How the new Catalan cabinet under Salvador Illa will look 

Only two days after Salvador Illa sworn in as the 133rd president of Catalonia on Saturday August 10, all the members of his cabinet have been announced. 

The majority of the ministers will be from the Socialist party, but some ministries are led by Esquerra Republicana members, former members of Junts, or by independent people. 

Salvador Illa said his executive will "govern for everyone in Catalonia." 

Working on the "Catalan nation and the Catalan language" will also be a priority for the new government.  

This new government has added two new ministries: the sports ministry and the linguistic policy ministry. In general, it follows the previous governments' structure, although there is no vice president.  

Presidency – Albert Dalmau 

Dalmau is a graduate in Political Sciences by Universitat Pompeu Fabra and had been working as the city council manager next to mayor Jaume Collboni since June 2023. In his professional career, he has experience in institutional and governmental relations, as well as in the business and economy area.  

He had been working in Barcelona's city council since 2016, when he was the head of the deputy mayor's office in business, culture, and innovation and later on the head of the Socialist municipal group. 

Economy and Finances - Alícia Romero   

Alícia Romero was the second person on the Socialist's electoral list on May 12 and had been the Socialist's spokesperson until now.  

In this ministry, Romero will have to handle the reform of the collection of the fiscal system for Catalonia that has been specified in the agreement the Socialists made with pro-independence Esquerra Republicana. The new minister will also be in charge of elaborating the Catalan budget.  

Romero has been a member of the Catalan Parliament since 2013 and has had experience in municipal politics in Mataró.  

She has been a distinguished member of the negotiating team that has striked deals with Esquerra Republicana and left-wing Comuns in order to elect Salvador Illa as president. 

She has a degree in Law from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a master's in public direction and governance, as well as a postgraduate in local law. 

Interior and Public Safety - Núria Parlon 

The new Interior minister had been mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramanet, outside of Barcelona, since 2009. Salvador Illa has distinguished her measures in safety in her town as "excellent". 

Parlon has a degree in Political Sciences by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and has won the municipal elections in Santa Coloma de Gramanet four consecutive times (in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023). She has been working on the city council since 1997. 

Since the local elections in May 2023, Parlon is the president and spokesperson of the Socialist's group in Barcelona's regional authority (Diputació de Barcelona).  

Within the party, she is the spokesperson of the Socialist party in Catalonia as well as the secretary for the Safety and coexistence area. 

In 2017, Núria Parlon left the executive part of the Catalan Socialists when the Spanish Socialist party voted in favor of the application of the article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, a clause that allowed the Spanish government to impose direct rule on Catalonia.  

Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition + Spokesperson - Sílvia Paneque 

Licensed in Chemical Sciences by Universitat de Girona, the Socialist is a member of Girona's city council since 2011 and a member of Parliament since 2021. 

In the last local election, Paneque was the most voted candidate, but an agreement between left-wing Guanyem, pro-independence Junts and Esquerra Republicana made Lluc Salellas the city mayor.  

She is in charge of the ecological transition and the environment area within the Socialist party, and in her new position in the ministry she will have to handle major topics such as the drought measures and the management of the Low Emission Zones. 

Health – Olga Pané 

Doctor Olga Pané is presented as an expert in the public health system who now faces major challenges, as public health workers have already complained about the reduction of beds and staff in some hospitals. 

She started her career in primary care and directing centers in the Baix Llobregat area. Pané has experience conducting health staff and until recently was the manager of the Parc de Salut Mar.  

In the ministry, Olga Pané will continue with the plan by the former Health minister to guarantee the use of the Catalan language in the public healthcare system.  

Social Rights and Inclusion - Mónica Martínez Bravo 

Martínez Bravo is a graduate in Economics in Universitat Pompeu Fabra and holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT).  

The new minister was one of the researchers in the team that evaluated the basic income, or minimum vital income, created by the Spanish government of Inclusion. In the new Catalan ministry, Martínez Bravo will have to manage the implementation of such income in Catalonia.  

Until now, Martínez Bravo had been the secretary general of the Spanish ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, led by Elma Saiz.  

The economist and researcher has published in various of the world's most notorious economic magazines such as the American Economic Review, Econometrica or the Journal of the European Economic Association. 

Her areas of expertise in research are development economics and political economy.  

Equality and Feminism – Eva Menor 

Born in Madrid, Menor is a lawyer who has been the mayor of Badia del Vallès, one of the smallest towns of Catalonia, for 15 years. 

Menor was elected as councilor of Culture in the city council of Badia del Vallès, outside Barcelona, in 2003. In 2009 she was elected as the city mayor and won the local elections four consecutive times (in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023). 

She has a degree in law by the Universitat Autònoma de Madrid and a masters in juridical practices by the Universitat de Barcelona. Her areas of expertise are criminal law, labor law and family law.  

After Salvador Illa became president, Menor shared through social media that "a new stage begins for Catalonia." 

Business and labor – Miquel Sàmper 

Formerly in Quim Torra's government as an interior minister, Miquel Sàmper aims to shape a government "beyond ideologies and parties", as Salvador Illa stated.  

In February, Sàmper left pro-independence Junts after disagreeing with the party's decision to vote against the amnesty bill in the Spanish Congress. And had been seen in the past months in rallies together with Salvador Illa.  

He gave support to the Socialist to "represent all of the Catalan citizens and work to unite and not divide." 

As an interior minister, he was in charge of the restitution of Josep Lluís Trapero as chief of the Catalan police Mossos d'Esquadra. 

Justice and Democratic Quality – Ramon Espadaler 

One of the main challenges that Espadaler will face is the reconciliation between the government and the prison staff, that have suffered since the death of a member of staff at the hands of an inmate in the Mas d'Enric prison.  

Espadaler started in politics back in 1989 as a member of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya, that was in alliance with former Convergència i Unió. He became the environment minister in one of Jordi Pujol's governments in 2001 and he was also the Interior minister in one of Artur Mas' governments in 2012. He resigned as minister in 2015 when the discrepancies between Convergència and Unió escalated. 

Espadaler started "Units per Avançar" and was number 3 of the Socialist's electoral list in 2017. He wanted to attract moderate Catalans after the pro-independence referendum.   

Agriculture, fishing and livestock - Òscar Ordeig 

Òscar ORdeig will have to deal with the challenges that the first sector has been facing in the past. Catalan farmers have organized various demonstrations to protest for the crisis they are suffering, following the example by farmers from other EU countries.  

Ordeig has been critical with the former minister's adminsitration, and is in favor of simplifying the administrative processes for the farmers. He also wants to put forward new measures to modernize irrigation systems. 

This ministry was formerly known as "Climate Action", but the Socialists decided to change it in order to "not forget agriculture" from the government's management.  

Education- Esther Niubó 

Niubó has been a member of the Catalan Parliament since 2015 as well as a member of Castelldefel's city council since 2019.  

She has a degree in Political Sciences by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and three masters: one in International Politics by the Free University of Brussels, another one in Exterior Commerce and International Economy by Universitat de Barcelona, and the third one in Public and Social Politics by Universitat Pompeu Fabra. 

Niubó has been affiliated with the Socialist party since 2002 and has had various positions in the party.  

Since she has been in Parliament, Niubó has participated in measures related to Education.  

Linguistic Policy – Francesc Xavier Vila 

Francesc Xavier Vila is the current secretary general of Linguistic Policy, which now has been transformed into a new ministry. The creation of the ministry was one of the deals that Salvador Illa made with Esquerra Republicana in order to be invested president. 

Vila has a degree in Catalan philology by the Universitat de Barcelona and has a PhD in Linguistics by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.  

This new ministry aims to guarantee de social use of the Catalan language among the younger generations with the boost of media and get Catalan to be the main language in classrooms and extracurricular activities.  

Culture - Sònia Hernández Almodóvar 

Hernández Almodóvar was formerly the director of Cultural Heritage and has stated before the importance of historical heritage, but has also defended the importance of boosting the digitalization of the cultural sector. 

The new minister will see a financially healthy ministry as the budget for culture is now in €176 per resident per year, 13 more euros than the previous year. 

Hernández Almodóvar has a degree in Art History, a postgraduate in Museums and Education, and a masters in Direction of Business and Institutional Comunication. 

Sports – Bernardo Álvarez 

The newly created ministry will see a former basketball player as its minister. 

Bernardo "Berni" Álvarez was the city councilor for Sports in Tarragona, and had played in various teamns in the ACB Spanish league.  

This new ministry has been demanded by the sector in many occasions, as the affairs related to sports were usually under the Culture or Education ministry. 

Research and Universities - Núria Montserrat Pulido 

Núria Montserrat is a bioengineer scientist who has no affiliation with the Socialist party or any other party.  

Her research is specialized in pluripotent stem cells and the generation of complex multicellular systems to understand disease development in humans.  

In this ministry, Montserrat Pulido will have to face more political matters such as the negotiations of the new university teachers with the implentation of a new university law.  

EU and Foreign Affairs – Jaume Duch 

Jaume Duch has been working in European institutions since the 1980s and is the spokesperson and the general director of Communication in the European Parliament. 

He has a degree in Law by the Universitat de Barcelona, but is also a university teacher and a journalist. He speaks five languages. 

As the spokesperson of the European Parliament, he had to talk with the press on the matters that referred to the institution and handle communication crisis.