“A government with a high political profile for a legislature with a high political profile.” Pedro Sánchez did not want to wait for the obvious interpretations of the press. It was he himself who, in his appearance without questions and without even granting journalists access to La Moncloa, made clear what everyone saw when the names of the 22 ministers who will accompany him at this beginning of the legislative period were known, although everything suggests that Soon there will be a very relevant change: if Nadia Calviño is elected President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) on December 8, which is her desired position, she will have to be replaced by another Minister of Economy, a crucial position in which The former senior official in Brussels has been in office since Sánchez arrived in La Moncloa in June 2018 with a motion of no confidence.
Sánchez does not hide the evidence: he is a permanent executive, with the hard core left untouched, given even more power. Félix Bolaños becomes super minister for the presidency, justice and relations with the courts. María Jesús Montero is promoted to fourth vice president without losing her important treasury portfolio. Furthermore, the entire critical structure of La Moncloa remains intact under the leadership of Chief of Staff Óscar López. Pilar Alegría joins as new spokesperson for the executive branch. And Óscar Puente, who specializes in the dialectical struggle with the PP, is appointed Minister of Transport. They are all also very political, among other leadership profiles, like the former mayor of Barcelona Jordi Hereu, or new ministers who are also strongly affiliated with the PSOE, like those of Equality, Ana Redondo, or of Social Security, Elma Saiz. In addition, the heavyweights that were already in the key portfolios remain. All with the intention that this political government will help Sánchez face an implacable opposition that will be stronger than ever with 171 seats and 11 of the 17 autonomies, in addition to the majority in the Senate and local power in the hands of the PP Vox.
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The President once showed what enormous power and complete freedom he has to run his government: there are territorial balances, but no autonomous baron can influence the formation of the executive branch. And another show of force: on Saturday, Sánchez called both those who didn’t continue, as well as those who did – that is, the majority, some of whom already knew beforehand – and the new ones, demanding complete silence from them until Monday. They carried it out to the letter, at the risk of their appointment being rejected. And even those who left the government did so. “We all knew it since Saturday. “It is an opportunity to test the discretion of every single minister in the new government,” one of them summarizes.
The opposition has already shown that it will be relentless and try to wear down the government, emboldened by the rejection of the amnesty law, but Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz have responded with a very clearly political and compact government, both in the socialist sector, where all the new entrants are experienced regional leaders, not independent technicians like in 2018, as in Sumar, where the second vice president left out Podemos, who was very critical of her, and brought in people with a clear track record from Más Madrid (Mónica García), from the Izquierda Unida (Sira Rego), from the Commons (Ernest Urtasun) and an errejonista but close to it like Pablo Bustinduy. They all have a good relationship with Díaz and have so far avoided public clashes with the PSOE, which speaks of a better coalition than in the previous legislature and a strong and compact government that can withstand the storm that the opposition and also the Opposition have prepared it. the delicate parliamentary majority, where not a single vote remains.
Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the PP, propose an investiture-like legislative period: in the face of a dog and with all the political weapons at their disposal. For La Moncloa, the most important thing is that the democratic liturgy has already begun, there is clearly a government that will take office this Tuesday and an opposition that is redefining its team. They assume that over time this should somewhat calm the waves of the last few weeks, in which a kind of revolutionary impulse was felt on the right with constant, often massive demonstrations aimed at stopping or at least leading to the investiture show great social rejection of Sánchez’s way of coming to power, with an agreement with the Catalan independents that provides an amnesty for them all.
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Travel to Israel and Palestine
The President is already launching his international agenda and will make this Thursday his first trip to Israel and Palestine as head of state of the country that holds the six-month presidency of the rotating European Council, but above all in Spain it will serve to politically remember that that there is once again a government that is not fully carrying out its functions and that there is an opposition that is accepted as such. Belgium will take over the rotating presidency from January. For this reason, Sánchez will carry out the visit to the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo. The two will meet with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The focus of the agenda is the impact of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, the critical humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip due to constant Israeli bombing. Sánchez defends a lasting political solution for the region based on two states, Israel and Palestine, coexisting in peace and security.
Another priority of the executive branch in order to give an image of political stability and normality, another focus of Sánchez’s speech, is to be able to adopt the budget plans for 2024 as quickly as possible, which will no longer be possible before the end of this year , but it will be a little later. The Treasury hopes to achieve this in the early months of the next fiscal year. Investiture’s partners have, to varying degrees, refused to take their support for the accounts for granted – the PNV does not seem to object much, while formations such as the BNG insist that their pact with the PSOE was just an investiture debate and does not contain the first budgets – but the government is confident that it does not have to overcome any major obstacles. Another issue will be the negotiation of the regional financing system, which has been in need of renewal since 2014 and where even within the two main parties there are different sensitivities depending on the needs of each municipality.
Lawmakers will be angry and the government will not call a ceasefire. Neither right nor left: Ione Belarra accused this Monday that the “final exclusion of Podemos from the government” was a common “strategy” of Sánchez and Díaz. Podemos’ general secretary will today hand over the social rights portfolio to Pablo Bustinduy, a former Errejonist who left the party fed up with internal struggles and is also the son of former socialist health minister Ángeles Amador. Bustinduy will work in the exact same building as his mother, in the Ministry of Health, where Pablo Iglesias took up his vice presidency in 2020. However, the most awaited moment will be the succession at Equality, which brings the PSOE back under control after the leadership of Irene Montero, who leaves the ministry marked by the controversy over the law that only “yes” means “yes”. , and who cannot even seek refuge in her Congress seat as she was not on Sumar’s lists. The concern in La Moncloa is reflected in the future behavior of the five Podemos deputies. It remains to be seen how Podemos will react when the first decisive votes arrive, although no one is currently talking about the possibility of moving to the Mixed Group.
Irene Montero (left), Acting Minister of Equality, and Acting Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, Ione Belarra, during a demonstration on the 18th in Madrid. Victor Lerena (EFE)
The formation of the government, the third that Sánchez plans, without counting the major restructuring in the summer of 2021 and two other surgical adjustments, finally took place four months after the general elections of the 23rd century. It has been a very long time for the PSOE, even if the PP had all eyes on the failed inauguration of Feijóo. Sánchez is aware of the wear and tear caused by the amnesty law, which he himself had excluded before the elections, and the rejection that it generated among part of the PSOE, with the aggravating circumstance that La Moncloa and Ferraz remained silent, without explanations to hand over: Priority was given to protection negotiations with Junts and ERC. In addition to the criticism from the right, there were those from Emiliano García-Page or from the generation of Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra, who were very bitter and unpleasant for the socialist leadership. The atmosphere has become unbearable in recent weeks with targeted attacks and harassment of officials, vandalism and right-wing extremist protests with their epicenter in Ferraz. For all these reasons, Sánchez has decided to organize a major party event in Madrid this weekend to justify the new government and give the party a boost in self-esteem before the start of the most complex legislative period since the restoration of democracy. The ministers will present the position this Tuesday in La Zarzuela in front of Felipe VI. promise and then carry out the transfer of departments. Moncloa has decided to postpone the first Council of Ministers of the new Cabinet until Wednesday, but everything is already underway.
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