The new Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body, is a perfect stranger to the vast majority of Spanish citizens, but not to the President of the Government, nor to the international economic institutions with which from now on he will have to deal. in your day to day life.
Until now, Secretary General of the Treasury and right-hand man of Nadia Calviño in the Ministry of Economy, he could afford to walk with his family through the streets of Madrid without attracting attention with the same naturalness with which he sat at the table. from the group of wise men who advised the President of the Government during the Covid pandemic or with whom he walks the carpets of Brussels, replacing his boss, Nadia Calviño, at meetings of European ministers, the G20 or the IMF.
But getting used to opening news programs and having an escort will not be the hardest change that the Corps will have to deal with in its new position.
Until now, he has developed his professional career as a Technician of the Corps of Superior Commercial and Economists of the States, which he entered by competitive examination in 2008, tied to the data. He swims like a fish in water through the complicated Excel sheets of public accounts. Now, in addition to defending the orthodoxy of Excel, he must develop the political profile that is assumed for a head of the Ministry of Economy.
He has no shortage of left hand to clear the ball, according to colleagues and teammates with whom he shares a love of paddle tennis.
In his presentation, Pedro Sánchez highlighted yesterday his “solvency, honesty and proven competence as a public servant within the Administration.” This 43-year-old from Badajoz graduated from the University of Extremadura in Economics in 2003. He has a PhD in Economics from the UAM and a Master’s degree in Economic Analysis from the London School of Economics.
In the last legislature he was in charge of directing public debt policy as Secretary of State for the Treasury. His high work capacity has helped him to follow the intense rhythm that his predecessor imposes on a daily basis. He earned the trust of the already president of the EIB since she joined her team in 2020, as general director of Macroeconomic Analysis of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
He arrived with the lesson of public data very well learned. Between 2014 and 2020, he had been one of those responsible for scrutinizing the public accounts in the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef), which he joined at the dawn of the institution at the service of who will now be his colleague at the Council of Ministers table. Ministers, José Luis Escrivá. First as deputy general director of Public Debt and after two years Escrivá promoted him to director of the Economic Analysis Division.
Carlos Corpus came to Airef from Brussels where he worked as a national expert, exercising responsibilities related to the new Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure.
On a personal level, Body is a tireless worker with great team management and negotiation skills on thorny issues thanks to his affable nature. Both Nadia Calviño and the President of the Government used the same word yesterday to define him: “honesty.” His boss until now, the same one who proposed him for the position, highlighted his “strength and commitment” to carry out the role that he has to assume as of yesterday.
In case he had any doubts, Pedro Sánchez reminded him that he has a very high bar, but he also conveyed his confidence that he will be able to give “continuity” to Calviño’s work. Because that is what is expected of him, to direct the Spanish economy along the path on which his predecessor left it and to deal with the new fiscal adjustment criteria that Europe has imposed starting in 2024. Carlos Corpus committed yesterday to the king to do it with “dialogue and consensus.”
