“I will work hard to live up to the commitment I make. The responsibility is exciting and I assume it with happiness, but knowing the difficulties that equality still has ahead.” With these words, skipped by others such as “humility”, Ana Redondo yesterday took charge of the Ministry of Equality portfolio from an enraged Irene Montero for not continuing in the new Sánchez Government. Her takeover was anything but kind due to Montero's obvious anger, as she was supported and cheered on by her faithful team. Perhaps that is why this 57-year-old from Valladolid asked for “a little patience” when evaluating her work.
Redondo recognized Montero's efforts to demand and “defend equality in all its areas” and that “it has been translated into important advances,” giving voice and visibility to “traditionally neglected” or ignored groups, in clear reference to the rights of trans people. But Redondo, without forgetting this and other groups, made it clear that the defense of women's rights and gender violence will be his priority.
As will also try to unite the always heterogeneous feminist movement, very conflicted as a result of the trans law, a norm that took Carmen Calvo by storm. Yesterday, Redondo had words for her (also for Rodríguez Zapatero, whom he “deeply admires” and who “has done so much for equality”).
He will fight, he insists, to “deepen and remove the obstacles that prevent real equality of opportunity,” but always with dialogue, a lot of dialogue.
Dialogue, prudence, unity and the fight for equality seem to be its hallmark. And with these wicks, she will work for a law of equal representation that helps break the glass ceilings that prevent women from ascending to positions of maximum responsibility, as well as to extend birth leave up to 20 weeks and universalize public education from the beginning. two years, among other measures.
Regarding gender violence, “not a step back” in the face of a denialist extreme right. The 1,237 women murdered since 2003 “will be one of the driving forces that drive their policies in a stable and constant manner.”
Its first event will be this November 25, international day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, where, once again, there will be two feminist demonstrations.
“Long live public health.” This is how Mónica García (49 years old) from Madrid ended her speech yesterday after collecting her portfolio as Minister of Health from her predecessor, José Miñones. The number 27 of democracy, the eighth health care provider and the first anesthetist. With that phrase, García expresses what his priority will be in this legislature: “Recover pride in public healthcare,” the central core of Spain, and he will do so “with the same vocation for public service that has accompanied me inside and outside the operating room.” and inside and outside the hospital,” he indicated.
A healthcare adapted to the challenges of the 21st century, “starting with the climate emergency because there is no health without the health of our planet” and always hand in hand with science and developing its work hand in hand with scientific evidence, because “the “Politics that does not go with science is quackery.”
Your challenges? Many. And she knows it firsthand. Mónica García has committed to reaching agreements with “all the autonomous communities and civil society as a whole”, with whom she will work hard to reach urgent and necessary large agreements.” The most important, the Pact for Mental Health, so that life is a little less painful for many.
Among the pending tasks, the Minister of Health pointed out the reinforcement of primary care, “the greatest emblem of our health system and the one that best represents our spirit of cohesion and equity. It is time to repay the debt with our primary care.”
He also believes that it is time to protect universality “to have healthcare that serves all the people who live in Spain.” And he did not forget his colleagues, the health professionals, whom he “will take care of” with care. And regarding patients, he recalled that they must be at the center of the health system, “the jewel of Spain.”
Pablo Bustinduy (40 years old, from Madrid) had words of gratitude to his predecessors Ione Belarra and Pablo Iglesias, making it clear that he will continue the path followed (especially by the former and especially by the former Secretary of State, Nacho Álvarez ). This means “advancing the construction of a more just society” and “conquering more rights.” “Making a better life is the most important task and the best antidote to discord and reaction,” he said.
Among its challenges, carry out the Family Law, already prepared by Belarra, approve the first state law on social services and develop the regulations of the Animal Welfare Law. In addition, strengthen a new care model, prioritizing home care and the community environment, and improve dependency care. In the field of Consumer Affairs, he is committed to expanding the legal and institutional field of consumer protection and acting against fraud and illegal practices.
The new Ministry of Digital Transformation inaugurated by José Luis Escrivá was born at the dawn of the most transformative technology since the emergence of the Internet in the early nineties of the 20th century. In his inauguration speech, the minister aimed to harness the potential benefits of artificial intelligence with people-centered regulation and without slowing down its development. That is the squaring of the circle with which the EU trilogue works – with representatives of the Commission, Parliament and the Council – to draft the future AI law based on a text already approved by the European Parliament.
Escrivá will have to deal with the distancing of France, Germany and Italy, which have just agreed on their own to a more lax regulatory approach that is based on self-regulation, just what companies wanted.
In other areas, the development of electronic administration, the fight against the digital divide – which mainly affects older people – and the reach of broadband internet in isolated territories are on an intense agenda.
The Valencian Sira Rego, 50, lost her speech due to a computer problem in the transfer of the portfolio of a newly created ministry, that of Children and Youth (previously included in Social Rights), so she had to improvise. But it wasn't difficult. Its main challenge is to reduce the shameful figure of child poverty (the fourth highest in the EU) and make progress in eliminating inequalities that clearly affect children and hinder their opportunities. “Childhood is present and future, we must conceive childhood as an object of rights,” she indicated. She didn't say it herself, but President Sánchez did say it a few days ago: promote a legislative reform so that civil liability does not prescribe for crimes of sexual assault on minors. Regarding youth, Sira Rego raised the need to make public policies on housing, mental health, job insecurity and employment rights.
The intention of the Andalusian Government to legitimize illegal irrigation in the area of Doñana is the great conflict that the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, will face. However, the litigation entered a negotiation phase with the Board's decision to withdraw its controversial bill. The ministry has put on the table an additional investment of more than 300 million euros to make sustainable development investments that serve to take steps towards a rural model in Andalusia not based on the overexploitation of water. But the swords are raised. The drama of Doñana and its dried lagoons has served to establish the idea that the insatiable expansion of industrial irrigation and its highly water-consuming crops that compete with resources for urban supply must be contained, something very dangerous in a context of climate change. .
Furthermore, the ministry must be careful so that the formidable deployment of renewables (wind and photovoltaic) and its territorial impacts does not generate rejection in emptied Spain, which requires a more participatory model. In the new stage, waste management policies (always postponed) must be reactivated, once it has been confirmed that Spain has failed to meet the European goal on recycling in 2020, which may give rise to another European file. And Ribera will surely stand up to the attempts of those who want to ignore his Climate Change law and block the implementation of low-emission urban areas.
Pilar Alegría (Zaragoza, 1977) continues with the Education portfolio, to which has been added the Sports portfolio, separated from the Ministry of Culture, and the Government spokesperson. She thus expands the powers that she had in the previous legislature, in which she was also the spokesperson for the PSOE.
Alegría entered the Government in 2021, replacing Isabel Celáa (who was also spokesperson), who proposed educational reform in the country, but who ignited part of the educational community, especially the most conservative sector. With her kind and serene but firm demeanor, Alegría managed to undo the tensions. During his mandate, the new curricula were developed, the vocational training law was approved (agreed upon by employers and unions) and the Artistic Education law was presented to the Council of Ministers, which must now be taken up again.
The selectivity reform, which had sparked a debate within the sectoral conference, was left in the drawer, just when the elections were called in July 2023. Some regional governments, those of the PP, asked for a single test, compared to the rest that defended their powers in Education. The EBAU of 2024 should already be designed in accordance with the new high school curricula. Given the exceptional nature of the situation, Alegría approved a moratorium. Now he must publish the decree by 2025. Likewise, he still has one of the most controversial pieces of the educational reform left, the teacher reform.
The socialist Diana Morant, who has been Minister of Science and Innovation since July 2021, repeats her position and expands her powers to Universities. In the last legislature, Universities has had its own ministry directed first by Manuel Castells and then by Joan Subirats. The reunification of the powers of science and universities, which until 2020 had been integrated into the same ministry, was a demand of both the scientific and university communities, who saw the split four years ago as a result of the distribution of ministries that It was then done between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos.
Morant now has the challenges of deploying the Science law approved in 2022, of reinforcing excellent research and of speeding up the distribution of European recovery funds. These funds will represent an unprecedented budget injection (and without continuity) and should boost strategic research and innovation sectors. Among them, the Perte Chip, aerospace or quantum technologies stand out.
In the university sphere, the challenge of applying the new University System law, approved this year, which plans to allocate 1% of GDP to universities, is on the table. The current percentage is around 0.7%. Given that the management of universities is a regional competence but the law is state, it remains to be agreed who should provide the missing budget.
Information prepared by: Celeste López, Francesc Bracero, Antonio Cerrillo, Carina Farreras and Josep Corbella
