Nadia Calviño

In June 2018 Calviño was chosen by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to be part of his new government as Minister of Economy and Business of Spain, following the motion of censure that the PSOE presented against the previous government of Mariano Rajoy (PP) and that was approved by the Congress of Deputies on 1 June 2018.[6] Thus, on 7 June she took office as Minister of Economy and Business before the King at Palace of Zarzuela.[7][8]

Following the resignation of Christine Lagarde as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019, Calviño was one of the candidates considered by European governments as potential successor;[9] she withdrew after a first round of voting among representatives of the EU's 28 member states and the post went to Kristalina Georgieva instead.[10]

In the electoral debate of 5 November 2019, Pedro Sánchez announced that Nadia Calviño would assume an economic vice-presidency if gets invested for the premiership,[11] office she assumed as Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation[12][13] on 13 January 2020 before the King.[14][15]

Calviño (left) presiding over a meeting of the Spanish Macroprudential Authority in 2019.

In this new stage, Calviño's powers on new technologies and digital transformation expanded, creating in her department new positions related to this affairs, such us the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence.[16]

In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic expanded to Europe, reaching Spain in late January. In March, Calviño announced a 200-billion-euro package to fight the economic effects of coronavirus, which included loans and guarantees to self-employed and to small and medium-sized entreprises and large companies.[17]

Although Calviño initially opted for Eurobonds,[18] due to the reluctance of some European countries, she adopted a more pragmatic position and she proposed to use the European Stability Mechanism but without conditions, an option accepted by the European Council which allowed the unlocking of €500 billion funds to the most affected European states.[19][20] However, Calviño stated that neither she nor the government renounced Eurobonds and that they will continue to work on them in the medium term.[21]

In mid-April, Calviño proposed to its European counterparts a 1.5 trillion euro recovery fund, that would be financed through perpetual debt issued by the European institutions.[22][23]

Calviño and Eurogroup president, Mário Centeno, in a meeting in 2019.

In mid-June 2020, rumors increased about a possible candidancy of Calviño to be the next president of Eurogroup.[24] Spanish Prime Minister declared that Spain would be "very interested" on it.[25] The Spanish government officially proposed Calviño on 25 June.[26][27] Calviño quickly received the support of the majority of the opposition in the Spanish Parliament.[28]

The first European government to show support to Calviño's candidature was the German government through its chancellor, Angela Merkel, who stated that "It is no secret that there is support for Nadia Calviño's candidature in the German government". She also added that she was "pleased when women get leading political roles, and the Eurogroup has never been headed by a woman.".[29] On 28 June Portuguese PM António Costa also supported Calviño.[30] On 8 July Italian PM Giuseppe Conte publicly supported her.[31] A day later, French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, did the same.[32]

Voting took place on 9 July. As no candidate obtained an absolute majority in the first round, Calviño and Donohoe (with 9 and 5 votes, respectively) went to the second round after the withdrawal of Pierre Gramegna. In the second round Donohoe won the support of the majority of finance ministers, becoming Eurogroup president (10 votes to 9).[33][34]

In early September 2020, state-controlled bank Bankia and Caixabank announced that they were very close to a deal to merge both banks. That merge would have created the biggest domestic bank in Spain, surpassing Santander and BBVA.[35] Unidas Podemos, the coalition partner of the second Sánchez government and its leader, Second Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias rejected the merger describing it as a "privatization" and criticized that Calviño never revealed to them the existence of this talks.[36]

Calviño, whose signature was more than enough to authorize the merger,[37] received the support of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who described the merger as something "positive" for the Spanish economy and the "territorial cohesion" since the bank would extend its influence from two to four Spanish regions.[38][39][40] Days later, Calviño described the banking consolidation as "probably inevitable" to keep the solvency and competitiveness of the banking sector in the future, but at the same time she warned that this type of operations should be carried out respecting competition and the interests of consumers and that the CNMC would be watching.[41] On 17 September 2020 the boards of both banks approved the merger.[42] The new bank, which will maintain the Caixabank brand, will have the Spanish government as the second largest shareholder, with 16.1% of the shares.[43] In December 2020, Calviño defended before the Congressional Economic Affairs Committee that the merger was the best option for the "social interest" since it is the one that contributes the greatest value to investors, including the State, one of the main shareholders.[44]

Apart from this merger, other mergers were negotiated that same year. On the one hand, BBVA and Sabadell broke off negotiations in November 2020 due to the impossibility of reaching an agreement.[45] On the other hand, other minor banks such as Unicaja and Liberbank reached an agreement in December 2020 to create the fifth bank in the country.[46]