Three years of legislature and five government crises. Pedro Sánchez has undertaken a new remodeling of his Executive due to the departure of the ministers Reyes Maroto and Carolina Darias as candidates for the municipalities of Madrid and Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, respectively. Changes that have been limited to the Industry and Health departments: Héctor Gómez has been chosen to replace Maroto in Industry and José Manuel Miñones is the new Minister of Health instead of Darias.
Héctor Gómez was already part of Maroto’s team in the Ministry, has been a spokesman for the socialist parliamentary group and was currently serving as president of the Constitutional Commission in the Congress of Deputies.
As Sánchez has indicated in an institutional statement in Moncloa, the new minister knows very well the field of action in which he will now carry out his tasks, his experience and qualities endorse him and he has an “impeccable” track record and an “unwavering” commitment. in defense of the general interest.
José Manuel Miñones Conde, for his part, has a degree in Pharmacy and until now held the position of Government delegate in Galicia. Of him, Sánchez has highlighted the publications carried out as a researcher in different universities.
In his appearance at the gates of Moncloa, shortly after landing in Madrid from Santo Domingo, Sánchez thanked the outgoing ministers for their work, especially in light of the management of the pandemic to alleviate the situation of Spanish companies and industry, as well as to strengthen the vaccination campaign.
And despite the fact that two women leave and two men enter the Council of Ministers, parity is still maintained in the Executive: there are 11 men and 12 women.
With this government reshuffle, the fifth in the current legislature, Sánchez has chosen to maintain his commitment to the coalition with United We Can and not force changes in the purple sector of the Executive, despite the serious crisis as a result of the reform of the law of the only yes is yes and of the discomfort in the PSOE with the Podemos ministers for their attacks.
Except for the important remodeling carried out in July 2021, with the purpose of renewing the image and profile of the Government, trusting in a prosperous horizon that does not finish consummating -the hackneyed “favorable wind” that La Moncloa craves-, Sánchez has evidenced his commitment by punctual changes, “surgical” that they call. This is not obvious so that in just over three years of his mandate he has starred in five government crises, up to a dozen ministers have left the Executive and since January 2020 up to 34 members have passed through the Council of Ministers. A baggage with a very unbalanced balance: of the 12 changes, 10 correspond to PSOE ministries and only 2 to United We Can departments.
This philosophy has also brought with it the permanence of the broad structure of the Government, with 22 ministries, the largest number of ministers and state secretaries in recent democracy.
The coalition agreement made it clear that the socialists were in charge and decided in their areas and the purples would do the same in theirs. This rule left Sánchez’s hands tied de facto, because despite being president of the Government, he in theory had no decision-making capacity in five ministries. This fact and his willingness to preserve the coalition have led to once again, and despite the serious crisis that has shaken the Executive, there is no rupture of the partners, not even cessations in the purple ministries.
The clash over the reform of the only yes is yes has increased the discontent within the PSOE with Podemos, with the ministers Ione Belarra and Irene Montero. But in La Moncloa, as has been shown, they did not contemplate the option of breaking or the departure of Montero, which would implicitly imply the break. While in the socialist formation they complain about the ways and manners of the ministers of Social Rights and Equality, lamenting that “they go free” and “make stability very difficult”, in Sánchez’s team they are aware that their only The way to try to add up against the right and continue to govern is to reissue the coalition with Unidas Podemos, in the future they hope that with Sumar, the political project headed by Yolanda Díaz.
That, added to the political and electoral cost that being the one to break may have, lead Sánchez to preserve the coalition, despite the fact that coexistence is becoming more complicated and the aura of a collegiate body fades with the passing of days. Also the awareness that a break with Podemos would put Vice President Yolanda Díaz on the brink of the precipice. Between a rock and a hard place and with a significant toll she will make the decision that she will make. The PSOE assumes that it needs Díaz’s project to take flight, take shape and manage to unite the parties to the left of the Socialists, including Podemos, so that in the December general elections it aspires to be the third political force ahead of Vox, something key to see which block will add more. They cannot and do not want to put more stones in the way of Díaz’s already tense relationship with Podemos.
Sánchez considers that it is more profitable right now to maintain the coalition than to break it. It also allows you to display the message of stability by comparing yourself with the PP and Cs executives who broke or brought forward elections or with European governments that have fallen like in the United Kingdom or Italy. The break would be an important flow of political and dialectical ammunition for the opposition. They know it in the presidential complex and, to this day and waiting for what happens in the municipal and regional elections, they want to avoid it.
– January 2020. Formation of the coalition. Sánchez announces his 22 ministers
Carmen Calvo, Pablo Iglesias, Nadia Calviño, Teresa Ribera, Arancha González Laya, Juan Carlos Campo, Margarita Robles, María Jesús Montero, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, José Luis Ábalos, Isabel Celáa, Yolanda Díaz, Reyes Maroto, Luis Planas, Carolina Darias , José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, Salvador Illa, Pedro Duque, Irene Montero, Alberto Garzón, José Luis Escrivá, Manuel Castells
– January 2021. First crisis.
Enter: Miquel Iceta.
Out: Salvador Illa.
– March 2021. Second crisis.
Enter: Ione Belarra.
Out: Pablo Iglesias.
– July 2021. Third crisis.
Enter: Félix Bolaños, José Manuel Albares, Pilar Llop, Raquel Sánchez, Pilar Alegría, Isabel Rodríguez, Diana Morant.
Leave: Carmen Bald, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, Juan Carlos Field, Jose Luis Abalos, Isabel Cela, Peter Duke, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes.
– December 2021. Fourth crisis.
Enter: Joan Subirats.
Hall: Manuel Castells.
March 2023. Fifth crisis.
Enter: Héctor Gómez and José Manuel Miñones.
Out: Reyes Maroto, Carolina Darias.
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