Women dominate new Spanish government

MADRID: King Felipe VI yesterday swore in Spain’s new pro-EU government with a record 11 women members including in key posts such as defence and economy, and six male ministers.

The new executive composed by the 46-year-old Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who ousted conservative veteran Mariano Rajoy as premier last week in a no-confidence vote, includes astronaut Pedro Duque as science minister.

EU budget manager Nadia Calvino will become economy minister while former European parliament president Josep Borrell will be foreign minister.

Sanchez said his executive was “a reflection of the best in society” – a society he described as composed of women and men, old and young, rooted in the European Union.

But it is also a minority government, as the Socialists only have 84 lawmakers in the 350-seat parliament.

As such, the government will have a tough time governing Spain, relying as it will on the votes of far-left party Podemos as well as Basque and Catalan nationalist lawmakers who supported his no-confidence motion.

The new executive includes two veteran Socialists – party vice-president Carmen Calvo and Borrell.

Calvo, who was culture minister from 2004 to 2007, will also be in charge of equality, a priority for Sanchez’s government in a country where women staged an unprecedented strike to defend their rights on March 8.

Anti-terror prosecutor Dolores Delgado will be justice minister, former Supreme Court judge Margarita Robles defence minister, and other women have been put in charge of education, employment and health.

Fernando Grande-Marlaska, a former judge at Spain’s top-level National Court, where he took on cases against Basque separatist group ETA, will head up the interior ministry.

Women will also lead the economic team of Sanchez’s government, whose “main priority” will be to respect Madrid’s deficit reduction commitments to the EU, Sanchez has said.

Spain has promised to reduce its deficit to 2.2% of GDP in 2018, thus finally going under the 3% limit set by Brussels. – AFP