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Rajoy's new cabinet sworn in before holding first meeting

Xinhua, November 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

The new cabinet of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was sworn in Friday before holding its first meeting.

Taking place at the Spanish Prime Minister's residence in the Palacio de la Moncloa, the meeting came after the 13 ministers were sworn in the presence of King Felipe VI at the royal residence at the Palacio de la Zarzuela.

Rajoy named his new cabinet on Thursday evening, after himself being sworn in for his second term in office on Monday to end over ten months without a government in Spain.

The cabinet is a mix of familiar faces from his last mandate such as Fatima Baena, who remains the Minister of Employment and Social Security, and Agriculture, Food and Environment Minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina. But it also contains six new faces, the most important of which is Maria Dolores de Cospedal, the Secretary General of Rajoy's Peoples Party, who takes over the Ministry of Defense.

Other key changes see career diplomat Alfonso Datis replace Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo at the Foreign Ministry, while the former Mayor of Seville, Juan Ignacio Zoido-Alvarez, is the new Minister for the Interior, replacing Jorge Fernandez Diaz.

Rajoy has shown he has no intention to change his economic policies by maintaining Cristobal Montero at the Treasury, while the position of Economy and Competiveness Minister Luis de Guindos has been strengthened with the addition of the Ministry of Industry to his portfolio.

The prime minister has said the new cabinet is designed to be able to handle the negotiations his minority government will need to complete its mandate.

However, the Spanish Socialist Party, whose abstention in the investiture vote on Oct. 29 allowed Rajoy to return to power, claims it is "not a cabinet for dialogue" and that it will make reaching agreement over the future pacts, which are essential if Rajoy is to govern effectively, more complicated. Endit