Prime Minister's Office (Spain)
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The Office of the Prime Minister, officially Presidency of the Government () is the
Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...
structure that groups all the departments and officials that are at the service of the
prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
to fulfil its constitutional duties. It is staffed by a mix of career
civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
and
adviser An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs catego ...
s. The highest-ranking official within the Office is the
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
, which is a political appointment on which the rest of the Office officials depend. The Office of the Prime Minister, although in the past it was a ministerial department, like any other Ministry, today it does not have a specific legal definition, although its existence is foreseen on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector Act of 2015, when it regulates the Ministries. Established in 1834, the 1851 General State Budget elevated it to the rank of Ministry, a situation that would last until 1974, when the
Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...
was created. Since then, it no longer has the rank of ministry, although its structure and functions are established by a
royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary l ...
, and it operates as one.


History


Origins and ministerial rank

The history of the Presidency of the Government dates back to 1834. On this date, the Royal Statute was promulgated, creating for the first time an executive power differentiated but not separated from the
Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
, led by the prime minister (at that time called the president of the Council of Ministers). From this moment, a series of officials were appointed and a series of offices were established to assist the chief executive, which gave rise to the "Presidency of the Council of Ministers". These personnel assisting the prime minister were assigned to the Ministry of State, since in the first years of the Spanish constitutionalism the president of the Council of Ministers was also secretary or minister of State. In 1851, for the first time, a specific budgetary item —titled "Expenses of the Secretariat and Presidency of the Council of Ministers" — was established, within the section of the Ministry of State; and later a section of its own would be created. That same year, the importance of the Presidency continued to increase, granting it powers over some matters related to overseas territories —except for matters related to the Treasury, War and Navy— and creating the Directorate-General for Overseas and the Overseas Council, both assigned to the Presidency of the council, and was given its own structure and budget, which for the year 1853 amounted to 1.7 million reales. It also managed the
General Archive of the Indies The ''Archivo General de Indias'' (; standard abbreviation AGI; ), often simply called the Archive of the Indies, was created by Carlos III of Spain, Carlos III and inaugurated in 1785. It is housed in the former Consulado de mercaderes, merchan ...
and the General Superintendence of Finance of the Indies. In 1854 the Overseas responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of State, maintaining only a secretariat. In 1856 the Statistical Commission of the Kingdom was created and attached to the Presidency. During the next few years, a large part of its allocation corresponded to statistical services, with a budget of 3.5 million reales in 1859 or 11.6 million in 1860,The budget increase from 1859 to 1860 was due to various factors, including the greater territorial implementation of the statistical services, new geographic work projects and parcel plans, as well as the preparation of the 1860 census. leaving only 170,000 reales for personnel and material resources of the Presidency. From this decade it also assumed the assignment of the
Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...
, an advisory body headed by the prime minister, and in 1870 the statistical, geographical and cadastral powers definitively transferred to the Ministry of Development. From 1865 to 1870 several reforms were made to the Office of the Prime Minister to resemble a ministerial department, including the creation of an undersecretariat. In 1871 the Presidency was moved to a central property in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, known as ''Casa de los Heros'', and it was established a new budgetary item for the conservation and maintenance of the building. Likewise, that same year, on January 26, the Archive of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (today of the Government) was created, which today also acts as the Central Archive of the
Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...
. During the brief First Republic, between 1873 and 1874, it was called the "Presidency of the Executive Branch of the Republic", maintaining structure and powers. The economic protectionism that was imposed in Spain in the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, led to the approval of the Law of 14 February 1907, which established that only national products could be purchased by the Public Administrations. To ensure compliance with the law, the Commission for the Protection of National Production was established, which was attached to the Presidency. Likewise, in 1914, the Office of the Civil Comptroller for War and Navy and for the Protectorate of Morocco was created in this department.


20th century changes

During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, various changes occurred. On the one hand, in December 1925 the Undersecretariat of the Presidency was abolished (until 1930) and the Directorate-General for Morocco and Colonies was created. On the other hand, in 1928 the Ministry of State was integrated into the Presidency, and the department was renamed to "Presidency and Foreign Affairs". It didn't last long; With the fall of the dictator in 1930, the
departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
were reestablished as they were at the beginning of the dictatorship. During the Second Republic, more powers were added to the Presidency, regarding population and land organization through the Parceling and Colonization Section of the Directorate-General for Social Action and in aeronautical matters, with a Directorate-General for Aeronautics. After the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
and the
dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...
was imposed, in 1939 it was renamed as "Presidency of the Government" —linked to the Head of State—, a name that continues to this day. During the first years, some organizations attached to the Presidency were created to control some industries, such as the Government Delegation in the Steel Industries, the Railway Material Commissariat or the Delegation for Transport Planning, among others. In 1942, the Directorate-General for Morocco, which had been in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1939, returned to the Presidency. After the appointment of Luis Carrero Blanco as Under Secretary of the Presidency in 1941, this body became a key piece of the regime, with Carrero Blanco being the dictator's right hand. So much so, that in 1951 the position was given the rank of minister, being the seed of the current
Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...
that today assists the prime minister and the collective bodies of the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
. During the decades of 1950 and 1960, the Minister-Under Secretary of the Presidency was the promoter of the administrative reforms. In 1957 the Official State Gazette was assigned to him, the Office for Coordination and Economic Programming was created in the field of the Technical General Secretariat and the powers regarding civil servants were centralized, with the creation of the Centre for Training and Improvement of Civil Servants (in 1958, currently National Institute of Public Administration), the Higher Personnel Commission and the Directorate-General for the Civil Service. In 1968, a series of decrees were approved that reorganized the services of the Presidency, establishing six management bodies —Undersecretariat, Commissariat for the Economic and Social Development Plan, Technical General Secretariat, Directorate-General for the Civil Service and the Directorate-General for the Geographic and Cadastral Institute—, five consultative and advisory bodies —
Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...
, Council of National Economy, Higher Personnel Commission, Advisory Commission for Scientific and Technical Research and Commission for Income and Prices—, three organizations autonomous bodies—National Industry Institute, the National School of Public Administration and the Official State Gazette—and six other organizations of different categories.


Ministry of the Presidency and loss of ministerial rank

In 1973, the dictator decided to separate the Presidency of the Government from the Head of State, appointing Luis Carrero Blanco as prime minister. Also, in January 1974 the position of Minister-Undersecretary of the Presidency was divided into two, formally creating the
Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...
. After these events, the line that separates the bodies of the Presidency of the Government from the bodies of the Ministry of the Presidency is blurred and will not be clarified until 1976. In that year, the minister of the Presidency, Alfonso Osorio, approves a Royal Decree which determines which bodies are integrated in his department, that is, in the Ministry of the Presidency, and which bodies are part of the Presidency of the Government (the Office of the Prime Minister), answering directly to the chief of the executive. This was done two months after prime minister
Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected Prime Minister of Spain, prime minister since the Second Spanish Republi ...
, appointed Carmen Díez de Rivera as the first Moncloa Chief of Staff, creating ''de facto'' the
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...
. In 1977 another differentiation was established between the Ministry and the Presidency of the Government, establishing that the Ministry of the Presidency was a body to assist the prime minister, integrated into the Office of the Prime Minister. Thus, in 1977 the Presidency was made up of: the Ministry of the Presidency, the advisors of the prime minister, the Cabinet Office and the prime minister's private secretariat. Once this was clarified, it was clear that the Presidency of the Government had lost its ministerial status, handing it over to a new department headed by the minister of the Presidency with exclusive dedication, while the Presidency was an undefined entity composed of those bodies and advisors that the head of government considers it appropriate to create or appoint, although always assisted financially and organically by the Ministry of the Presidency. Likewise, since the 1980s, differentiated royal decrees have been approved that separately regulate the Presidency of the Government and the Ministry of the Presidency. In 2015, although it did not formally restore its ministerial rank, the Legal Regime of the Public Sector Act, when it regulates the Ministries (Chapter II of Title I), it does foreseen the existence of the Presidency and it established the same regulation for the Presidency and the rest of ministries.


Structure

The current structure of the Office of the Prime Minister is regulated in Royal Decree 890/2023, of November 27: * The Prime Minister. ** The Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes. *** The Secretariat of State for Justice. *** The Secretariat of State for Relations with the Cortes and Constitutional Affairs. *** The Undersecretariat of the Presidency. *** The Office of the Solicitor Geneal. ** The
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...
, headed by the Moncloa Chief of Staff with the rank of secretary of state. *** The Office of the Deputy Moncloa Chief of Staff, with the rank of undersecretariat. *** The General Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Office, with the rank of undersecretariat. **** The Department for Technical and Legal Coordination, with the rank of directorate-general. **** The Department for Protocol. **** The Department for Security. *** The General Secretariat for National Policy. **** The Department for Public Policies. **** The Department for Territorial Analysis. **** The Department for Cultural Affairs. *** The General Secretariat for Foreign Affairs. **** The Department for Foreign Affairs. *** The General Secretariat for Institutional Coordination. **** The Department for Political Coordination. **** The Department for Attention and Response to Citizens. **** The Department for Institutional Affairs. *** The Department for National Security. *** The Department for European Affairs. *** The National Foresight and Strategy Office. *** The Department for Speech. *** The National Scientific Advisory Office. ** The Office for Economic Affairs and G20, with the rank of secretariat of state. *** The Department for Strategic Projects and Sector Policies. ** The Office of the Government Spokesperson. *** The Secretariat of State for Press. **** The Department for National Information. **** The Department for International Information. **** The Department for Regional Information. **** The Digital Department. **** The Department for Information Coordination. **** The Department for Institutional Communication. In accordance with the National Heritage Regulatory Act of 1982 and Royal Decree 204/2024, which develops the structure of the Ministry of the Presidency, the Patrimonio Nacional agency is attached to the Prime Minister's Office through that department.


Coordination committee

To ensure the coordination of all the departments of the Presidency, there is a Coordination Committee, headed by the Moncloa Chief of Staff. This committee includes the main senior officials of the Presidency.


Most senior positions within the Office


Headquarters

The meetings of the
Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
were usually held in the palace where the
monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...
—who chaired the meetings— was staying. Thus, many ministerial meetings took place in the Royal Palace, but not always, since there was no fixed headquarters and they moved along with the
royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...
. However, starting in 1871, an official headquarters for the head of government was established. The chosen location was the ''Casa de los Heros'', which served as such until its forced abandonment in 1910, due to its dilapidated condition. This building was demolished years after its abandonment, building in its place the current headquarters of the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
. In 1914, during the reign of
Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...
, the government purchased the
Palace of Villamejor The Palace of Villamejor () is a palace located on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, Spain. The palace was built for Ignacio Figueroa y Mendieta, marquess consort of Villamejor, between the 1880s and the 1890s. His heirs sold the property ...
from
Infante Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...
Carlos de Borbón-Dos Sicilias, who had owned it since 1906. The purchase was authorized by the
Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...
through the Law of June 30, 1914, which granted a credit of two million pesetas
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
0.372 million, — to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, of which, 1.9 million were for the purchase of the property and the remaining 100,000 pesetas to cover the costs of moving and installing the prime-ministerial services. The prime-ministerial office, which had been temporarily housed in the Palace of Justice (
Convent of the Salesas Reales The Convent of the Salesas Reales is an 18th-century architectural complex in central Madrid, Spain. Formerly a convent, specifically the convent of the Visitación de Nuestra Señora (Visitation (Christianity), Visitation of Our Lady), it was cons ...
) since 1910, moved to this new location in 1915. The Presidency was housed in the aforementioned Villamejor Palace until 1977. At the end of 1976, when the
democratic transition A democratic transition describes a phase in a country's political system as a result of an ongoing change from an authoritarian regime to a Democracy, democratic one. The process is known as democratisation, political changes moving in a democrat ...
began, it was considered that, for security reasons, the Government Headquarters should be moved out of the city center and the historic
Palace of Moncloa The Palace of Moncloa (), also known as Moncloa Palace or La Moncloa, is the official residence and workplace of the President of the Government (Spanish: ''Presidente del Gobierno''), a position usually known in the English language as the Prime ...
was chosen as the new headquarters. The Moncloa Palace had been rebuilt during the dictatorship, since the Civil War completely destroyed it and since the 1950s it had acted as the residence of foreign heads of state who visited the country. Today, the Moncloa Palace serves only as the residence of the head of government and his family, as well as for official events, since the presidential services have been distributed among the different buildings that have been built around the palace since the 1980s. Currently, the Moncloa Government Complex consists of 16 buildings, and also houses the headquarters of the
Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...
.


Budget

As it is not currently a ministerial department, the Office of the Prime Minister does not have its own budget section and it is financed mainly through the section of the
Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...
. Thus, for the
fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...
2023, extended to 2024, the Office has a budget of 134 million
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
s, participating in two programs of the aforementioned Ministry: * Program 912M "Presidency of the Government", endowed with 55.6 million euros, which covers the expenses of the Cabinet Office, the General Secretariat, the rest of the departments and the meetings of the
Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
. * Program 921Q "Information coverage", endowed with 78.4 million euros, which covers the expenses of the Secretariat of State for Press.


Notes


References

{{authority control 1834 establishments in Spain Spanish Prime Minister's Office