Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
The Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, officially Second Vice President of the Government of Spain, (Spanish: Vicepresidente Segundo del Gobierno de España) is a senior member of the Government of Spain. The office of the Second Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister. It is a constitutional office because it is foreseen in the Constitution when it provides for the possibility of existing more than one Vice Presidency.
Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
Vicepresidente Segundo del Gobierno de España | |
---|---|
Government of Spain Council of Ministers | |
Style | Excelentísimo/a Señor/a |
Member of | Cabinet |
Residence | Palacio de la Moncloa |
Seat | Madrid, Spain |
Nominator | Prime Minister |
Appointer | Monarch Countersigned by the Prime Minister of Spain |
Term length | No fixed term No term limits are imposed on the office. |
Constituting instrument | Organic Act of the State of 1967 (original) Constitution of 1978 (current) |
Formation | 3 January 1974 |
First holder | Antonio Barrera de Irimo |
The office of second deputy prime minister does not possess special constitutional powers beyond its responsibility as a member of the Council of Ministers. The position is regulated in the Government Act of 1997 and it only specifies that the raison d'être of the office is to replace the Prime Minister when the office is vacant, or the premier is absence or ill.[1] Due to its order as second deputy prime minister, he or she would only assume this responsibility if the first deputy could not do it.
The current second deputy prime minister is Pablo Iglesias Turrión, who is also Minister of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda.
History
The possibility for the creation of this office was established in the Organic Act of the State of 1967. This act established a Council of Ministers composed by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister or more than one Deputy PM and the Ministers.[2] However, the clause was not used until the dictator split the office of head of government and head of state in 1973. In 1974, prime minister Arias Navarro used this possibility to give more relevance to Antonio Barrera Irimo, Minister of Finance.[3] He did the same with its new Finance Minister Rafael Cabello de Alba in October 1974.[4]
During his third term, Arias Navarro appointed Manuel Fraga as such, being at the same time Minister of the Interior. Adolfo Suárez did the same with his Interior Minister, Alfonso Osorio García, who was also Minister of the Presidency.[5] From 1977 to 1981, Suárez appointed his Finance Ministers as Second Deputies and during his short term, Calvo-Sotelo did the same.
Socialist PM González never used this possibility on his almost 14 years of premiership. José María Aznar and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero did it, following the tradition of appointing as Second Deputy to their Finance Minister. However, a cabinet reshuffle in 2011 granted the position of Second DPM to the Minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service, Manuel Chaves.
The conservative PM Mariano Rajoy never used this position, and prime minister Pedro Sánchez did not use it in his first government, but he did it in the second one.
List of Second Deputy Prime Ministers
- Parties
Falange (FET–JONS)
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)
Socialist (PSOE)
People's Party (PP)
Unidas Podemos (UP)
Picture | Second Deputy PM | Took Office | Left Office | Prime Minister | Term | Party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antonio Barrera de Irimo | 4 January 1974[3] | 30 October 1974 | Carlos Arias Navarro | Franco's dictatorship | Falange | ||||
Rafael Cabello de Alba y Gracia | 30 October 1974[4] | 12 December 1975 | |||||||
Manuel Fraga Iribarne | 12 December 1975 | 1 July 1976 | |||||||
Alfonso Osorio García | 8 July 1976[5] | 5 July 1977 | Adolfo Suárez | 1st Suárez Cabinet | UCD | ||||
Enrique Fuentes Quintana | 5 July 1977[6] | 25 February 1978 | Constituent Legislature | ||||||
Fernando Abril Martorell | 25 February 1978[7] | 6 April 1979 | |||||||
6 April 1979 | 9 September 1980 | 1st Cortes Generales | |||||||
Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo | 9 September 1980 | 27 February 1981 | |||||||
Office not in use | February–December 1981 | See the list of prime ministers during this period. | |||||||
Juan Antonio García Díez | 12 December 1981 | 3 December 1982 | Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo | 1st Cortes Generales | UCD | ||||
Office not in use | 1982–1996 | See the list of prime ministers during this period. | |||||||
Rodrigo Rato | 6 May 1996 | 4 September 2003 | Aznar | 6th Cortes Generales | PP | ||||
7th Cortes Generales | |||||||||
Javier Arenas | 4 September 2003 | 18 April 2004 | |||||||
Pedro Solbes | 18 April 2004 | 7 April 2009 | Zapatero | 8th Cortes Generales | PSOE | ||||
9th Cortes Generales | |||||||||
Elena Salgado | 7 April 2009 | 11 July 2011 | |||||||
Manuel Chaves | 12 July 2011 | 22 December 2011 | |||||||
Office not in use | 2011–2020 | See the list of prime ministers during this period. | |||||||
Pablo Iglesias Turrión | 13 January 2020 | Incumbent | Sánchez | 14th Cortes Generales | Unidas Podemos |
Living Second Deputy Prime Ministers
As of February 2021, there are five living former Second Deputy Prime Ministers:
The most recent second deputy prime minister to die was Alfonso Osorio (served 1976–1977) on 26 August 2018, aged 94.
See also
References
- "Ley 50/1997, de 27 de noviembre, del Gobierno". Law No. 50 of 28 November 1997. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- "Ley Orgánica del Estado, número 1/1967, de 10 de enero". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
- "Decree 1/1974, of January 3, by which the Vice Presidents of the Government are appointed". www.boe.es. Office of the Prime Minister. 3 January 1974. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- "Decree 2997/1974, of October 29, by which Rafael Cabello de Alba is appointed Second Vice President of the Government". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
- "Royal Decree 1606/1976, of July 7, by which Mr. Fernando de Santiago y Díaz de Mendívil and Mr. Alfonso Osorio García are appointed Deputy Prime Ministers". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
- "Royal Decree 1562/1977, of July 4, by which Mr. Enrique Fuentes Quintana and Mr. Fernando Abril Martorell are appointed Deputy Prime Ministers". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
- "Royal Decree 230/1978, of February 24, appointing Mr. Fernando Abril Martorell as Second Deputy Prime Minister". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.