LESS THAN a year into his second administration, Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero yesterday reshuffled his cabinet, bringing in five new ministers and moving three.
“Spain needs a new impulse and a new team. We have to confront the crisis and prepare a strong base for the future,” he said.
A key role in this new team is the minister of economy and finance. Mr Zapatero has given this difficult portfolio to one of his most trusted and experienced ministers, Elena Salgado (59), the current minister for territorial administration, who also becomes second vice-president.
She replaces the veteran Pedro Solbes (66), who served as European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs from 1999 until 2004, when he joined the first Zapatero government, and was seen as safe if unimaginative.
Ms Salgado served as minister of health from 2004 to 2008 in the first Zapatero government, and will go down in history as the person who fought a losing battle to ban smoking in public places. As many Irish visitors who have grown used to non-smoking bars and restaurants at home will have noticed, this law is rarely, if ever, respected or enforced in Spain. She also tried to limit alcohol consumption, particularly by young people, but was forced to back-track when she came up against Spanish wine producers.
Ms Salgado has a reputation as a tough and efficient administrator experienced in both private and public sectors, but with little experience in economics or finance. Observers wonder whether she has the ability to fight Spain’s plummeting recession and spiralling unemployment which – at 15.5 per cent and rising – is the highest in Europe.
The portfolio of minister for development and public services will go to another of Mr Zapatero’s close associates, José Blanco, the deputy general secretary of the Socialist Party.
Mr Blanco replaces Magdalena Alvarez who has made many controversial decisions and faced bitter criticism for her handling of problems such as delays in the high-speed train links and paralysis to the transport system caused by snow.
True to his promise to give equal or greater weight to women in his cabinet, Mr Zapatero has nine women and eight men in his 17-member cabinet.
Not everyone welcomes these new faces. Mariano Rajoy, leader of the conservative Popular Party, described Mr Zapatero’s government as “a colossal failure”.