11th Legislature commences with constitutive sessions of Upper and Lower Houses

Lower House of Parliament

The Board of the Lower House, constituted on Wednesday, is chaired by Patxi López, of the PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]. The First Deputy Chair is held by Celia Villalobos, of the People's Party; the Second Deputy Chair is held by Micaela Navarro, of PSOE, while the Third and Fourth Deputy Chairs are held by Gloria Elizo, of Podemos and Rosa Romero, of the People's Party.

In terms of the secretaries of the Lower House, the post of First Secretary is held by Alicia Sánchez Camacho, of the People's Party; while José Ignacio Prendes Prendes and Patricia Reyes Rivera, both of Ciudadanos, hold the second and third respectively, and Marcelo Expósito Prieto, of Podemos, the fourth.

As regards the Upper House, Pío García Escudero, of the People's Party was re-elected as Speaker. Pedro Sanz, also of the People's Party, is the First Deputy Speaker and Joan Lerma, of the PSOE, is the Second Deputy Speaker. Luis Aznar (People's Party), Adela Pedrosa (People's Party), Juan Carlos Raffo (PSOE) and María Eugenia Iparragirre (PNV - Basque Nationalist Party) hold the four positions of secretary.

Statement by the acting President of the Government

Before the start of the session in the Lower House of Parliament, the acting President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, stressed that the agreement reached as to the composition of the Board of the Lower House "is a step in the right direction", since this involved "participation from the PSOE, Ciudadanos and the People's Party". He explained that this pact leaves everything "balanced": three representatives from the People's Party, two, including the Speaker of the House, from the PSOE, two from Ciudadanos and another two from Podemos. Mariano Rajoy also added that "things have changed" and "the worst thing that a political leader can do is not take account of what people are saying". In his opinion, "what our citizens are calling for now is widespread agreements on the main issues".

Pool Moncloa / Diego CrespoIn response to a question on the formula used by Carles Puigdemont in his investiture as President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Mariano Rajoy pointed out that "the government's legal advisory services will draw up a report and, in light of this report, we will take the decisions that we feel to be most in line with prevailing legislation and with the general interests of all the Spanish people". In this regard, he added that "as announced just a short time ago, I am not going to let them get away with anything; among other things, because that is my obligation as the President of the Government".

In a statement to the press in the corridors of the Lower House following the constitutive session, the acting President of the Government indicated that he hopes that the political forces "can focus on what is important and act seriously". Mariano Rajoy highlighted that there are three parties that agree on "the key issues" which between them hold more than 250 seats in the Lower House. "We are in a position to undertake the reforms that Spain needs by consensus and, moreover, we can send out a positive message abroad, to investors, to the markets, to the rating agencies, and also within Spain, to the economic and social stakeholders in order to bed down our economic recovery and continue to create jobs, which in my opinion must remain a major priority over the next four years", he declared.