Eleven women in new Spain government
Nation boasts the European government with the most women, after Sweden’s
King Felipe VI yesterday swore in Spain’s new proEU government, with women holding the majority of ministerial posts.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez named 11 women to top posts including defence and economy in a cabinet with six male ministers.
That makes it the European government with the most women after Sweden’s, which has 12 female cabinet ministers and 11 men.
Sanchez’s administration risks not lasting until the end of the current mandate in 2020, however, given the fragmented state of Spain’s political parties.
His Socialist Party holds just 84 seats in the 350-seat congress. That is the smallest parliamentary presence of any Spanish government since the return to democracy in the 1970s.
Sanchez, 46, ousted conservative veteran Mariano Rajoy as prime minister last Friday in a no-confidence vote. The vote was sparked by corruption convictions against former officials from Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP).
Breaking with tradition
It ended more than six years of PP government and ushered in a progressive administration under Sanchez.
The swearing-in ceremony at the Zarzuela palace near Madrid broke with tradition by not involving a Bible, crucifix or other religious symbols.
Each new cabinet member vowed to “faithfully fulfil the duties of minister with conscience and honour”.
EU budget manager Nadia Calvino became economy minister and former European parliament president Josep Borrell foreign minister.
The new executive includes two veteran Socialists — Carmen Calvo, vice-president, and Borrell. Calvo, who was culture minister from 2004 to 2007, will also be in charge of equality.
That is a priority for Sanchez’s government in a country where women staged an unprecedented strike to defend their rights on March 8.