The first government of

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a vote of no confidence ousted his government. On 5 June 2018, he announced his resignation as People's Party lead ...

was formed on 22 December 2011, following the latter's election as

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...

by the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

on 20 December and his swearing-in on 21 December, as a result of the People's Party (PP) emerging as the largest parliamentary force at the

2011 Spanish general election The 2011 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 20 November 2011, to elect the 10th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate. An elec ...

. It succeeded the

second Zapatero government The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

and was the Government of Spain from 22 December 2011 to 4 November 2016, a total of days, or . The cabinet comprised members of the PP and a number of independents. It was automatically dismissed on 21 December 2015 as a consequence of the 2015 general election, but remained in acting capacity until the next government was sworn in.

Investiture

Cabinet changes

Rajoy's first government saw a number of cabinet changes during its tenure: *On 28 April 2014,

Miguel Arias Cañete Miguel Arias Cañete (born 24 February 1950) is a Spanish politician who served as European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action in the Juncker Commission from 2014 and 2019. A member of the People's Party, Arias served as Minister for Ag ...

stepped down as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Affairs in order to run as the People's Party (PP)'s leading candidate in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

. He was succeeded by Isabel García Tejerina. *On 23 September 2014, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón resigned as Minister of Justice, after the government chose to withdraw his proposed

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

bill. The decision was said to come over the loss of personal prestige resulting from a staunch defense of the bill, with Rajoy's u-turn on the issue being seen as a personal disavowal of Gallardón. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría was tasked with the ordinary discharge of duties of the Ministry for Justice until Gallardon's successor, Rafael Catalá, could take office on 29 September 2014. *On 26 November 2014,

Ana Mato Ana Mato Adrover (born 24 September 1959 in Madrid) is a Spanish politician. From 2011 to 2014 she served as Spain's Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality in the Rajoy Cabinet. On 26 November 2014 she resigned due to the involvement o ...

resigned as Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality due to her involvement in the

Gürtel case The Gürtel case is a political corruption scandal in Spain, which implicates officers of the People's Party (PP), Spain's major conservative party, some of whom have been forced to resign or have been suspended. Gürtel is one of the largest ...

, after she was summoned to court as a "participant on a lucrative basis" in the corruption crimes allegedly committed by former husband Jesús Sepúlveda. Her resignation came one day before a plenary in Congress on corruption in which Prime Minister Rajoy was scheduled to intervene, and after Mato herself had announced earlier that day that she had not considered her resignation. Sáenz de Santamaría took on the ordinary discharge of duties of the ministry until Mato's successor,

Alfonso Alonso Alfonso Alonso Aranegui (born 14 April 1967) is a Spanish politician, member of the People's Party and Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality from 2014 to 2016. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Alfonso 1967 births Health mini ...

, could take office on 3 December 2014. *On 26 June 2015,

Íñigo Méndez de Vigo Íñigo Méndez de Vigo y Montojo, 9th Baron of Claret (born 21 January 1956) is a Spanish aristocrat and politician. He served as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport between 26 June 2015 and 1 June 2018, when a vote of no-confidence aga ...

replaced José Ignacio Wert as Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, after the latter had expressed his wish to retire from politics. From 21 December 2015, Rajoy's cabinet took on acting duties for the duration of the government formation process resulting from the 2015 general election. This lasted for days and saw a new general election being held in the meantime. A number of ministers renounced their posts throughout this period, with the ordinary discharge of duties of their ministries being transferred to other cabinet members as a result of Rajoy being unable to appoint replacements while in acting role. *On 15 April 2016,

José Manuel Soria José Manuel Soria López (born 5 January 1958) is a Spanish politician and businessman. He was involved in the regional politics of the Canary Islands before being elected to the national congress and serving as Spain's minister of industry, e ...

was forced to renounce his post as acting Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism over his involvement in the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

scandal, owing to the leaking of information revealing that he and his family had maintained several offshore societies on tax havens during the previous decades, as well as his confusing and changing explanations on the issue.

Luis de Guindos Luis de Guindos Jurado (born 16 January 1960) is a Spanish politician serving as Vice-President of the European Central Bank since 2018. He previously served as Spain's Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness from 2011 to 2018. Early ...

, acting Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, took on the ordinary discharge of duties of Soria's vacant ministry. *On 19 July 2016, Ana Pastor was elected

President of the Congress of Deputies The president of the Congress of Deputies ( es, Presidente del Congreso de los Diputados) is the speaker of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales (the Spanish parliament). The president is elected among the members o ...

of the XII Legislature, a position incompatible with her post as acting Minister of Development. Rafael Catalá, acting Minister of Justice, took on the ordinary discharge of duties of Pastor's vacant ministry. *On 16 August 2016, Alfonso Alonso renounced his position as acting Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality in order to run as the PP candidate for Lehendakari in the

2016 Basque regional election The 2016 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 25 September 2016, to elect the 11th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional ele ...

Fátima Báñez María Fátima Báñez García (born 6 January 1967), better known as Fátima Báñez, is a Spanish politician, economist and jurist. She was Minister of Employment and Social Security from December 2011 until June 2018, when a vote of no-conf ...

, acting Minister of Employment and Social Security, took on the ordinary discharge of duties of Alonso's vacant ministry.

Council of Ministers

The

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

was structured into the offices for the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, the

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

, 13

ministries Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

and the post of the spokesperson of the Government.

Departmental structure

Mariano Rajoy's first government was organised into several superior and governing units, whose number, powers and hierarchical structure varied depending on the ministerial department. ;Unit/body rank *() Secretary of state *()

Undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

*()

Director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

*() Autonomous agency *()

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objective ...

Notes

References

External links

Governments of Spain 2011–present. Ministers of Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez
Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish).

Lluís Belenes i Rodríguez History Page (in Spanish).

Lluís Belenes i Rodríguez History Page (in Spanish). {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajoy government 1 2011 establishments in Spain 2016 disestablishments in Spain Cabinets established in 2011 Cabinets disestablished in 2016 Council of Ministers (Spain)