María Reyes Maroto Illera (born 19 December 1973) is a Spanish economist and politician who served as minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

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 ...

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

from 2018 to 2023.

Early life and education

Although Maroto was born in the town of Medina del Campo (

province of Valladolid Valladolid () is a Provinces of Spain, province of northwest Spain, in the central part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. It has a population of 520,716 people in a total of 225 munici ...

), her parents are natives and residents of the also Valladolid town of

Ataquines Ataquines is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * In ...

, where she spent her childhood and youth. She graduated in Economics from the University of Valladolid.

Career in academia

Maroto worked in the Ideas for Progress Foundation between 2011 and 2013, and has been an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the

Charles III University of Madrid University Charles III of Madrid ( es, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) (UC3M) is a public university in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Established in 1989, UC3M is an institution with a distinctly international profile. It offers a broad rang ...

Political career

Regional deputy

Candidate number 20 on the list of the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) for the regional elections of May 2015 in the Community of Madrid, Marto was elected and became deputy of the Assembly of Madrid, in which she served as socialist spokeswoman in the Committee of Budgets, Economy, Finance and Employment. She resigned from her parliamentary seat on 6 June 2018.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, 2018–2023

Maroto was appointed by

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 ...

to integrate his new Council of Ministers, following the

motion of censure A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

that the

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

presented against the previous 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 ...

( PP) and that was approved 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 1 June 2018.

Felipe VI Felipe VI (;, * eu, Felipe VI.a, * ca, Felip VI, * gl, Filipe VI, . Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and h ...

sanctioned her appointment as holder of the portfolio of Industry, Commerce and Tourism by royal decree, becoming the first woman to held the post. On 7 June she took office as Minister before the King at Palace of Zarzuela.

Controversy

On 26 April 2021, Reyes Maroto received an envelope with a bloodstained razor or knife, days after Minister of Interior

Fernando Grande-Marlaska Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez (born 26 July 1962) is a Spanish judge, serving as minister of the Interior since June 2018 under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Biography Early life and career Born in Bilbao, he is the son of Avelino Grande, an ...

, former Second Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, and Director of the Guardia Civil María Gámez received envelopes with bullets inside of them.Spanish minister gets knife in post, suspect identified - police
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Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

'', April 26, 2021. When the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma began to erupt on 19 September 2021, Reyes Maroto declared that the eruption on La Palma could be used as a tourist attraction to lure visitors. Her comments caused widespread criticism, because the Cumbre Vieja volcano is dotted with numerous homes, public buildings and businesses which began to be destroyed by the lava flows. Later, due to mounting criticism, including from opposition politicians, Reyes Maroto retracted her words.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maroto, Reyes 1973 births 21st-century Spanish women politicians Government ministers of Spain Industry ministers Living people Members of the 10th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the Socialist Parliamentary Group (Assembly of Madrid) People from Medina del Campo Charles III University of Madrid Spanish economists Industry ministers of Spain Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians University of Valladolid alumni Women government ministers of Spain Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain)