The Economic Office of the President in the first Zapatero Government (2004-‍2008)

Precedents, origin and scope of an unplanned reform of the Spanish presidential center

Authors

  • Francisco Javier Luque Castillo Universidad de Jaén
  • Manuela Ortega Ruiz Universidad de Jaén

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.193.08

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to assess the impact of the conflictive relations between the President’s Economic Office and the minister of Economy, during the first Zapatero government. According to this we tackle three main research questions: why did Zapatero decide to create that structure, how did he involve it in the decision-making process, and how such actions affected the autonomy of the minister Pedro Solbes. In order to answer them we have combined documentary analysis with interviews to individuals who provided relevant information, given their qualified position or their direct participation in the aforementioned relations. Before presenting the research results, we make a review of the studies made until now on the prime ministerial staff in Spain, framing our inquiries within the contributions made, by Political Science, about the role of the president’s economic advisers, the autonomy of the head of Treasury and the implications of reforming the core executive. The findings made, coherent with the ideas posed by the specialized literature, allow us to state that the President’s economic office, as an unexpected product of presidentialization, only undermined the autonomy of the minister of Economy exceptionally.

Published

2021-09-29

Issue

Section

ARTICLES