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
StyleExcelentísimo/a Señor/a
Member ofCabinet
ResidencePalacio de la Moncloa
SeatMadrid, Spain
NominatorPrime Minister
AppointerMonarch
Countersigned by the Prime Minister of Spain
Term lengthNo fixed term
No term limits are imposed on the office.
Constituting instrumentOrganic Act of the State of 1967 (original)
Constitution of 1978 (current)
Formation3 January 1974 (1974-01-03)
First holderAntonio 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 19751 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 19799 September 1980 1st Cortes Generales
Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo 9 September 198027 February 1981
Office not in use February–December 1981 See the list of prime ministers during this period.
Juan Antonio García Díez 12 December 19813 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 200318 April 2004
Pedro Solbes 18 April 2004 7 April 2009 Zapatero 8th Cortes Generales PSOE
9th Cortes Generales
Elena Salgado 7 April 200911 July 2011
Manuel Chaves 12 July 201122 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 June 2020, 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
  1. "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.
  2. "Ley Orgánica del Estado, número 1/1967, de 10 de enero". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  3. "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.
  4. "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.
  5. "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.
  6. "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.
  7. "Royal Decree 230/1978, of February 24, appointing Mr. Fernando Abril Martorell as Second Deputy Prime Minister". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
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