The Diplomat
Óscar López, until now Director of the Cabinet of the President of the Government, will be the new Minister of Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, after his current holder, José Luis Escrivá, was appointed Governor of the Bank of Spain.
In 2021, López replaced Iván Redondo as Chief of Staff of Pedro Sánchez. Previously, he was Secretary of Organization of the PSOE (between 2012 and 2014) and was with the head of the Executive in his first stage, before returning to the front line of Moncloa after a distancing between the two. Between July 2018 and until the same month of 2021, López was president of Paradores.
The new Minister of Digital Transformation, a graduate in Political Science with a double major in Public Administration and International Relations from the Complutense University of Madrid, will have to deal with the new deployment of European funds to improve the digitalization of the Spanish economy, as well as carry out the modernization of public administrations.
López will be replaced by Diego Rubio, current Secretary General of Public Policies, European Affairs and Strategic Foresight of the Presidency of the Government.
Escrivá, Governor of the Bank of Spain
Meanwhile, the appointment of José Luis Escrivá as Governor of the Bank of Spain has provoked criticism from opposition parties, especially the PP and Vox, who consider that a person who has just joined the Government as a minister cannot be independent. “You cannot be a minister in the morning and governor in the afternoon, even if it is legal,” said the Popular Party.
The appointment of the Governor of the Bank of Spain is a power that the Presidents of the Government have, who normally choose an independent person with a good professional background.
Pedro Sánchez defended the appointment of Escrivá, saying that he is “one of the best economists in the country and one of its greatest experts in monetary policy.” He added: “The institution gains a great governor and the Spanish economy emerges strengthened and prestigious at European and international level.”
