The third government of

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

was formed on 7 December 1989, following the latter's election as

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government (), is the head of government of Spain. The prime minister nominates the Spanish government departments, ministers and chairs the Council of Ministers (Spain), Council of Mini ...

by the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

on 5 December and his swearing-in on 6 December, as a result of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE) emerging as the largest parliamentary force at the

1989 Spanish general election 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. It succeeded the second González government and was the

Government of Spain 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 ...

from 7 December 1989 to 14 July 1993, a total of days, or . González formed a continuity government, maintaining the same composition of the preceding cabinet as established in 1988. This came as a consequence of the pending legal challenges on election results in some constituencies sparking an apparent "provisionality feeling" on the new government, a situation which had already led to an unprecedented investiture session with 18 deputies being prevented by judicial courts from taking their offices. The government included two members of the

Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (, PSC–PSOE) is a social democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain, resulting from the merger of three parties: the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Regrouping, led by Josep Pallach i Carolà, the Socia ...

(PSC)—initially

Narcís Serra Narcís Serra i Serra (born 30 May 1943) is a Spanish economist and politician, serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 1991 to 1995. Born in Barcelona in 1943, he was one of the leading figures of Catalan socialism during the Spanish tr ...

, later joined by

Jordi Solé Tura Jordi Solé Tura (23 May 1930 in Mollet del Vallés – 4 December 2009 in Barcelona) was a Spanish politician, jurist and one of the co-authors and "Fathers" of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 following Spain's move to democracy.

—and four independents (

Claudio Aranzadi José Claudio Aranzadi Martínez (born 9 October 1946) is a Spanish engineer, businessman and politician. He served as industry minister from 1988 to 1993. Early life and education Aranzadi was born in Bilbao on 9 October 1946. He holds a bache ...

Jorge Semprún Jorge Semprún Maura (; 10 December 1923 – 7 June 2011) was a Spanish writer and politician who lived in France most of his life and wrote primarily in French. From 1953 to 1962, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Semprún lived cla ...

and Rosa Conde—who would end up joining the PSOE in November 1990—as well as Pedro Solbes from March 1991). The government was automatically dismissed on 7 June 1993 as a consequence of the 1993 general election, but remained in acting capacity until the next government was sworn in.

Investiture

Cabinet changes

González's third government saw a number of cabinet changes during its tenure: *On 19 April 1990, Minister of Labour and Social Security Manuel Chaves was nominated to lead the

(PSOE) into the 1990 Andalusian regional election. This led to a limited cabinet reshuffle, seeing Luis Martínez Noval replacing Chaves in his ministry post on 2 May. *On 12 January 1991,

Alfonso Guerra Alfonso Guerra González (born 31 May 1940) is a Spanish politician. A leading member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served as vice president of the government (''vicepresidente del Gobierno'', i.e. equivalent to deputy pri ...

announced his resignation as

Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, S ...

, effective on 14 January, as a result of a political and financial scandal involving his brother Juan Guerra and which had been ongoing for over a year; but also after a stark erosion in the relationship with Prime Minister Felipe González had seen Guerra's standing in government weaken. González used the opportunity of Guerra's resignation to arrange a major cabinet reshuffle, which was materialized in March 1991. The reshuffle saw

becoming new Deputy Prime Minister; the incorporation of

Tomás de la Quadra-Salcedo Tomás may refer to: * Tomás (given name) * Tomás (surname) Tomás is a Spanish, Portuguese, or Irish surname, equivalent of '' Thomas''. It may refer to: * Antonio Tomás (born 1985), professional Spanish footballer * Belarmino Tomás (18 ...

(

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2019 to 2024. A member of the Spani ...

( Public Works and Transport), Pedro Solbes ( Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), Juan Manuel Eguiagaray ( Public Administrations),

(

Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

) and

Julián García Valverde Julián García Valverde (born 1946) is a Spanish politician who served as Ministry of Health (Spain), minister of health and consumer affairs from March 1991 to January 1992. Before it he served as the chairman of the Spanish Rail network, Re ...

( Health and Consumer Affairs); the farewell of Enrique Múgica,

Javier Sáenz de Cosculluela Javier Luis Sáenz de Cosculluela (born 11 October 1944, Logroño, Spain) is a politician and Spanish lawyer. He served as a Minister in the second, third and fourth terms of Felipe González. Biography Sáenz studied law at the University of ...

, Carlos Romero,

Joaquín Almunia Joaquín Almunia Amann (born 17 June 1948) is a Spanish politician and former member of the European Commission. During his tenure in the two Barroso Commissions, he was European commissioner responsible for economic and monetary affairs (2004� ...

and

;

Julián García Vargas Julián García Vargas (born 1945) is a Spanish economist and socialist politician who served in different cabinets of Spain. Early life and education Garcia was born in Madrid in 1945. He received a degree in economic sciences from the Univers ...

becoming new

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

succeeding Serra and the split up of

José Barrionuevo José Barrionuevo (born 13 March 1942) is a Spanish politician. He was the minister of interior from 1982 to 1988. He was jailed from 1998 to 2001 due to his involvement in a dirty war against ETA members. Early life and education Barrionuevo w ...

's Transport, Tourism and Communications ministry between the Public Works and Industry departments. Of the new incorporations, Jordi Solé Tura was a member from the

(PSC) since 1988, whereas Pedro Solbes was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. *On 10 January 1992, Julián García Valverde submitted his resignation as Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs as a result of alleged

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

and

tax fraud Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trust (property), trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax au ...

accusations during Valverde's time as president of

Renfe Renfe (, ), officially Renfe-Operadora, is Spain's national state-owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias ( ...

between 1985 and 1991. Felipe González accepted Valverde's resignation on 13 January and appointed

José Antonio Griñán José Antonio Griñán Martínez (born 7 June 1946) is a Spanish politician. He was the chairman of the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and from 23 April 2009 until 7 September 2013 he held the position of President of the R ...

as a replacement. *On 16 June 1992, Felipe González accepted

Francisco Fernández Ordóñez Francisco Fernández Ordóñez (22 June 1930 – 7 August 1992) was a Spanish politician who was the minister of foreign affairs in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) government of Felipe González from 1985 until shortly before his de ...

's resignation as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

because of a deteriorating health resulting from the

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

affection he had been developing since 1988. Ordóñez had been on

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they ar ...

since 31 May as a result of a physical impossibility to keep on his duties as minister, being replaced in his post by

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary Gener ...

on 24 June; in turn, Solana was replaced in the

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

portfolio by

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (; 28 July 1951 – 10 May 2019) was a Spanish statesman, politician and chemist who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 2010 to 2011, and previously as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993, as Minister of ...

. Fernández Ordóñez died on 7 August 1992, only a month and a half after his resignation.

Council of Ministers

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 ...

was structured into the offices for 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 ...

, the

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

and 17

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 ...

, including the ministry for the spokesperson of the Government. The number of ministries was reduced to 16 after the Transport, Tourism and Communications portfolio was split and merged into the Public Works and Urbanism and Industry and Energy ministries in March 1991. The office of the deputy prime minister was left vacant from January to March 1991.

Departmental structure

Felipe González's third 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 a ...

*()

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

*() Autonomous agency *()

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

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 obj ...

Notes

References

External links

Governments. Juan Carlos I (20.11.1975 ...)
CCHS-CSIC (in Spanish).
Governments of Spain 1982–1996. Ministers of Felipe González
Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish).

Lluís Belenes i Rodríguez History Page (in Spanish). {{DEFAULTSORT:González government 3 1989 establishments in Spain 1993 disestablishments in Spain Cabinets established in 1989 Cabinets disestablished in 1993 Council of Ministers (Spain)