Spain Notes, Nov 20: new cabinet ministers + Podemos out + Milei + radical-right protests

1/ The new Spanish cabinet has been announced, after Sánchez was finally reappointed PM at the end of last week. Ideologically, it is mostly a continuation of where they left off in May:

• Prime Minister: Pedro Sánchez (PSOE)

• Deputy PM 1 + Economy: Nadia Calviño (PSOE)

• Deputy PM 2 + Employment: Yolanda Díaz (Sumar)

• Deputy PM 3 + Environment & Population: Teresa Ribera (PSOE)

• Deputy PM 4 + Finance: María Jesús Montero (PSOE)

• PM’s Office Minister + Justice: Félix Bolaños (PSOE)

• Foreign Secretary: José María Albares (PSOE)

• Defence: Margarita Robles (PSOE)

• Home Secretary: Fernando Grande-Marlaska (PSOE)

• Territorial Policy & Democratic Memory: Ángel Victor Torres (PSOE)

• Transport: Óscar Puente (PSOE)

• Social Security: Elma Saiz (PSOE)

• Industry: Jordi Hereu (PSOE)

• Agriculture: Luis Planas (PSOE)

• Education: Pilar Alegría (PSOE)

• Science: Diana Morant (PSOE)

• Digital Transformation: José Luis Escrivá (PSOE)

• Social Rights, Consumer Affairs & Agenda 2030: Pablo Bustinduy (Sumar)

• Culture: Ernest Urtasun (Sumar)

• Health: Mónica García (Más Madrid)

• Infancy & Youth: Sira Rego (United Left)

2/ The most notable change politically is that…Podemos is out of the Spanish government. No ministers for them. All of the futher-left component has been taken up by people from Sumar, United Left or Más Madrid.

3/ Most of the top jobs, the “hard” ministries, go to PSOE people again. The further-left ministers get “soft” briefs like jobs, culture, kids or social rights.

4/ Feijóo (PP) said that “this government is a parenthesis. My aim is to give hope in coexistence back to Spaniards and to try to stop a wall dividing us”.

5/ Vox celebrated Milei being elected as the new President of Argentina: “today a path towards the future and hope for Argentinians and all of Ibero-America”, said Abascal.

6/ Sumar is disappointed, “today is a say day for the democratic block in the whole world”, said Yolanda Díaz, mentioning “uncertainty” and even “fear”.

7/ The protests outside PSOE HQ are perhaps starting to fizzle out. El País reports only around 1,500 people last night.

8/ The Spanish Army is to investigate why one of its soldiers was caught by police with a pistol at the protest on Saturday night.

9/ Two local PP councillors, one in Castilla y León and one in Catalonia, have been caught posting Sánchez death wishes on social media, both dreaming of him being shot in the head, one photoshopped Sánchez’s head on to JFK in Dallas.

10/ Several hundred hardline radical-right Falange supporters also marched towards PSOE HQ in Madrid, with actual nazi salutes and the singing of the Francoist anthem Cara al Sol and the acclamation of Primo de Rivera. (1, 2, 3)

11/ El País has an editorial on Europe, the far-right and immigration policies that mentions Scholz in Germany undoing Merkel’s open doors policy, Meloni in Italy doing a deal with Albania to park migrants from the Mediterranean there and Sunak in the UK trying to deport people to Rwanda.

I would like to get to 1,000 paid subscribers to do even better roving, independent coverage of Spain for you. Every reader counts.