The former Labour Minister, Magdalena Valerio, will be the new president of the Council of State
The Socialist MP for Guadalajara and former Minister of Labour, Migration and Social Security, Magdalena Valerio, has said she is “immensely honoured” that the Council of Ministers is going to propose her as successor to María Teresa Fernández de la Vega as head of the Council of State.
Speaking to Europa Press, Valerio stressed that the Council of State is the highest consultative body in the country, regulated by the Constitution itself, which is why she would “love” to take on this post, which she would face “as always, with enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility”.
However, he specified that what has been announced this Sunday is that the Council of Ministers next Tuesday, as well as accepting Fernández de la Vega’s resignation, will propose her name for the post.
“But then there is a whole process, whereby I have to appear before the Constitutional Commission of Congress to vote on my suitability, and then the Council of Ministers would have to make the appointment”, he explained.
RESIGNATION OF FERNÁNDEZ DE LA VEGA
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega resigned from her post on 13 October. The dismissal of the former vice-president of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s government will be effective from Tuesday 18 October, as it has to be approved by the Council of Ministers.
De la Vega’s resignation comes after fulfilling the commitment she made to Pedro Sánchez to spend four years at the head of the Council of State and to undertake a series of reforms such as the digitalisation and transparency of the institution.
For her part, Magdalena Valerio, born in Cáceres in 1959, was appointed Minister of Labour, Migration and Social Security between 2018 and 2020 by Pedro Sánchez in the new government after the departure of Mariano Rajoy and is a PSOE deputy for Guadalajara in the Congress of Deputies.
She has also chaired the monitoring committee of the Toledo Pact Agreements since February 2020.
PROFILE
Before taking up the ministerial portfolio, Valerio held various positions in the Administration of Castilla-La Mancha, as Minister of Labour and Employment (2005-07); Minister of Tourism and Crafts (2007-08) and Minister of Justice and Public Administrations (2008-10).
Member of the Castilla-La Mancha Parliament (2007-10), she was also Secretary General of the Guadalajara Local Group from 2008 to 2012. Previously she was provincial delegate of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha in Guadalajara (1999-2003).
She was also a national deputy in the 10th legislature, from 2011 to 2016, and previously served as deputy spokesperson of the Socialist Group in Congress from September 2014 to October 2015, and as deputy spokesperson of the Commission for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Toledo Pact Agreements between January 2012 and September 2014.
She has also been a member of the Permanent Deputation between 2014 and 2016; she has been a member of the Constitutional Committee, has been a member of the Justice Committee and the Second Committee of that Committee and has been a member of the Home Affairs Committee, as well as having been a member of the Employment and Social Security Committee and the Regulations Committee.
She has also been a member of the Committee for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Toledo Pact Agreements and the Committee for Comprehensive Disability Policies between January 2012 and November 2014.
