The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno, has announced the composition of his new Executive, the first with an absolute majority of the PP.
The Government will have 13 ministries, two more than the previous legislature, where Ciudadanos was also present.
There are more women than men.
Although the powers are yet to be defined, as Moreno himself has acknowledged, the strong man will be Antonio Sanz, who will hold the Presidency, Interior and Social Dialogue portfolio, and who had been
number two
under his predecessor, Elías Bendodo, and is one of the trusted people of Javier Arenas.
The popular leader has not yet decided who will be the spokesperson for his cabinet.
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Juan Manuel Moreno exhibits his power at street level in his inauguration
Moreno has opted for continuity, both in the portfolios and in the people who will continue to lead the Andalusian Administration, as he himself has recognized.
Four councilors repeat: Marifrán Carazo, Patricia del Pozo, Carmen Crespo and Rocío Blanco – who in the previous legislature was independent for Ciudadanos and who remains outside the political acronyms.
Only Patricia del Pozo changes her portfolio and will go from being the head of Culture and Heritage to being in charge of Educational Development and Vocational Training.
The rest, although with a variety in the denomination of their departments, remain in charge of Development and Housing;
Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Water —important novelty, because water is one of the policies to which Moreno wants to give prominence in his next term—;
and Employment, Business and Self-Employment, respectively.
Two deputy councilors of the previous Government now assume ownership of the portfolios in which they were
number two:
the aforementioned Sanz in the Presidency: and Catalina García, who will be the new Minister of Health and Consumption.
Three heavyweights of the PP in Andalusia join the Executive, which helps to strengthen the strong political character of the new Cabinet: the mayor of Almería, Ramón Fernández Pacheco, who will be in charge of one of the new ministries: Sustainability, Environment and Economy Blue;
the general secretary of the popular in the community, Loles López, who will be the new counselor for Social Integration, Youth and Equal Opportunities —another of the portfolios that is readapted—;
and the previous parliamentary spokesman, José Antonio Nieto, who will direct Justice, local Administration and Public Function —another ministry that is separated from the Vice Presidency—.
Carolina España, national deputy for Malaga and related to Bendodo,
Blanco is joined as independent directors by Jorge Paradela, a signing from the private company who until a week ago was responsible for Business at Sevilla Fútbol Club, after holding managerial positions at Heineken.
This will be in charge of Policies for Industry and Energy —which in the last legislature depended on the Treasury—.
Arturo Bernal, current CEO of Extenda, the Andalusian Agency for Foreign Promotion, and very close to Bendodo, will be in charge of Tourism, Sports and Culture.
And José Carlos Gómez Villamandos, former rector of the University of Córdoba and president of the Conference of Rectors of Universities, will be in charge of the Ministry of University and Innovation.
In addition to the continuity character, Moreno has emphasized the majority of women in his cabinet: seven against six, but that it remains in absolute parity if he is counted.
"It is not the result of a legal imposition or a necessity," the president remarked.
"Unlike previous years, we have women with training and experience in the public and private spheres," he stressed.
Although Moreno has wanted to take advantage of the difference in favor of women in his new Government, the fact is that it is not the first time that there are more female directors than male directors —and for more difference— in an Executive of the Board.
In the Cabinet of Manuel Chaves in 2004 there were eight women and six men, and in 2008 there were eight compared to six.
There was also a majority of female counselors in the Government of José Antonio Griñán in 2009 —nine against six—.
Discomfort has been added to the criticism for Moreno's words on social networks because the Ministry of Equality has been eliminated, renamed Social Integration, Youth and Equal Opportunities.
Sanz, the scourge of the PSOE for the case of the ERE
With the election of Sanz, Moreno entrusts the coordination to the faithful squire of Javier Arenas when he led the Andalusian opposition.
Sanz has worked side by side with Bendodo, who was the one who signed him as Deputy Minister of the Presidency.
Sanz has extensive political experience as general secretary of the Andalusian PP and president of the party in Cádiz.
He was also a Government delegate for Andalusia.
He is, therefore, an old acquaintance of the Andalusian PSOE in which they praise his capacity for work and intense dedication to politics.
As Secretary General of the Andalusian PP, the harshest words against the Socialists came out of Sanz's mouth in the case of the fraudulent ERE.
He was the one who coordinated the popular accusation of his party in the judicial investigation that in the case of the political piece condemned the former presidents of the Junta Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán and 17 other high-ranking officials of the Andalusian Government in the socialist stage.
When he was in the opposition, Sanz was extremely critical of the socialist governments in relation to the number of councils and high positions.
In 2010, he defended a 50% reduction in departments and directors, arguing that a community "with a million unemployed cannot be a champion of high positions."
Moreno initially had eight free positions in the Executive: those of the five Citizens councilors and the already announced departures of the head of the Presidency, Elías Bendodo;
of the Treasury, Juan Bravo —whose positions in the national leadership of the PP prevent them from combining their time with the day to day in the autonomous Government—;
and Health, Jesús Aguirre, who is the new president of the regional Parliament.
Break with secrecy
Moreno has broken with the secrecy that he had maintained in an iron way since he won the elections on June 19.
His closest collaborators already warned then that no pools were made about the next directors or the new restructuring of the Executive after the departure of Ciudadanos, because not even the nominees themselves were going to know until hours before that appointment took place.
The president of the Board did commission a study to determine the viability of different ministries.
It was clear that Tourism and Justice could not be in the same portfolio, which until today had been held by the former vice president of the Board, Juan Marín.
And it also seemed clear that Environment should be separated from Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, to give credibility not only to the green revolution,
of which the popular leader has boasted in his previous mandate, but to his new commitment to the legislature, water, to which he has made reference in practically all his public appearances since he won the elections.
But, precisely, this commitment to water infrastructure is what has served to put pressure on the agricultural sector so that it does not separate this matter from Agriculture.
Moreno has yielded and Agua will remain within the ministry in which Crespo repeats, which many pools placed outside the Executive having been charged in the
This commitment to water infrastructure is what has served to put pressure on the agricultural sector so that it does not separate this matter from Agriculture.
Moreno has yielded and Agua will remain within the ministry in which Crespo repeats, which many pools placed outside the Executive having been charged in the
This commitment to water infrastructure is what has served to put pressure on the agricultural sector so that it does not separate this matter from Agriculture.
Moreno has yielded and Agua will remain within the ministry in which Crespo repeats, which many pools placed outside the Executive having been charged in the
case of Hispano Almería
, although finally her condition of appraised, determined her disqualification.
Moreno had a plan b in case any of the independents he had in mind rejected the offer due to salary issues, compatibility or fear of public exposure wear and tear.
The Chairman of the Board has recognized in the press conference that he has had problems attracting some of those he wanted to include in his new Executive, who has declined his offer.
“We have not been able to resolve incompatibilities at the company level.
He thought they were going to say yes and they have said no”.
The President of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno, moments before announcing his new Government this Monday at the San Telmo Palace in Seville. Alejandro Ruesga
Once his new Cabinet has been appointed, the Andalusian president's main concern is that the people elected on paper comply in practice, and more so in a context of economic and energy crisis such as the one that is looming after the return of summer.
Three and a half years ago, ignorance of the functioning of the Administration, one as mammoth as the Andalusian one, was the main concern.
Much of the success of this management has been due to the left hand of the hitherto Minister of the Presidency, Bendodo, who has managed to encapsulate the Andalusian Government of all the national crises that his party has gone through and, especially, Ciudadanos.
The Minister of the Treasury, Juan Bravo, who joined the department due to a health problem of its first head, has also been another of the pillars of the previous Executive, but he will not repeat either.
He has become one of the star councilors of the previous legislature.
His capacity for dialogue and power of persuasion managed to close three regional budgets.
With an absolute majority, that capacity for understanding is not going to be so peremptory.
But if Moreno wants to maintain that slogan of the new majority that does not operate like a roller, the ability to attract consensus with other forces —especially in an inflationary context— also sets the bar high for its successor, Spain, which will have to take on the main task that the Government of Moreno has right now: the approval of budgets that deal with the economic crisis.
These are the 13 new ministries of the Board
The 13 new departments of Moreno, and their advisers
Presidency, Interior and Social Dialogue: Antonio Sanz
Educational Development and Vocational Training: Patricia del Pozo
Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Water: Carmen Crespo
Development and Housing: Marifran Carrazo
Employment, Business and Self-Employment: Rocío Blanco (Independent)
Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy.
Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco
Justice, Local Administration and Public Function: José Antonio Nieto
Economy and Treasury: Carolina Spain
Policies for Industry and Energy: Jorge Paradela (Independent)
Tourism, Sports and Culture: Arturo Bernal (Independent)
Health and Consumption: Catalina García
Social Integration, Youth and Equal Opportunities: Loles López
University and Innovation: José Carlos Gómez Villamandos (Independent)