Rajoy Cabinet
The 10th Spanish General Courts were elected at the 2011 general election on 20 November 2011 and first met on 13 December. Mariano Rajoy was invested as Prime Minister on 20 December and was sworn in the following day. On the nomination of the Prime Minister, the Government of the 10th Legislature, or the 14th Government of Spain since the Spanish transition to democracy, was appointed.
History
| Rajoy Cabinet | |
|---|---|
 14th Government of Spain (since 1975) | |
 | |
| Date formed | 21 December 2011 |
| People and organisations | |
| Head of government | Mariano Rajoy |
| Deputy head of government | Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría |
| Head of state |
Juan Carlos I (2011–14) Felipe VI (2014–) |
| Number of ministers | 14 |
| Member party | People's Party |
| Status in legislature | Majority |
| Opposition party | Spanish Socialist Workers' Party |
| Opposition leader |
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (2011–14) Pedro Sánchez (2014–16) |
| History | |
| Election(s) | 2011 general election |
| Outgoing election | 2015 general election |
| Legislature term(s) | 10th Legislature (2011–16) |
| Budget(s) | 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 |
| Predecessor | Zapatero II |
Mariano Rajoy led his party to the largest electoral victory of the centre-right in Spain in history in the 2011 general election, winning 186 out of 350 seats, and absolute majority of seats. Rajoy was sworn in as Prime Minister on 21 December 2011 after he obtained the confidence vote in the Congress of Deputies.
Since its formation, the cabinet has seen no major reshuffle, with only five replacements being made as a result from incumbents resigning on their own or expressing a will to retire from office. This is the first time in the recent history of Spain that a sitting government has endured so much time without any major change, as it is usually common for a Prime Minister in Spain to reshuffle his cabinet at least a few times throughout his term. Also, with 14 ministers including the office of Prime Minister, it is one of the smallest government cabinets in Spain to date.
Investiture vote
| Candidate: Mariano Rajoy | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Choice | Vote | ||
| Parties | Votes | ||
 Yes |
PP (185), FAC (1), UPN (1) | 187 / 350 | |
| No | PSOE (110), CiU (16), IU-LV (11), UPyD (5), ERC (3), BNG (2), Compromís (1), GBai (1) |
149 / 350 | |
| Abstentions | Amaiur (7), PNV (5), CC (2) | 14 / 350 | |
| Source: Historia Electoral | |||
Changes
On 28 April 2014, Miguel Arias Cañete resigned as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment in order to stand as his party's candidate to the 2014 European Parliament election. He was succeeded by Isabel García Tejerina.
On 23 September 2014, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón announced his resignation as Minister of Justice, after the Cabinet's withdrawal of his proposed bill to reform the abortion law and PM Mariano Rajoy's decision to keep the bill approved by the previous Zapatero's government, with some minor changes. The decision was said to come over the loss of Gallardón's personal prestige resulting from his staunch defense of the proposed abortion bill, with Rajoy's u-turn on the issue discrediting him.[1] As both Rajoy and King Felipe VI were abroad on official trips to China and the United States, respectively, when Ruiz-Gallardón resigned, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría replaced him as interim Justice Minister until his successor, Rafael Catalá, could take office on 29 September 2014.[2]
On 26 November 2014, Ana Mato resigned as Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality due to her involvement in the Gürtel case, after she was summoned to court as a "participant on a lucrative basis" in the corruption crimes allegedly committed by her ex-husband Jesús Sepúlveda. Her resignation came one day before a plenary in Congress on corruption in which PM Mariano Rajoy was scheduled to take part, and after Mato herself had announced earlier on the same day that she had not considered to resign.[3] As both PM Rajoy and King Felipe VI had scheduled official trips abroad to France and Germany, respectively, in the days following Mato's resignation, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría replaced her as interim Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality until her successor, Alfonso Alonso, could take office on 3 December 2014.[4][5]
On 26 June 2015, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo was sworn in as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, replacing José Ignacio Wert. The change was widely expected as Wert had requested Rajoy to find him a substitute so that he could retire from politics; however, it was also expected that Rajoy would take such opportunity to issue a full Cabinet reshuffle after the negative results for the PP in the 2015 Spanish municipal and regional elections, an event that did not took place.[6]
On 15 April 2016, José Manuel Soria was forced to renounce his post as acting Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism because of his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal, owing to the leaking of information revealing that he and his family had maintained several offshore societies on tax havens during the previous decades.[7] Soria initially claimed the falsehood of such claims, but during the ensuing days reports kept leaking that contradicted his initial clarifications. On 14 April, after it was revealed that he had owned one of such societies on Jersey until 2002 during his term as Mayor of Las Palmas, he was put in a critical political position as a result of his confusing and changing explanations on the issue, resulting in his renounce the following day.[8][9] Luis de Guindos, acting Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, was chosen to assume the functions of Soria's vacant Ministry, since Rajoy could not name a proper replacement due to him having only caretaker functions since 21 December 2015.[10]
Composition
| Party key | People's Party | |
|---|---|---|
| Independent |
Ministers in bold indicate the last officeholder.
References
- ↑ "Gallardón resigns and leaves politics" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2014-09-23.
- ↑ "Rafael Catalá sworns his office as Minister of Justice" (in Spanish). 20 Minutos. 2014-09-29.
- ↑ "Ana Mato resigns after her implication in the 'Gürtel case' by judge Ruz" (in Spanish). El País. 2014-11-26.
- ↑ "Ignacio Echániz, Pilar Farjas or Susana Camamero, possible successors to Ana Mato" (in Spanish). ABC. 2014-11-26.
- ↑ "Alfonso Alonso, new Minister of Health" (in Spanish). El País. 2014-12-02.
- ↑ "Rajoy reduces his Cabinet reshuffle to replacing Wert by Inigo Méndez de Vigo in Education". El Mundo. 2015-06-26.
- ↑ "Minister Soria is on the Panama Papers" (in Spanish). eldiario.es. 2016-04-11.
- ↑ "José Manuel Soria renounces as Minister of Industry" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2016-04-15.
- ↑ "Panama Papers: Spain’s Industry Minister José Manuel Soria Resigns Over Links To Offshore Account". International Business Times. 2016-04-15.
- ↑ "Luis de Guindos assumes the functions of Industry after Soria's renounce" (in Spanish). RTVE. 2016-04-15.
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