President Pedro Sanchez has undertaken a profound renovation of the Government, with important changes in several important ministries. A government crisis that only affects the socialist portfolios since United We Can has managed to maintain the positions it had until now.
Four men and three women are leaving the Government, while there will be five new ministers – three of them mayors -, so the weight of women in the Executive – fourteen ministers, eight ministers and the president – continues to grow, 63 percent .
The departure of Carmen Calvo, until now “number two”, and of the Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, Jose Luis Abalos, Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, stand out.
Although he is not part of the Council of Ministers, the succession of the former chief of staff of the Presidency, Ivan Redondo, who is replaced by Oscar Lopez, current president of Paradores, also stands out.
Felix Bolanos
Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory
Less known in the street than the guru and court advisor of Pedro Sanchez, Ivan Redondo, who is leaving the Government until now, Felix Bolanos was one of the so-called Moncloa plumbers, a member of the PSOE and person also of the maximum confidence of the president of the Government.
Until now, the new Minister of the Presidency and Relations with the Courts, a competence carried out by Carmen Calvo, has been Secretary General of the Presidency of the Government.
A position that is never in the front line in the media, but through which the agenda , strategic decisions and future projects of the Chief Executive and the Government as a whole pass. Not in vain, Bolanos was one of the promoters of the agreement that allowed the coalition government to be born with United We Can after the repetition of the November 2019 elections.
A “back room” job that “is not seen”, which he even highlighted in the investiture debate the leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias.
Side by side with the now general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, Bolanos closed the programmatic agreement and the balance of portfolios between both formations that, as has been seen in this government crisis, has been respected.
Born in Madrid in 1975, he has a law degree from the Complutense University, where he was number one in his class both in the General Law Course and in the Special Course on Labor Law taught by the School of Legal Practice.
Professor at the Instituto de Empresa (IE Law School), he participated in the PSOE lists for the general elections of December 20, 2015, but did not win a seat.
He was head of the Division of Labor Legal Advice and Legal Documentation of the Bank of Spain, when on June 7, 2018 he was appointed Secretary General of the Presidency of the Government, in the executive of Pedro Sanchez that emerged after the triumph of the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy.
Connoisseur of the PSOE, since 2014 he was secretary of the Ethics and Guarantee Commission of the party before his jump to La Moncloa.
He was also the coordinator for the elaboration of the new Federal Regulation for the Development of the Statutes of the PSOE, which was approved by the Federal Committee on February 17, 2018.
However, the name -and the face- of Bolanos became known to the great public months before in a historical day, that of the exhumation of Francisco Franco from the Valley of the Fallen.
He was the one who acted as a witness that day, together with the Minister of Justice, Dolores Delgado, as chief notary, and together with the Undersecretary of the Presidency, Antonio Hidalgo, and at the same time supervised the entire process. But I also negotiated the details of the exhumation with the family first.and he was in charge of preparing for months until the last detail of that day.
While Ivan Redondo has been known as Sanchez’s main political adviser, Bolanos has always been considered another essential piece of the Moncloa gear, more focused on the small print, and on the legal adjustment of the big decisions.
A job that he will now continue to carry out, yes, from the Table of the Council of Ministers, and as the new “strong man” of the PSOE apparatus in Pedro Sanchez’s cabinet.
Pilar Llop
Minister of Justice
Her commitment to the fight against gender-based violence and feminism have focused much of the professional activity of the new Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, since his entry into the judicial career 20 years ago.
Llop (Madrid, 1973 ) became the second woman to preside over the Senate a year and a half ago, after Esperanza Aguirre, a position that she is now leaving to occupy the Justice portfolio, replacing Juan Carlos Campo, who leaves the Government in the middle of the controversy over the pardons of the prisoners of the process.
In his new career, Llop will have to face the judicial battle against the pardons of the pro-independence prisoners prepared by PP, Cs and Vox and will have to try to reach an agreement with the PP for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary , among other constitutional bodies.
Impeccable in her manners, with a conciliatory spirit and a firm defender of education as a vaccine against gender-based violence, the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, has highlighted her “measure” and sense of justice.”
Judge for two decades , her political career began in 2015 as a socialist regional deputy of the Madrid Assembly, from where she was elected by the Government of Pedro Sanchez in July 2018 to act as the Government delegate for Gender Violence, her first great political leap, where He undertook the impulse of part of the measures of the State pact.Although he
does not have meat of the PSO E, Llop concurred as number two in the list of Angel Gabilondo in the last autonomic elections of Madrid.
She assumed the presidency of the Senate just five months after arriving as a senator in the Upper House: she was one of the 57 senators appointed by the regional parliaments with the support of the Madrid Assembly.
Her career, eminently legal, has been linked to the fight against sexist violence and the defense of women’s rights.
A feminist, with an abolitionist stance against prostitution , Llop graduated in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid and passed the oppositions for judge in 1999, at the age of 26. Since 2004 she has been a magistrate.
She has been a lawyer for the Technical Cabinet of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), where she assumed the leadership of the Observatory Section against Domestic and Gender Violence, and was secretary of the Equality Commission, the Justice and Disability Forum and the Committee of direction.
From 2009 to 2015, the year he became involved in politics, he was in a court specializing in violence against women . In addition, she combined her judicial function with that of international consultant and worked in various countries of the European Union and Latin America on issues related to reforms of judicial systems, criminal matters and gender violence.
Jose Manuel Albares
Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation
The career diplomat and current ambassador in Paris, Jose Manuel Albares, will be the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, a position for which he was already outlined in 2020 and which has become a reality with the first major remodeling of the Government by Pedro Sanchez.
With his appointment, Sanchez finally rewards the man who became his main adviser and guide on foreign policy matters since he formed his first government team after winning the motion of censure in 2018, when he joined his office in La Moncloa as head of international affairs.
As Secretary General for International Affairs in Moncloa, he accompanied Sanchez on his trips around the world, was at the forefront of the main international negotiations, especially Brexit, and was responsible for the preparation of numerous international appointments of the President.
Despite his shadow position, Albares became known by appearing alongside Sanchez in the famous photo of the official Falcon wearing sunglasses.
His name rang out strongly at the beginning of 2020 as Foreign Minister, when the then-minister of the portfolio, Josep Borrell, announced that he would stand in the European elections, but Sanchez opted for Arancha Gonzalez Laya and appointed Albares ambassador to France. .
The diplomat thus returned to the embassy in Paris, where he held the position of cultural adviser when Sanchez signed him to his Monclovite team for the position of Secretary General of International Affairs, European Union, G20 and Global Security, with the rank of undersecretary.
Sanchez and Albares knew each other from before , since the diplomat joined the PSOE in September 2015 and helped him prepare the electoral program on Foreign Affairs for the general elections in December of that year in which the Socialists did not reap good results.
Born in 1972 in Madrid, Albares graduated in Law from the University of Deusto and graduated in Business Sciences, after which he entered a diplomatic career.
Throughout his professional life, the new Foreign Minister has served as the General Consulate of Spain in Colombia and has served in the permanent representation of Spain before the OECD, where he was Vice President of the Committee for Development Assistance (CAD).
In addition, he has held, among others, the position of Director General for Africa (acting), Deputy Director General for Sub-Saharan Africa and Head of the Cooperation Department at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
Diana Morant
Minister of Science and Innovation
Diana Morant (Gandia, Valencia, 1980), Telecommunications engineer, whose party and corporate colleagues highlight her “emotional intelligence”, her “great empathy” and her closeness, she was mayor at only 35 years old after unseating the PP and at 41 -completed on June 25- she will be one of the youngest ministers in the cabinet who will manage the portfolio of Science and Innovation.
Descendant of a family linked to the PSOE, she came to politics from the associative world of the city as a member of the Fallera Local Board, since she has been involved and very involved with the Fallas world since she was a child, in the commission of the Falla Plaza Prado .
His political career began in 2011 , when he ranked fourth on the socialist electoral list for the Gandia City Council. That legislature its formation was in the opposition with the popular Arturo Torro as mayor, who enjoyed an absolute majority.
In 2014, after the resignation of the socialist Manuel Orengo, Morant, who at that time was responsible for the organization of the local socialist executive, was appointed general secretary of the PSPV group in Gandia.
Four years later, in May 2015, he led his party’s candidacy for Mayor. The socialists were the second most voted formation, with seven councilors, behind the popular ones, who got 12, but on June 13, 2015 they took over the baton of that municipal corporation upon receiving the support of the five councilors of the Month Gandia coalition and one of Ciudadanos.
Candidate to renew the position of mayorIn the May 2019 elections, the Socialists became the first force by increasing the number of mayors to 11, and on June 15 they revalidated it thanks to the four votes of the Compromis Mes Gandia Unida coalition.
Her party comrades highlight Morant’s “great empathy”, her connection with the city, its people and its festivals, which make her a very close person, as well as her great academic and emotional “preparation” to hold positions of responsibility despite of his youth.
The presentation of his candidacy for mayor, in 2019, was attended by former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, of whom Morant has declared himself an admirer, as well as the general secretary of the PSOE, Pedro Sanchez, and has “a very good relationship ” politics with the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, they assure in their surroundings.
Telecommunications Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (2007), specializing in communications, with a Certificate of Pedagogical Aptitude (CAP) from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (2009), she has taken courses on “Common Telecommunications Infrastructure, ICT” at the College Officer of Telecommunications Engineers of the Valencian Community (2008) and that of “IP Cameras and Network Video”, of Axis Communications’
Development of the Final Degree Project (PFC) in the company Fermax Electronica SAE, from October 2006 to April 2007, I work in the R&D department as a Development Engineer in the company Alhena Ingenieria between May 2008 and February 2011 , and taught a course on Home Automation at the company SGS Tecnos (2011).
In 2015 she was also elected a member of the Diputacion de Valencia, as a delegate of Mancomunidades and Comarcalizacion, although in April 2017 she resigned from the provincial seat to dedicate “200%” of her time to “working for Gandia from Gandia”. He is also a member of the Consell de Turisme de la Generalitat Valenciana since June 2015.
In addition, she was a member of the decision-making body of the Spain Convention Bureau from June 2016 to May 2019, a member of the Territorial Council of the FEMP since September 2019, and of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Valencia since January 2020.
Pilar Alegria
Minister of Education
Pilar Alegria takes a new leap, the most important in her career, this time into national politics with the appointment of Pedro Sanchez as the new Minister of Education and Vocational Training to replace Isabel Celaa.
After passing through the Congress of Deputies between 2008 and 2015, Pilar Alegria ( Zaragoza, 1977 ), graduated in Teaching Primary Education, returned to his land and his city to take charge of the Ministry of Innovation, Research and University for four years.
In this period he managed to carry out the Pact for Science signed by all the groups that at that time had representation in the Cortes of Aragon.
Another no less important was the agreement in March 2016 for the financing of the University of Zaragoza , for which in the period 2016-2020 he would receive 780 million euros.
His positioning in favor of Pedro Sanchez against the president of his party in Aragon, the current autonomous president Javier Lamban, the disqualification of the Cortes, but ended up making a hole as head of the list in the Zaragoza City Council elections against Carmen Dueso, who ended up resigning in the primaries.
The preparation of the list was not to his liking and he had to accept names on his list from the Aragonese socialists, which did not prevent him from achieving a wasteful victory.
The list of the PSOE to the City Council of the first city of Aragon was the most voted, but the numbers did not give him to take over the mayorship that ended up in the hands of the popular Jorge Azcon, after his agreement with Ciudadanos and the necessary support of the extreme right of Vox.
Pilar Alegria had acknowledged in an interview with EFE that being mayor was “one of the highest honors”and that its objective was to return to the city its proximity and ability to offer opportunities and solutions after four years of “troubles”.
Not being able to take the baton of command in Zaragoza, led her to change the sidewalk in the Plaza del Pilar. She left her chair as a councilor in the Zaragoza City Hall and moved to the building opposite, to take charge of the Government Delegation in Aragon, a position she has held for the last year and a half.
Isabel Rodriguez
Government Spokesperson and Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Function
The new Minister of Territorial Policy and Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodriguez Garcia, has already carried out the same task at the head of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, so he already has experience for his weekly appearance before the press to report on the agreements of the Council of Ministers and respond to current issues.
Born in Abenojar (Ciudad Real), June 5, 1981 , she studied Law at the University of Castilla-La Mancha and obtained her degree in 2004.
She is currently the mayor of Puertollano (Ciudad Real) since 15 June 2019 by the Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol, in addition to general secretary of the local PSOE.
Before reaching the Mayor’s Office after winning the 2019 municipal elections, Isabel Rodriguez had already represented the province of Ciudad Real in the Congress of Deputies since 2011 and previously, after the 2004 elections, in the Senate, where she was the senator youngest in the history of Spain.
In June 2007, she left her seat in the Senate to take up the position of general director of Youth in the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, then chaired by Jose Maria Barreda.
In 2008 the Regional Congress of the PSOE of Castilla la Mancha in July 2008, she was elected Secretary of Communication and spokesperson for the regional PSOE, and on September 1, 2008 she was appointed spokesperson for the Government of Castilla-La Mancha.
After the 2011 elections, she joined the Congress of Deputies as a national deputy for the province of Ciudad Real, a position that she revalidated in the 2015 elections and that she currently holds.
Within Congress , he has been a member of the Permanent Deputation, deputy spokesperson of the Board of Spokespersons, member of the Constitutional Commission and of the Justice Commission, assigned to the Industry, Energy and Tourism Commission and to the Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda Commission , member of the Regulation Commission and member of the Mixed National Security Commission.
Raquel Sanchez Jimenez
Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda
Raquel Sanchez , the current mayor of Gava(Barcelona), is a representative of the municipal power of the PSC, especially in the Barcelona metropolitan area, which will now have command of a weighty ministry, that of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.
Sanchez has been a member of the PSC executive since November 2016, when Miquel Iceta placed her as secretary for women, and since 2014 she has been mayor of Gava, a position in which she took over from Joaquim Balsera. The replacement for Jose Luis Abalos at the head of said ministry has been gaining political weight in recent years.
Last year, for example, she was elected a member of the National Climate Council on behalf of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP).
Beyond local politics, his name has been present in the media in recent months because the El Prat City Council is one of those directly involved in the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport expansion project, promoted by Aena.
As mayor, she has conditioned the expansion of El Prat to limit the acoustic impact of the infrastructure on the residents of the municipality and to continue operating with the system of segregated runways -one to land and another to take off-, for which she has advocated for a solution agreed with the territory.
The circumstance arises that Aena, which is willing to invest some 1,700 million in the expansion of El Prat, must present its five-year investment plan to the Council of Ministers in the coming months, and that Sanchez will now be one of the members of the Executive and, specifically, the minister of the branch.
Sanchez (Gava, 1975 ), married and mother of two children, has developed her political career in the Gava City Council, since she was a councilor in 2007, between that year and 2011 she served as deputy mayor for economy and finance, as well as for spokesperson for the socialist group, and between 2011 and 2015 she was deputy mayor for urban planning, economic promotion, the environment and sustainability.
Thus, he has experience in different areas of government in the local Administration, although now he will have to make the leap to the important Ministry of Public Works, which faces challenges such as agreeing with United We Can the new Housing Law or continuing with the rescue of the tolls that expire, such as those of the AP-7 or the AP-2, among others.
With a law degree from the UB and a master’s degree in labor law and Social Security from UPF, at the beginning of her professional career she worked as a lawyer in an office in Barcelona and later, together with some colleagues, founded her own office in Castelldefels (Barcelona).
With his entry into the Government, which is added to the presence of Miquel Iceta at the head of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the PSC increases its weight in the Executive.
Likewise, the Catalan socialists also show their influence by having placed Maurici Lucena or Isaias Taboas at the head of key companies such as Aena and Renfe, respectively.
