SPANISH Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was officially sworn in by King Juan Carlos yesterday and later annouced his new cabinet.
During a ceremony at Madrid’s Palacio de la Zarzuela, also attended by outgoing PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Rajoy swore to ‘faithfully fulfill the duties of chairman of the government with loyalty to the King’.
He later returned to name a 13-strong cabinet charged with tackling the vast array of problems which have put Spain at the centre of the eurozone crisis.
Former Lehman Brothers exective Luis de Guindos has been named as economy minister, and a separate role of Treasury Minister has been created and handed to Cristobal Montoro.
Montoro will be tasked mainly with helping tighten spending by Spain’s regional authorities, and together with Guindos he will be responsible for injecting much-needed stimulation to Spain’s struggling economy.
With five million unemployed and spending cuts already affecting public services, Spain is nation desperate for change.
Earlier this week Rajoy promised dramatic spending cuts at all levels of government to trim the deficit and offered tax breaks to companies in a bid to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
Rajoy’s ‘right-hand woman’, the hard-working Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, has been appointed deputy PM.
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