Spanish PM Sanchez to have four deputies
Madrid: The new Spanish government of Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez will have four deputy prime ministers, among them Pablo Iglesias, leader of Sanchez’s coalition partner Unidas Podemos, the government said.
Carmen Calvo will be first deputy prime minister, Nadia Calvino will be in charge of the economy and Teresa Ribera will focus on ecological transition and demographic challenges, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
Iglesias will be deputy prime minister for social rights and Spain’s 2030 Agenda in what will be the first ever Spanish government to have four deputy prime ministers.
“The government of Prime Minister Sanchez will have four deputy prime ministers, with each one focused on one of the transformations that Spain needs and which the country deserves,” government sources confirmed, adding that these areas were “economic growth, the creation of dignified employment and the sustainability of the pension system.”
Earlier this week, Sanchez was returned as prime minister after winning the investiture vote held in the Spanish Congress (lower chamber) with 167 votes in his favour, 165 against and 18 abstentions (from the Catalan and Basque separatist parties Ezquerra Republicana de Catalunya and Bildu).
Sanchez has promised to lead a ‘feminist government and to pursue a progressive social and economic agenda. The fact that three of the four deputy prime ministers are women appears to support this.
The new government will hold its inaugural meeting on January 14.
