Mañueco unveils new Castilla y León government with Vox, keeping controversial environment chief in a new role

The deal

Three months after regional elections on 15 March, the president of the Junta of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco of the People's Party (PP), announced the composition of his second coalition government with Vox. The executive will have two vice-presidencies and ten other portfolios, with Vox assuming three ministries and the first vice-presidency.

They are prepared people, with judgement, talent, capacity for work and experience, who will form a solid government with the strength needed to drive the future of Castilla y León.

Mañueco was invested on Tuesday and sworn in on Thursday. The new cabinet takes office on Monday 15 June at 10:30.

Who is in

Five newcomers join the government: Cristina Sanchidrián (PP, Mobility, Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence), María Pardo (PP, Education), and Vox’s Carlos Pollán, Joaquín Antonio Pino and Alberto Díaz Pico. Pollán, who presided over the regional parliament in the last term, becomes first vice-president and head of Deregulation, Family and Social Aid. Pino takes Agriculture, while Díaz Pico runs Culture, Tourism and Sport.

Seven members continue from the previous administration. Carlos Fernández Carriedo stays on as Economy and Finance chief and regional spokesperson; Luis Miguel González Gago remains in the Presidency ministry; and Alejandro Vázquez keeps Health, adding social welfare competences. Isabel Blanco Llamas moves from vice-president and Family minister to second vice-president without portfolio, but with a broad brief covering housing, territorial planning, equality, depopulation and civil protection.

A controversial figure stays

Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, widely criticised for his handling of the severe forest fires that ravaged León and Zamora last summer, is moved from Environment to Industry, Universities, Employment and Trade. María González Corral switches from Agriculture to Environment and Energy.

I am convinced that we are all personally and politically better prepared for this government to be stronger and to work with the efficiency that the people of Castilla y León and our land require.

Vox’s return and “national priority”

Vox abandoned all regional executives in 2024 over the PP’s immigration policies. The party now returns with three portfolios and the first vice-presidency. The pact includes the “national priority” clause its leader demanded. Mañueco, however, declined to dwell on the rupture and said the two parties had signed the agreement “convinced, looking for what unites them beyond the differences”.

Composition by numbers

The cabinet is made up of eight men and four women, all of the latter from the PP. The five new faces contrast with the seven ministers who remain from the previous term, though several have changed departments.

Timeline

The road from elections to the first cabinet meeting spans exactly three months. The new ministers will be sworn in on Monday and hold their first governing council the same day.