Pedro Sánchez and his new Chief of Staff, Diego Rubio, are making significant changes to the structure and profiles of the power center in La Moncloa, where most of the important decisions of the government are made. With the departure of Óscar López and Antonio Hernando, new Minister and State Secretary in Digital Transformation, Rubio has taken the lead and a deep renovation of the Cabinet with new, younger, and more professionally experienced profiles is set to be approved in the Cabinet meeting this Tuesday. The new Cabinet will be gender-balanced, with half men and half women in top positions, aiming to refresh the team for a long legislative term with an eye on 2027. Paco Salazar, who will remain in the president’s inner circle, will serve as a key link between the PSOE and La Moncloa.
The main positions in the Cabinet feature new faces with a common thread: strong academic backgrounds from public universities and postgraduate studies or professional careers abroad, a common trait among the new generation being introduced, represented by Rubio (born in 1986, 14 years younger than Sánchez). The new Deputy Director, Ángel Alonso, who worked at the OECD and the World Bank, was a vice-dean and professor at IE University. Ana Ruipérez, the new Chief of Staff for Rubio, comes from the University of Santiago de Compostela with a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and previous experience at 40dB Agency and CIS before joining La Moncloa. José Fernández Albertos, the new Secretary General of National Politics, is a more publicly known figure with a background working in José Luis Escrivá’s team at the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security, holding a degree from Complutense University of Madrid and a doctorate from Harvard.
The concept behind these changes is to incorporate meritocratic profiles – public university education, scholarships, academic excellence, and postgraduate studies abroad – with a clear political message: a team of recruits for a government aiming to see out the legislative term, looking ahead to 2027 and the battle against the far-right, which is the axis of political discourse across the globe. Rubio has brought in new people, not only in leadership roles but also among advisors, with similar profiles to the senior appointees, while also making dismissals in the current team. Some dismissals are expected this Tuesday, including that of José Alarcón, who previously led the Public Policy department.
Sánchez, with Rubio and his team in La Moncloa, is initiating a renewal that aims to extend to the PSOE congress in late November and subsequent changes in regional leadership, possibly leading to shifts within the Government, including at least one vice presidency change, as Teresa Ribera is set to join the European Commission. After six years in La Moncloa, the President seems determined to refresh his teams to face a new moment, aiming to connect with future generations and fight against the surge of the right, especially the far-right, prevalent in Europe and much of the Western world. The Sánchez Government sees itself as a European progressive benchmark, resisting against the right, thus undertaking a renovation with eyes set on the next phase and the upcoming elections, theoretically in 2027.
Not everything changes, as a significant figure like Paco Salazar remains close to the President, serving as a link between La Moncloa and the PSOE, now that López and Hernando, longstanding figures within the party, have exited. Another key figure, Francesc Vallés, Secretary of State for Communication, continues to report directly to Sánchez. A major concern within the PSOE regarding this change is the possibility of returning to the strong confrontations between La Moncloa and Ferraz, the socialist party’s headquarters, as seen during Iván Redondo’s Chief of Staff tenure from 2018 to 2021. However, La Moncloa asserts that Salazar will maintain the relationship smoothly, supported by Sánchez’s continuous contact with Santos Cerdán and the dual role of María Jesús Montero as both First Vice President and PSOE’s number two. Speculations within the PSOE about potential structural changes in both the party and the government at the late November congress are ongoing, but Sánchez holds all decision-making power in the highly presidentialist PSOE of 2024.
