Spain's new PM puts his faith in women

Spain's new government ministers pose for the media after their first Cabinet meeting. Photo / AP

Spain inaugurated the world's most female-dominated Cabinet yesterday, as 11 women and six men took their posts as ministers of Pedro Sanchez' new centre-left Government.

Sanchez, who took power last week following a vote of no-confidence in the Government of Mariano Rajoy, was widely applauded for advancing equality with the appointments, which put female ministers in key portfolios such as the treasury and defence.

At almost 65 per cent female, the Spanish Cabinet now leads the way in the proportion of women ministers, according to United Nations figures.

Sanchez acknowledged the political influence of an unprecedented strike on International Women's Day on March 8, when millions of Spanish women abandoned their workplaces and homes and took to the streets, describing it as a watershed moment for social progress.

After unveiling the make-up of his Cabinet to King Felipe VI on Thursday, he said it was a Government "committed to equality" that for the first time gave the weight of economic responsibility to women.

In a nod to the female majority, 13 of the new ministers referred to the Cabinet during the inauguration process as the Consejo de Ministras y Ministros — putting the feminine form of the noun first and eschewing the traditional use of the masculine form for both genders.

Women's rights groups in Spain and elsewhere hailed the composition of the new Government.

"This morning we greet the most feminist Government in the world," said the Com-m-unication and Gender Agency, based in Madrid. "If you doubt their credentials, check their CVs. And now let them work."

Among the appointees are Maria Jesus Montero, the new head of the Treasury, Margarita Robles at the Defence Ministry, Dolores Delgado as Minister of Justice and Carmen Calvo, who, as well as her roles as Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Equality, will also oversee parliamentary relations.

Brussels has been particularly pleased with the selection of Nadia Calvino, the European Commission's director general for budgets, to head the Ministry of Economy and Business. She is regarded as one of several appointments designed to reassure Europe over the new Administration in Madrid, which won power in a lightning assault on the Popular Party Government but must now rule with the smallest minority since Spain's transition to democracy in 1978.

The choice for Foreign Minister of Josep Borrell, a former President of the European Parliament who in recent years has taken a hardline stance against the Catalan independence movement, has also been lauded in Brussels. However, it has aggravated the separatist Government in Catalonia, whose support was key to Sanchez' victory.

Junts Per Catalunya, the party of Quim Torra, the Catalan President, also took aim at the appointment of Maxim Huerta, a well-known journalist and author, as Culture Minister.

Pointing to tweets in which he had attacked or insulted separatists, it said Sanchez' selection of Borrell and Huerta demonstrated his "little will for dialogue ... to resolve the conflict with Catalonia".

Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the hard-left party Podemos, which also backed Sanchez, complained that the President had selected a Cabinet that would please conservatives.

He told TVE, Spain's national television broadcaster, that Sanchez "has taken 24 hours to forget who has made him President of the Government".

The conservative Popular Party poured scorn on the new Cabinet.

It was better suited for a TV reality show featuring an "island of celebrities", said Xavier Garcia Albiol, the PP's leader in Catalonia.