Speech by President of the Government of Spain to notify new appointments

PEDRO SÁNCHEZ, PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN

Good afternoon,

I appear here to inform you of the new appointments that will take place in the Government of Spain; a decision that has been notified to the Head of State, His Majesty, King Felipe VI. That has been implemented as provided for in Articles 62 and 100 of the Spanish Constitution.

As you are all aware, the resignation of the minister, Salvador Illa, to stand as a candidate in the regional elections in Catalonia on 14 February has necessarily led to changes in the composition of the Government of Spain.

First of all, I would like to warmly thank Salvador Illa for his work in recent months. He was appointed as minister to introduce a broader range of services for a quality public health system and to push through many other measures that were contained in the government programme. But he found himself obliged to manage the response to the worst pandemic in the last century.

In my opinion, he has been an extraordinary minister. He is honest and has always sought to avoid political confrontation at these tough times. He has never presumed to always be right and has always apologised for his mistakes. He has a tremendous vocation for public service and has focused on the real emergencies that threatened our country at these complex times. He also always shows his capacity for dialogue. He has headed up the Ministry of Health and been in ongoing dialogue with those who hold the reins of the public health service in our country - the regional governments - and has collaborated with local authorities, the scientific community and healthcare workers. If I had to pinpoint a particularly quality in his time at the department, I would use one simple word, which says a lot about him and the way he views others: respect.

I will now set out the changes which, as a result of the resignation of the current minister, Salvador Illa, will take place in the composition of the Government of Spain.

This will be a minimal reshuffle, with two incorporations:

The first is that Carolina Darias San Sebastián will become the new Minister for Health.

And the second is the Miquel Iceta Llorens will become the new Minister for Territorial Policy and Public Function.

By making these appointments, the Government of Spain will continue to attend to the health, economic and social emergencies stemming from Covid-19 as its top priority, and will continue to address the reforms that Spain needs to recover and modernise: the ecological and digital transitions, equality without gender gaps, and something very important - the social and territorial cohesion of our country. Equal opportunities for everyone, in short, with a particular focus on 'empty Spain'.

The new ministers - Carolina Darias y Miquel Iceta - are very familiar with the departmental portfolios where they will now perform their functions. They are backed by experience and their personal qualities.

Carolina Darias has dealt, as you know, together with Salvador Illa, with the day-to-day handling of the pandemic, on the front line of the team to combat the virus, present on both the Inter-territorial Council of the National Health System and on the internal committees that the Government of Spain has set up to meet during these long months of the pandemic. She not only knows the health councillors of each and every one of the autonomous regions, but also their regional presidents in her role as Minister for Territorial Policy and Public Function. She was also a member of a regional government, in this case of the Canary Islands.

And Miquel Iceta is a very well-known politician; he is a student of politics. He is a man of ideas and of forging consensus. In a State of the Autonomies such as ours, which is tremendously decentralised, in which co-governance has arrived to stay and is essential as a result of health, dependence and education lying in the hands of the regional governments, Miquel is the ideal person you could find with the following attributes: cooperation, collaboration, coordination and co-governance. Miquel is a man of consensus and also of harmony.

In his new position, he will assist the government in its work of addressing the challenges our country faces. The new ministers have my absolute confidence. I am also grateful to them for having taken on their new responsibilities.

In 2020 we had to tackle the health emergency Now, in 2021, we are addressing the vaccination strategy and also the economic and social recovery; in short, overcoming the pandemic. This is the first progressive coalition government in our recent democratic history. As each day passes, the government moves towards its targets. When faced with fear and uncertainty, what we have to do is forge hope and confidence in our country.

I can assure you that the government will continue to work with humility, with dedication, in one single direction, which is to continue the course towards a Spain that the Spanish people deserve and that we all want to see. Thank you very much.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Non official translation