Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain

The second deputy prime minister of Spain, officially the second vice president of the Government (Template:Langx), is a senior member of the Government of Spain. The office is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the prime minister.

The current second deputy prime minister is Yolanda Díaz, who is also minister of Labour and Social Economy.

History

The office was established by the Organic Act of the State of 1967 which allowed for the creation of a Council of Ministers composed of the Prime Minister, one or more Deputy Prime Ministers and the Ministers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, it was not until 1974, one year after the dictator Francisco Franco split the office of head of government (prime minister) and head of state, that prime minister Arias Navarro appointed Antonio Barrera Irimo, Minister of Finance as second deputy prime minister.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Arias Navarro's second term, the Finance Minister Rafael Cabello de Alba was also appointed second deputy prime minister in October 1974.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During his third term, Arias Navarro appointed Minister of the Interior Manuel Fraga as second deputy prime minister.

Prime minister Adolfo Suárez appointed his Interior Minister, Alfonso Osorio García and Minister of the Presidency as second deputy prime minister.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 1977 to 1981, Suárez appointed his Finance Ministers as Second Deputies and during his short term, Calvo-Sotelo did the same.

Socialist PM González never appointed a second deputy prime minister during his almost 14 years of premiership. José María Aznar and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero however followed the previous pattern of appointing their Finance Minister as second deputy prime minister. However, a cabinet reshuffle in 2011 appointed the Minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service, Manuel Chaves as second deputy prime minister.

The conservative PM Mariano Rajoy did not appoint a second deputy prime minister. The subsequent prime minister Pedro Sánchez did not appoint in second deputy prime minister in his first government, but he did in his second term. In March 2021, after the resignation of Pablo Iglesias as second deputy prime minister, the tradition of appointing a minister of economic affairs as second deputy PM was resumed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2021, Labour and Social Economy Minister Yolanda Díaz was appointed as second deputy PM.

Powers

The office of second deputy prime minister does not possess special constitutional powers beyond its responsibility as a member of the Council of Ministers. The position is regulated in the Government Act of 1997 and it only specifies that the raison d'être of the office is to replace the Prime Minister when the office is vacant, or the premier is absent or ill.<ref>Template:Cite act</ref> The second deputy prime minister only assumes this responsibility if the first deputy is unable to fill the role.

List of officeholders

Office name:

• Second Vice Presidency of the Government (1974–1975; 1977–1979; 1981–1982; 1996–2000; 2003–2011; 2020–present)
• Vice Presidency of the Government for Interior Affairs (1975–1976)
• Second Vice Presidency of the Government, in charge of the Coordination of the Economic Affairs (1979–1981)
• Second Vice Presidency of the Government for Economic Affairs (2000–2003)
• Vice Presidency of the Government for Territorial Policy (2011)

Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Party		Government	Prime Minister Template:Small		Template:Abbr
		Template:Small	Template:Small	Template:Small
	Antonio Barrera de Irimo Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1974	Template:Smaller 1974	Template:Age in years and days	width="1" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	National Movement Template:Small	Arias Navarro I	width="1" rowspan="3" style="background:Template:Party color;"|	Carlos Arias Navarro Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Rafael Cabello de Alba Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1974	Template:Smaller 1975	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	National Movement Template:Small		<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Manuel Fraga Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1975	Template:Smaller 1976	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	[[Movimiento Nacional|National Movement Template:Small]]	Arias Navarro II	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Alfonso Osorio Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1976	Template:Smaller 1977	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	National Movement Template:Small	Suárez I	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Adolfo Suárez Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Enrique Fuentes Quintana Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1977	Template:Smaller 1978	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Independent	Suárez II	rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|		<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Fernando Abril Martorell Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1978	Template:Smaller 1979	Template:Age in years and days	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	UCD		<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
		Template:Smaller 1979	Template:Smaller 1980		Suárez III
	Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1980	Template:Smaller 1981	Template:Age in years and days		style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	UCD	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref name="MinistersCalvoSotelo">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:Smaller
	Juan Antonio García Díez Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1981	Template:Smaller 1982	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	UCD	Calvo-Sotelo	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:Smaller
	Rodrigo Rato Template:Small	Template:Smaller 1996	Template:Smaller 2000	Template:Age in years and days	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	PP	Aznar I	rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	José María Aznar Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
		Template:Smaller 2000	Template:Smaller 2003		Aznar II
	Javier Arenas Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2003	Template:Smaller 2004	Template:Age in years and days		style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	PP	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Pedro Solbes Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2004	Template:Smaller 2008	Template:Age in years and days	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Independent	Zapatero I	rowspan="4" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
		Template:Smaller 2008	Template:Smaller 2009		Zapatero II
	Elena Salgado Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2009	Template:Smaller 2011	Template:Age in years and days		style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Independent	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Manuel Chaves Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2011	Template:Smaller 2011	Template:Age in years and days		style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	PSOE	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:Smaller
	Pablo Iglesias Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2020	Template:Smaller 2021	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Podemos	Sánchez II	rowspan="5" style="color:inherit;background:Template:Party color;"|	Pedro Sánchez Template:Small	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Nadia Calviño Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2021	Template:Smaller 2021	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background-color:Template:Party color;"|	Independent		<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Yolanda Díaz Template:Small	Template:Smaller 2021	Template:Smaller 2023	Template:Age in years and days	style="color:inherit;background-color:Template:Party color;"|	PCE		<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
					rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color:Template:Party color;"|	SMR, PCE
		Template:Smaller 2023	Incumbent		Sánchez III

See also

• Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
• Third Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
• Fourth Deputy Prime Minister of Spain