Rajoy's new cabinet settles in

2016-11-22 06:00:00

Newly-appointed as prime minister, Mariano Rajoy lost no time in announcing his new cabinet at the end of last week. On Friday morning his top ministerial team held its first regular weekly meeting at La Moncloa, the prime minister’s official residence in Madrid. Earlier they been sworn in at the La Zarzuela royal palace.
As expected, Rajoy opted for continuity and stability without signalling a change of direction.
The few key changes included the removal of two veteran senior ministers: José Manuel García-Margallo and Jorge Fernández Díaz were replaced respectively by Alfonso Dastis, an experienced diplomat, as foreign minister and Juan Ignacio Ziodo, a former mayor of Seville, as interior minister. Long-term political ally and PPparty head, María Dolores de Cospedal was rewarded with the Ministry of Defence.
Mindful that he doesn’t have a majority in parliament, Rajoy instructed his new ministers to “pact and talk a lot” with the opposition in the coming months.source surinenglish