More than six weeks after the March 12th general election, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, has announced his new cabinet. As expected there were few major changes when Mr Aznar finally revealed the names he had written in the "blue notebook" which he admitted over a month ago contained his secret list of candidates. Eight ministers from the outgoing government remain in the new 16-member cabinet, which has an average age of 49 and includes three women.
The healthy state of the economy prompted the Prime Minister to leave his successful economy minister and second vice-president of the government, Mr Rodrigo Rato (51), in his post. Mr Rato had let it be known he would like to move to the foreign ministry left vacant after Mr Abel Matutes retired from politics. But Mr Aznar gave the foreign portfolio to Mr Josep Pique (48), the industry minister and government spokesman in the outgoing government. This could be the one controversial appointment, since Mr Pique has been under investigation for alleged financial irregularities when he was in the private sector before joining the government four years ago.
The former minister of education and culture, Mr Mariano Rajoy (45), who organised the Popular Party's election campaign, has been rewarded for his loyalty to the Prime Minister with a promotion to first vice-presidency in charge of co-ordination of government policy. Mr Jaime Mayor Oreja (48), who has held the difficult interior ministry portfolio since 1996 remains in the post. He has had the task of overseeing the fight against the Basque separatist movement ETA which has made little progress in spite of a yearlong ceasefire which ended last year.