With the appointment of Nadia Calviño to chair the EIB, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has activated the plan for the complex succession of a key piece in his Executive, but it is an activation without haste. The appointment is not expected to be immediate. Sánchez himself has stated in recent days that there would be a transition period, "a few months", although seen from Brussels the term seems like an eternity and the need for such an extension is not very well understood. From the sources consulted, no one gives any coherent reason why Sánchez would need months before moving a piece.
In Brussels, we are rather talking about the beginning of the year with procedures that may require three or four weeks. More weeks than months would be more congruent with the needs of the EIB.
The replacement of a piece as decisive as Calviño, who drives the economic area, maintains the relationship with Europe, builds bridges with employers and brings a plus of economic orthodoxy is not easy. At the outset, the latest appointments, the promotion of the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to vice-president, do not seem innocuous. It is to put her on the springboard for the jump to the first vice-presidency, because she is a socialist, a woman and capable of piloting the economic area. A leap that could be made with or without expansion of competences. With expansion, we would go to an economic super-ministry. However, there are points against this move, because Montero is not an economist, she is not an expert in the financial system and she is not skilled in negotiations with Brussels.
Compatible with the elevation of Montero to first vice-president but without extending powers would be the appointment of an Economy Minister from within or outside the Cabinet. From the outside, the name that sounds the most, which the PSC and the employers would like, would be David Vegara. Current director of Banco Sabadell, he can bring to bear the five years as Secretary of State for Economy, in the mandate of Pedro Solbes, and his international experience, through his time at the IMF and the MEDE. "It would be good news", they say to the PSC.
Another alternative would be for José Luis Escrivá to move from the new Ministry of Digital Transition to Economy, but it is an option that has lost points, because Escrivá is immersed in a new task, starting practically from scratch, and because, in addition, his relations with employers have been complicated, he is sometimes labeled inflexible and jumps aggressively if an economist questions the sustainability of pensions.
Another recurring candidate for minister is Sánchez a la Moncloa's economic adviser, Manuel de la Rocha, a man of the president's full confidence, with a more technical profile and experience in international economic relations. However, his promotion from the last reshuffle to Secretary of State may now make it difficult to move him to a new position.
Other names also appear on the crossbars, such as the socialist MEP Lina Gálvez or the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena. Gálvez is a professor of History and Economic Institutions at Pablo de Olavide University and is very committed to the fight for gender equality. She was the Minister of Research in the Andalusian Board of Susana Díaz and is currently the vice-president of the Industry Committee of the European Parliament. Gálvez appeared in the famous selfie published by Calviño in which the coordinators of the PSOE electoral program appear greatly rejuvenated by the effects of artificial intelligence.
