Pedro Sánchez confirms his entire hard core at Moncloa while Alberto Núñez Feijóo rehearses a team change at the top of the Popular Party. The message, they say in Moncloa itself, is clear: “The team is politically very strong and very coordinated.” And perfectly greased, furthermore, with the federal leadership of the PSOE in Ferraz.
Sánchez thus rejects experiments before a legislature that everyone assumes will be especially “intense,” as acknowledged yesterday by the Government spokesperson, the socialist Pilar Alegría. The new structure of the Executive will be made up in any case of “men and women with a proven and reliable track record in management,” according to the minister spokesperson.
The first meeting of the Council of Ministers of the new mandate last week already revalidated the appointment of Óscar López as chief of staff of the Presidency of the Government and of Francesc Vallès as Secretary of State for Communication. And yesterday the Cabinet meeting confirmed the rest of the members of the Moncloa leadership in the positions they held until now.
Thus, Antonio Hernando continues as deputy director of the Presidency's cabinet; Francisco Salazar, as Secretary General of Political Planning, and Diego Rubio, as Secretary General of Public Policies, European Affairs and Strategic Foresight.
Sánchez's economic guru, Manuel de la Rocha, is reinforced as director of the Office of Economic Affairs and G-20, because he will now have the rank of secretary of State.
The novelty in the approved organizational chart is General Loreto Gutiérrez, who assumes the direction of the National Security department of the Presidency cabinet – in the so-called Moncloa bunker –, after the retirement of veteran General Miguel Ángel Ballesteros. Gutiérrez was the first general of the Air Force, as highlighted by the Government spokesperson, and for the first time a woman will assume this position in the Moncloa.
The Secretary General of Foreign Affairs continues to be Emma Aparici, and the director of the Speech and Message department is Jesús Javier Perea, while Pilar Sánchez Acera continues as director of Óscar López's cabinet, among other appointments.
The Council of Ministers also approved the appointments of new Secretaries of State. Among them, Joaquín Pérez Rey (Work), María Amparo Merino (Social Economy), Manuel Olmo (Justice), José Antonio Santano (Transport), David Lucas (Housing), Jordi Martí (Culture), Javier Padilla (Health), Rosa Martínez (Social Rights) and Rubén Pérez (Youth and Children).
The Government, in turn, yesterday launched the process of renewing the appointment of Álvaro García Ortiz as Attorney General of the State. Despite the ruling of the Supreme Court, which attributed a “diversion of power” to her due to the promotion of her predecessor in office, Dolores Delgado, the minister spokesperson assured that he has “the trust” of the Executive.
