Spanish PM appoints 11 women and six men to new cabinet

Pedro Sánchez says Spanish government is ‘unmistakably committed to equality’

in Madrid

Spain’s new socialist prime minister has appointed 11 women and six men to his cabinet, saying his new government is “unmistakably committed to equality” and intends to reflect recent changes in Spanish society.

Announcing his choices at a press conference on Wednesday evening, Pedro Sánchez said his would be the first majority-female cabinet since Spain returned to democracy following the death of Gen Francisco Franco in 1975.

“This is a highly qualified government for a society with equal representation, open to the world but anchored in Europe,” he said.

The prime minister, who was sworn in on Saturday, said the nationwide feminist strike on 8 March had marked “a before and an after” when it came to gender equality in Spain, adding: “The new government is a faithful reflection of that movement.”

His appointments include Carmen Calvo, a former culture minister, who will serve as deputy prime minister and equalities minister, and Nadia Calviño – currently budget director general at the European commission – who will take the role of economy minister.

Dolores Delgado, a prosecutor specialising in human rights and terrorism cases, will become justice minister.

Barcelona-born Meritxell Batet will be tasked with handling the Catalan independence crisis in her new role as territorial minister, while the former European parliament president Josep Borrell will be the new foreign minister.

Borrell, who was born in Catalonia and was a minister in the PSOE government of Felipe González, has been an outspoken critic of Catalan independence.

Sánchez’s other ministers include an astronaut and a journalist. Earlier on Wednesday, it emerged that the prime minister had chosen Pedro Duque, a 55-year-old veteran of two space missions, to serve as minister for science, innovation and universities in his new administration.

Duque, who left Earth in 1998 and again in 2003, responded to his appointment on Twitter, saying he wished his mother was still alive to see it. Beneath it, he posted a cartoon of a woman seeing her son off to work and telling him: “Remember, son, important jobs are the devil’s playground.”

Spain’s new culture and sports minister will be the journalist and author Màxim Huerta.

Sánchez, 46, a former economics professor, managed to unseat his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, through a no-confidence vote held last week in protest against corruption within Rajoy’s party.

The cabinet in full