Every vote, with such tight parliamentary majorities, is worth its weight in gold. As happened in the previous legislature, and even more so in this new mandate, Pedro Sánchez does not have much room for error to approve his legislative initiatives. So that the vast majority of PSOE ministers, who now take on management and heart attack agendas, renounce their acts as deputies to save votes.
Seeing the tsunami of the right that was approaching – an avalanche of polls predicted an incontestable victory for Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the elections of 23-J that would allow him to govern with the support of Vox -, Sánchez gathered his hard core in Moncloa on the electoral lists of the PSOE. Also all the socialist ministers who wanted to hold on to a seat in Congress to face the planned crossing of the desert to the opposition.
But against the odds, the 23-J scrutiny did not meet the PP’s exultant expectations, Feijóo failed to govern, Sánchez revalidated the presidency… and now it’s time to reassemble the socialist group, once they have finished delivering their acts of deputies the hard core of Moncloa and most of the ministers, or also ex-ministers, who, since they were placed in exit positions on the electoral lists, won a seat.
The team of Sánchez and Moncloa has already been confirmed, the new Council of Ministers has been formed and most of the secretaries of State have been appointed – although some appointments and alternative destinations for other former ministers still need to be approved – last week the resignations to the acts of deputies in the socialist group in Congress have already begun, and also the replacements, in a process that will culminate very soon.
The PSOE list for Madrid, which Sánchez once again headed, is the most affected by these departures, refusals to collect the minutes and the consequent relays. But, as a whole, eight socialist ministers in the new cabinet have already resigned from their deputies. The only ones who will combine their seats with positions in the Spanish Government are President Sánchez himself and the three ministers considered as party heavyweights in this new mandate: María Jesús Montero (fourth vice-president of the Executive, for now, in more than Minister of Finance and Public Service, and Deputy General Secretary of the PSOE), Félix Bolaños (Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts), and Óscar Puente (Transports).
The re-elected ministers in the new cabinet who have already resigned from their acts as deputies in Congress are Teresa Ribera (third vice-president and minister for the Ecological Transition), JoséManuel Albares (Exteriors), Margarita Robles (Defence), Fernando Grande-Marlaska (Interior ), Pilar Alegría (Government spokesperson and Minister of Education), Isabel Rodríguez (Housing), Luis Planas (Agriculture) and Diana Morant (Science).
Members of the Moncloa cabinet also delivered the minutes of deputies, including Óscar López (Sánchez’s chief of staff) and Antonio Hernando (deputy director of the presidency’s cabinet), in addition to Pilar Sánchez Acera (director of the cabinet of ‘Óscar López), who just picked up the minutes that corresponded to him since he ran the PSOE list through Madrid, just as it happened to David Lucas, when he was appointed the new Secretary of State for Housing.
This week, in addition, two ex-ministers from the previous Executive have already handed in their deputies’ records. In particular, Miquel Iceta, ex-Minister of Culture who was number two on the PSC list and is now Spain’s new ambassador to Unesco, in Paris. And Héctor Gómez, former Minister of Industry who headed the PSOE list for Santa Cruz de Tenerife, now appointed Spanish ambassador to the United Nations, in New York.
The process is still open, since socialist sources predict that two more ex-ministers will also resign from their respective acts of deputy: the Catalan (former Minister of Transport) and the Galician José Manuel Miñones (former Minister of Health). In both cases, they are waiting for their new destinations to be approved very soon.