The Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations, currently named Secretary of State for Territorial Policy is the highest official of the Ministry of Territorial Policy responsible for the development of the Government's policy about

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

's territorial organization as well as responsible for the relations between the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

and the

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

and

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

authorities. It's also responsible for the supervision of the decentralized departments of the central government in the regions and impulse and coordination of the Conference of Presidents (the main forum of collaboration between 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 ...

and the regional leaders), as well as the Presidency of the Council of Official Languages in the General Administration of the State. Directly from the Secretary of State depends the Secretary General for Territorial Coordination.

History

The need to create a department focused on the coordination of the different state administrations appeared after the approval of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, which established a decentralized state composed of different

autonomous communities eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

. Given this, the Ministry of Territorial Administration was created in 1979 and was in force until the end of 1986. In 1987, the Ministry of Public Administrations was created, which assumed the powers over the

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s and the territorial organization, creating a Secretariat of State focused on the relations of the different administrations called the Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations. In 2000, the Secretariat of State changed its name to Secretariat of State for the Territorial Organization of the State and changed its name again in 2004 to Secretariat of State of Territorial Cooperation until 2011 when PM

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 ...

in an effort to reduce the deficit of the State, reduced the governmental apparatus integrating this Secretariat of State in the Secretariat of State for Public Administrations (in charge of the civil servants and now also of the relations between administrations) and the Ministry of Public Administrations also merged with the

Ministry of the Treasury The (lit. the department of the great treasury) was a division of the eighth-century Japanese government of the Imperial Court in Kyoto, instituted in the Asuka period and formalized during the Heian period. The Ministry was replaced in the Mei ...

. In 2016, with the economical improvement, the Secretariats of State of Public Function and Territorial Administration were separated again and the latest was integrated with its Ministry in the

Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Cortes and Democratic Memory (MPR) is the department of the Government of Spain which assures the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister and is responsible for the relations ...

. Since 2018, the Ministry for Territorial Administrations recovered its independence and was renamed Ministry for Territorial Policy and Public Function (taking the competencies over the civil servants from the Ministry of the Treasury). Briefly, from 2020 to 2021 the Secretariat of State assumed all the competences about civil service.

Structure

Under the Secretary of State are the following officials: * The Secretary General for Territorial Coordination ** The Director-General for Regional and Local Cooperation *** The Deputy Director-General for Regional Cooperation *** The Deputy Director-General for Bilateral Relations with the Autonomous Communities *** The Deputy Director-General for Local Cooperation ** The Director-General for Regional and Local Legal Regime *** The Deputy Director-General for the Autonomous Legal System *** The Deputy Director-General for the Local Legal System *** The National Coordinator of the Internal Market Information System **The Director-General for the General State Administration in the Territory ***The Deputy Director-General for Institutional Relations of the General State Administration in the Territory ***The Deputy Director-General for the Coordination of the General State Administration in the Territory ***The Deputy Director-General for Human Resources of the General State Administration in the Territory ***The Deputy Director-General for Financial and Properties Management of the General State Administration in the Territory ***The Inspectorate of Services of the General State Administration in the Territory

List of Secretaries of State for Territorial Administrations

References

{{Reflist Secretaries of State of Spain