Moncloa Chief of Staff

The Moncloa Chief of Staff, officially called Director of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister, is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of Spain. The Chief of Staff is appointed by the Prime Minister as its senior aid. This position has no executive authority although it is the principal advisor to the Prime Minister and it coordinates the work action of the different departments of the Government as well as lead the Cabinet Office.

Moncloa Chief of Staff
Director del Gabinete del Presidente del Gobierno
Moncloa Palace's logo
Incumbent
Óscar López Águeda
since June 14, 2021
Office of the Prime Minister
Cabinet of the Prime Minister's Office
StyleThe Most Excellent
Reports toPrime Minister
AppointerMonarch
FormationJuly 19, 1976 (1976-07-19)
First holderCarmen Díez de Rivera
DeputyMoncloa Deputy Chief of Staff
WebsiteLa Moncloa

There is not a legal requirement for this role to exist but since Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez in 1976, each Prime Minister has appointed a person of their trust to this role. The current position is regulated in the Royal Decree 419/2018, of June 18, which restructures the Prime Minister's Office.

Role

The first time that this position was created was in 1976, when Carmen Díez de Rivera was appointed Chief of Staff, however, the role was not regulated until 1978, when a short Prime Minister's order integrate it in the Prime Minister's Office and gave it rank of Undersecretary. Its original duties were to assist when the Prime Minister require it.[1]

With the passage of time this role were granted more responsibilities and in 1982, with Prime Minister Felipe González the structure of the Prime Minister's Office was extended creating a Cabinet which the Chief of Staff was leading. The powers of the Chief of Staff were also extended not only to advise the Prime Minister but to gather political information for the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and to know what the different Government's department were doing to get a better coordination among them and the Prime Minister's Office. It was also entrusted with the mission of making reports and studies on any subject entrusted to him.[2]

With the arrival of PM José María Aznar, all mentions to the Deputy Prime Minister were removed (because the Deputy PM was granted with its own Chief of Staff). Aznar also gave the Chief of Staff the rank of Secretary of State.[3]

PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero continue expanding the powers of the Chief of Staff giving him competences over the protocol and security departments of the Prime Minister's Office as well as entrusting him with advice on economic matters.[4]

With PM Rajoy the Chief of Staff reached the height of its power when he was granted with the supervision over the sanitary system of the prime minister's office and with powers over national security matters, when the Deputy Chief of Staff was also named Director of the Homeland Security Department.[5]

PM Sánchez preserved all the powers that Rajoy granted to the Chief of Staff with a little changes because even when the Department of Homeland Security depended from the prime minister's chief of staff, the direction of the same was granted to an independent official (a military in this case) an not to the Deputy Chief of Staff.[6]

Structure

The current officials of the Prime Minister's Cabinet are the following:[6]

  • The Moncloa Chief of Staff.
    • The Moncloa Deputy Chief of Staff.
    • The Secretary General of the Prime Minister's Office.
    • The Secretary General for International Affairs, European Union, G20 and Global Security.
    • The Director for Analysis and Studies.
    • The Director of the Department of Homeland Security.

List of Chiefs of Staff
# Chief of Staff Years Prime Minister
1 Carmen Díez de Rivera[7][8] 1976–1977 Adolfo Suárez
2 Alberto Aza Arias 1977–1981
3 Eugenio Galdón Brugarolas 1981-1982 Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
4 Roberto Dorado Zamorano 1982–1993 Felipe González
5 Antonio Zabalza Martí 1993–1995
6 José Enrique Serrano Martínez 1995–1996
7 Carlos Aragonés Mendiguchía 1996–2004 José María Aznar
8 José Enrique Serrano Martínez 2004–2011 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
9 Jorge Moragas Sánchez 2011–2017 Mariano Rajoy Brey
10 José Luis Ayllón[9] 2017–2018
11 Iván Redondo[10] 2018–2021 Pedro Sánchez
12 Óscar López Águeda 2021–present

References
  1. "Royal Decree of 1978 by which the Prime Minister's Cabinet is structured". www.boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  2. "Royal Decree 3773/1982, of December 22, by which the organic structure of the Prime Minister's Office is determined". www.boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  3. "Royal Decree 838/1996, of May 10, which restructures the Cabinet and the General Secretariat of the Prime Minister's Office". www.boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  4. "Royal Decree 1689/2004, of July 12, by which the organic structure of the Prime Minister's Office is developed". www.boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  5. "Royal Decree 83/2012, of January 13, which restructures the Prime Minister's Office". www.boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  6. "Royal Decree 419/2018, of June 18, by which the Prime Minister's Office is restructured". boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  7. "Carmen Díez de Rivera, directora del gabinete del presidente del Gobierno". El País (in Spanish). 1976-09-18. ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  8. "Carmen Diez de Rivera, la musa de la transición | Mujeres Valientes". Mujeres Valientes (in European Spanish). 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  9. Díez, Anabel (2018-01-23). "Rajoy nombra a José Luis Ayllón como jefe de Gabinete". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  10. Agencias, El Periódico / (2018-06-07). "Iván Redondo, nuevo director del Gabinete del presidente del Gobierno". elperiodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-24.
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