Each vote, with such tight parliamentary majorities, is worth its weight in gold. As already happened in the previous legislature, and even more so in this new mandate, Pedro Sánchez barely has any margin for error in approving his legislative initiatives. So the vast majority of PSOE ministers, who are now assuming incredible management and agendas, renounce their membership as deputies to save votes.
Seeing the right-wing tsunami that was coming – an avalanche of polls predicted an incontestable victory for Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the 23-J elections that would allow him to govern with the support of Vox –, Sánchez gave shelter on the PSOE electoral lists to its hard core in Moncloa. And also to all the socialist ministers who would like to hold on to a seat in Congress to face the planned crossing of the desert in the opposition.
But, against the odds, the 23-J vote did not meet the exultant expectations held by the PP, Feijóo failed to govern, Sánchez revalidated the presidency… and now it is time to recompose the socialist group in Congress, once they finish delivering their minutes of deputies, the hard core of Moncloa and the majority of ministers, or also former ministers, who, when placed at the top of the electoral lists, won a seat.
Now that Sánchez’s team has been confirmed in Moncloa, the brand new Council of Ministers has been formed and a good part of the Secretaries of State have been appointed – although some appointments and alternative destinations for other former ministers have yet to be approved – last week the resignations from the minutes of deputies in the socialist group in Congress, and their substitutions when running the lists, in a process that will culminate shortly.
The PSOE list for Madrid, headed by Sánchez again, is the most affected by these departures, refusals to collect the minutes and the subsequent replacements.
But, overall, up to eight socialist ministers in the new cabinet have already resigned from their membership. The only ones who will combine their seats with their positions in the Government are President Sánchez himself and the three ministers considered heavyweights of the party in this new mandate: María Jesús Montero (fourth vice president of the Executive, for now, as well as Minister of Finance and Public Service, and vice-secretary general of the PSOE), Félix Bolaños (Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts) and Óscar Puente (Transportation).
The re-elected ministers in the new Cabinet who have already resigned their membership in Congress are Teresa Ribera (third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition), José Manuel Albares (Foreign Affairs), Margarita Robles (Defense), Fernando Grande-Marlaska ( Interior), Pilar Alegría (Government spokesperson and Minister of Education), Isabel Rodríguez (Housing), Luis Planas (Agriculture) and Diana Morant (Science).
The members of the Moncloa leadership also submitted their minutes of deputies, including Óscar López (Sánchez’s chief of staff) and Antonio Hernando (deputy director of the presidential cabinet), as well as Pilar Sánchez Acera (director of Óscar’s cabinet López), who did not collect the report that corresponded to him when the PSOE list ran through Madrid, just as happened to David Lucas, when he was appointed the new Secretary of State for Housing.
This same week, in addition, two former ministers of the previous executive already submitted their minutes as deputies. Specifically, Miquel Iceta, former Minister of Culture who was number two on the PSC list and is now the new Spanish 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, as socialist sources predict that two other former ministers will also resign from their respective acts of deputies: the Catalan Raquel Sànchez (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 shortly.
