regional leader.

It is the third time Puigdemont has run in the regional Catalan elections since fleeing Spain in October 2017.

But this self-imposed exile could soon be over thanks to an amnesty law.

The bill was passed by the left-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in exchange for support from the Catalan separatist parties in parliament that enabled him to obtain a new four-year term in office.

The draft law is expected to receive its final green light by the end of May, heralding Puigdemont’s triumphant return home.

‘A new relevance’

“These are important elections because after all this time he’s been in exile, Puigdemont’s possible return has given them a new relevance,” said Arnau Olle, a 29-year-old IT specialist from a town near Barcelona.

A few streets away, the residents of Argelès-sur-Mer did not appear to be very excited by what may be at stake in the Catalan elections.

In the market, Alain Saussier, 72, said he’d seen “a few buses go by” but not much else.

Outside a nearby bakery, 71-year-old Muriel Creel said she knew Puigdemont was in town but admitted she has no interest in his ideas.

“Spain is one country, like France, and it must stay like that.

“We need regional traditions. That’s fine. But the country must stay united,” she told AFP.

After the rally wrapped up with the traditional cheer of “Long live free Catalonia!”, Yolanda Gómez, a 60-year-old housewife from Barcelona, emerged smiling.

Despite polls pointing to a victory by the Catalan branch of Sánchez’s Socialist party, Puigdemont was “excited and enthusiastic”, she said.

And when he finally returned to Spain victorious, they would hold “a party”, she said.

Her sister Sonia chipped in: “Like when Barcelona wins the Champions League!”

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