Spain PM appoints new ministers of industry, health in cabinet reshuffle

Madrid, Mar 27 (EFE).- Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday appointed Hector Gomez Hernandez and Jose Manuel Miñones Conde as the ministers of industry and health, respectively.

Hernandez and Conde will be replacing Reyes Maroto and Carolina Darias, who stepped down to run in the May 28 municipal elections in Madrid and Las Palmas.

“The new ministers are very familiar with the fields in which they will carry out their roles. In both cases, they are backed by their experience and qualities,” Sanchez said.

This cabinet reshuffle comes just nine months ahead of the general elections.

The Socialist leader has governed in coalition with the far-left alliance Unidas Podemos (UP) since January 2020, with a cabinet comprising five ministers from UP and 17 from the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

This is the fifth time Sanchez has reshuffled his cabinet under the current government, which has been in power since November 2019 elections.

Gomez Hernandez had been the Socialist Party parliamentary spokesman, while Miñones Conde was a Spanish government delegate in the northwestern autonomous region of Galicia.

Both will be sworn in on Tuesday before taking part in the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers.EFE

nac-jl/smq/ks