"To be a minister, you only need to be appointed", former socialist minister Jordi Sevilla told La Vanguardia. That they appoint you and that, beforehand, the president of the Spanish Government calls you by phone or summons you to the office. Some ministers and leaders of the PSOE, half seriously and half jokingly, assured yesterday that they do not stray far from the phone, in case the expected call arrives. However, there are those who think that "the dance" could really start today.
After Pedro Sánchez won the new investiture as president of the Spanish Government at noon yesterday, and was able to enjoy a short break of joy with his team and family - his wife, Begoña Gómez, attended the plenary again of Congress – the leader of the PSOE will promise the position this morning before the King in the Zarzuela.
But the most urgent thing now is the formation of the new progressive coalition government, this time between the PSOE and Sumar. On the one hand, Sánchez must definitively specify with the leader of Sumar, the so far second vice-president Yolanda Díaz, the portfolios that will be occupied by the minority partner of the coalition, and who will lead them. On the other hand, it will complete the structure of the new executive with the ministries that will remain in the hands of the socialists.
As always happens in these cases, in Moncloa they assure that Sánchez does not say or tweet, and allege that he is very jealous of this competence that the president has exclusively attributed. "There are no tracks", they warn. And they remember that, as usually happens, those who speak do not know anything, because those who really know things - who would hardly be their closest collaborators - keep a strict silence.
In spite of the fact that in Moncloa and the PSOE everything is antics of ministers, with more or less foundations, until Sánchez confirms the names, they are nothing more than conjectures. Or bets from those who want a place in the sun. "Nobody knows anything in reality", insisted Moncloa at the end of the investiture plenary.
Yes, there are at least two indications on which many socialist leaders agree about the new government. On the one hand, it will have to be an impregnable and very rocky cabinet, in the face of the unrelenting offensive that it will have to face on the part of right-wing parties on a war footing from the first day, and at the same time very flexible in the face of permanent negotiation to which he will be subjected in order to approve each initiative.
And not only in the government coalition between the PSOE and Sumar - which initially appears less conflicted than the previous one of the socialists with Unides Podem - but also especially with essential parliamentary allies, but as suspicious and at odds with each other as Junts and Esquerra, or the PNB and EH Bildu. In addition, with the regional elections already on the horizon.
"Very political", sum up some socialist leaders about the main characteristic that the new government will have.
There is also agreement in the PSOE that the new executive will have to be smaller than the current one. In fact, the government that is now being dismissed was outsized, as they admitted at the time, due to the need to fit all the pieces of the coalition with Unides Podemos, which forced the chopping of portfolios and departments that could now be returned to merge into a more compact and effective government.
Among the unknowns that have yet to be clarified is whether Sánchez will keep Nadia Calviño at the head of the economic vice-presidency or opt for her replacement due to the candidacy to preside over the European Investment Bank (EIB). Or if the PSC will have two ministers, like now, or just one. In the PSOE, they only dare to give the continuity of the Government of ministers Félix Bolaños, María Jesús Montero or the vice-president Teresa Ribera as certain. In the crossbars there are also Óscar López and Antonio Hernando, now in the hard core of Moncloa. And former regional presidents, such as Ximo Puig and Guillermo Fernández Vara.
But it's all speculation, for now. "The president has not given hints or spoken to anyone", they assured last night.
Some of the socialist leaders who stand out in the crosshairs of ministers, although they also assure that they still have no news - so they do not part with their mobile either -, consider that once Sánchez promises the position to Zarzuela this morning, in the afternoon the appointment of the new ministers could be "triggered".
Sánchez's appearance at La Moncloa to announce the composition of the new executive could be tomorrow or, if he needs more time to fit all the pieces of the puzzle, be delayed until Sunday or Monday. The forecast, in any case, is that the new Council of Ministers will meet on Tuesday, once the members have taken possession of their positions.
The only thing no one doubts is that Sánchez, and all his ministers, will face an uncertain legislature... but with maximum political voltage.
