Update Post: December 9, 2023 9:08 am
Nadia Calviño, Yolanda Díaz, Teresa Ribera and María Jesús Montero will be the ‘heavy weights’ of the new coalition government. This was confirmed this Monday by the President of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, in an appearance from the La Moncloa Palace in which he made public the list of members of the Council of Ministers and promised a strategy of continuity in the economic area. The composition of the new Executive, which will have 22 portfolios, has an important political character, as the socialist leader has highlighted, however all the vice presidencies are economic: Economy, Commerce and Business; Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge; Work and Social Economy, and finally, Treasury and Public Service.
The political coordination of the Government will fall into the hands of Félix Bolaños, who joins the Ministry of the Presidency, which he has controlled since 2018, the Department of Justice with the task of reaching an agreement with the opposition to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). While the ‘baton’ in economic terms will be set by Nadia Calviño, despite the fact that she could leave this team in the coming months, given that she is waiting for the presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to be resolved, the arm financial of the European Union. Faced with the political profiles that make up the majority of the Council of Ministers, Sánchez once again trusts the economist to channel relations with the employers, who are not going through their best moment, to which he also winks with the name of the company. briefcase.
“Permanence” and “experience”. These two qualities, cited by Sánchez in his speech, mostly define the heads of the economic area of his new Government. Experience and permanence to address a context in which Spain is going to have to face the consequences of the recession in the Eurozone – which already weighs down exports by practically 5% in year-on-year terms between January and September – and also weather the effects of interest rates that will continue to be high and inflation that will continue to put pressure on the real economy, in fact, the European Commission placed it in its forecasts at 3.6% on average this year and 3.4% next year. next.
Geopolitical tensions and the upward pressure on energy costs, with Spain’s strong dependence on oil, can impact public accounts, when the country will have to once again adhere to the deficit and debt objectives set by Brussels upon recovery, Starting next January, the fiscal rules will come into effect throughout the European Union. The message of “continuity” seeks, above all, to offer predictability and tranquility to the financial markets, with the idea that the Government will continue with the process of fiscal consolidation and advance the pending reforms.
The economic wing of the Government faces the challenge of deploying the bulk of the Next Generation funds between now and 2026, overcoming the bureaucratic obstacles that have somewhat delayed their award. This will involve beginning to apply for loans under advantageous conditions that make up the second part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. It is expected that between now and the end of the year the Executive will request a payment of 16,000 million euros of these credits, as well as the fourth payment of non-refundable disbursements worth 10,000 million euros.