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In his speech, Illa congratulated the nine women and seven men in his government and assured them of their “demanding dedication to the service of the country.”
“As a government, we will assume our responsibility at all times and under all circumstances, with the pursuit of the common good and the defence of Catalonia as the only criteria for action,” he added.
He also noted a change of era with challenges and opportunities, and valued “a plurinational Spain and a shared public space that is Europe, a Europe with a federal horizon.”
He also called for the creation of the Ministry of Linguistic Policy as a result of the agreement with ERC and which “underlines the importance of defending the Catalan language as the backbone of Catalonia “, as well as the Ministry of Sports following the demand of the sector, which he considered justified.
Finally, he thanked his predecessor, Pere Aragonès , and his Government for the “model transfer” and thanked the ERC Executive’s councillors for their dedication to Catalonia, as well as ERC and the Comuns for their investiture agreements.
“The Government as a whole will honour the commitments made,” said Illa, who concluded his speech by literally conveying his commitment to work to shape the hope of the people of Catalonia with the will to exist and to live together.
This is the new Government: Illa’s 16 councillors
Thus, the 16 ministers of the Government of President Salvador Illa (9 women and 7 men) have taken office this Monday. Among the most prominent are the current spokesperson of the European Parliament, Jaume Duch , to lead the EU and Foreign Action (thus changing the order of the two titles) and Sílvia Paneque, who will be spokesperson for the Government as well as head of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition.
Two new ministries stand out : Sports, whose head will be the former basketball player Bernardo Álvarez, and the already announced Linguistic Policy, with Francesc Xavier Vila, until now general secretary of this subject in the Culture Department of the ERC Government.
Also standing out are Albert Dalmau (Presidency), Alícia Romero (Economy and Finance), Núria Parlon (Interior and Public Security) and Ramon Espadaler (Justice and Democratic Quality), who is secretary general of Units per Avançar, which shares a group with the PSC in the Parliament.
Miquel Sàmper also joins the Business and Employment committee. The former Minister of the Interior appointed by Junts (2020-21), a party from which he eventually resigned, became the lawyer of former Minister Lluís Puig in 2023.
The other councillors are Olga Pané (Health), Esther Niubó (Education and Vocational Training), Mónica Martínez (Social Rights and Inclusion), Eva Menor (Equality and Feminism), Núria Montserrat (Research and Universities), Òscar Ordeig (Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food) and Sònia Hernández (Culture).
