Council of Ministers of Spain

History

Origins, 15th-18th century

From the beginnings of the modern state and the centralization of power in the monarchs, the government was exercised by them through people of trust. The monarchs trusted them certain subjects and with which they made daily dispatches to deal with these matters. Over time, these trusted people who, on numerous occasions, received the title of ministers, were in conflict with the powers of other ministers and, to resolve these, they made collective meetings between various ministers and the monarchs. The Spanish monarchy has ruled most of its history —depending on the greater or lesser desire of the monarch to delegate its power— through Councils —Council of Castile, Council of the Indies, Council of Aragon, etc.— whose main tasks were those of to administer justice in the name of the monarchs and to advise the Sovereign in his work of government and with these the polysynodial regime was established.

With Charles I this regime reached its peak, especially with the creation of the Council of State in 1526, a council that dealt with the great problems of the monarchy and were their secretaries who had more power, i.e. the called Secretaries of State. The secretariat of the Council of State was unique between 1526 and 1567, double between 1567 and 1706 and unique again since this last year. Exceptionally, between 1630 and 1661 there was a third secretary in charge «of Spain, the Indies and adjacent islands, the coast of Barbary and everything indifferent».

Philip II ruled until 1567 with a single secretary and with two since that date, although he balanced the power between his two Secretaries of State and the other advisors and private secretaries. With the subsequent monarchs —Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II— the figure of the favourite (Spanish: Valido) appeared, a kind of prime minister. It is at this time when the position of secretary of the Dispatch appears.

With Philip V and, by French influence, the Council of Dispatch was created with a few members. This members had the task of advise the monarch in his task of government and that displaced the Council of State in this task. During his reign many of the Secretaries of State and of the Dispatch appeared.

The Supreme State Board

The institution of the Council of Ministers as a collective body of government does not appear with such a name until its creation by King Ferdinand VII in 1823, however, prior to this, it is worth mentioning the Supreme State Board. The Supreme State Board was a collective body of government created by King Charles III on the advice of the Count of Floridablanca, which was attended by the Secretaries of State and the Dispatch and anyone they considered necessary to address the issues presented to them.

This board was not properly a Council of Ministers because, as we have said, not only ministers but other authorities, such as the Councilors of State, could attend and, in addition, this body was limited by the Reserved Instruction, an articulated text that included the matters that could be discussed by the Board. The Board, created in 1787, did not have a long journey or developed the work for which Floridablanca promoted its creation and, only a few months later, the first criticisms appeared accusing the Count of Floridablanca of wanting to assume all the ministries powers through this body, to appoint the high officials of the Kingdom and thus gather in his person all the power.

The Royal Decree of 8 July 1787, which created the Board, it said:

Since the Divine Providence led me to the Throne of this great Monarchy I have wished to promote, with all my strength, its prosperity. The Almighty wanted to favor my good intentions by arranging that, with the various events and vicissitudes of my reign, my experiences be increased, and my knowledge rectified: and this is the inheritance that it seemed to me to leave to my beloved vassals, reduced to perpetuate in them and in their government and constitution the progressive succession of the lights and maxims that I have acquired.

To this end I have resolved that, in addition to the Council of State, which will be convened when I, or my successors have it convenient, there is a Supreme Board, also of the State, similar to the one currently held by my verbal orders, composed of all the Secretaries of State and of the Universal Office: to which, in cases of gravity that occur, the other Ministers of the same Council of State appointed by me, or those of other Councils, or also the Generals, will concur; and educated and jealous people who believe they are useful or necessary.

The Council of Ministers

After the experience during the Trienio Liberal, the Council of Ministers was officially created by King Fernando VII, who ordered by Royal Decree of 19 November 1823 that his Secretaries of State (Secretarios de Estado y del Despacho) should gather to form a body, which was to be called the Council of Ministers. In the meetings of this Council all matters of common interest would be discussed, and every Secretary would report about affairs under his responsibility and receive instructions from the King. The Secretary of State (or First Secretary of State) would act as Chief Minister and preside over the meetings when the King was absent.

The first meeting of the council was on 22 November and to it were summoned the Minister of Justice, the Minister of War and the Minister of the Treasury and Navy.

This council was directly and permanently submitted to the monarch, as it appears in the historical texts that show that between 28 December 1825 and 19 September 1826 it was suspended by direct orders of Ferdinand VII, while it was strengthened the Council of State. From the beginning of the Council of Ministers there were constant conflicts between the Secretaries of Dispatch of the council and the secretaries of the Council of State because in many occasions the first one had to respond before the latter, a situation that shortly after ceased to re-establish the king, on the proposal of the Council of Ministers, the merely consultative structure originally held by the Council of State.

To understand the motives that the monarch had to create the council, it is necessary to resort to the royal decree of December 1823 that establishes the "bases on which the new Council of Ministers must walk," and these are:

1st. Raise a good police throughout the Kingdom.2nd. Dissolution of the Army and formation of a new one.3rd. Nothing that has a relationship with Chambers or any kind of representation.4th. To clean up all the Secretaries of Dispatch, Justice and other offices of both the Court and the rest of the Kingdom of all those who have been addicted to the Constitutional System, protecting the Realists decisively.5th. Work ceaselessly to destroy the secret societies and all kinds of sects.6th. Not recognize the constitutional loans.

The Restoration

After the dethronement of Isabella II, the debates on the form of State, the regency of Serrano (1869–1871), the brief reign of Amadeo I (1871–1873), the republican experience (1873-1873) and the Serrano dictatorship (1874), a military coup took place and the Bourbon restoration started with Alfonso XII, son of Queen Isabella II, as King of Spain.

During this period the Constitution of 1876 was approved, a constitution sufficiently flexible so that all the ideologies coexisted under it and could make the necessary changes in favor of one or another ideology without altering the system. This constitution gave sovereignty to both the Monarch and the Cortes, returning to the principle that the Government should have the confidence of both the Crown and Parliament. Thanks to this flexibility, a two-party system is installed in Spain, which derives from the so-called turnismo between Cánovas and Sagasta agreed at El Pardo Palace, through which the liberal and conservative parties took turns in power. For politicians of the time, the need for stability allowed not necessarily attend the will of the electoral body, but ensure the proper functioning of constitutional bodies.

The new Constitution grants the Monarch the executive power delegating into his ministers and, although it is not mentioned explicitly in the constitution, the figure of the President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) acquires greater relevance and power, placing himself in the center as the true guiding center of the country's administrative action. It is at this time when a true civil government is established, with small lapses of prime ministers of a military nature.

It is also not a period free of controversy, since a turnismo system like this was only possible with the help of the Ministry of the Interior which is traditionally in charge of supervising the electoral processes and which, at that time, was the one in charge to put in agreement to the political forces to agree the result of the elections. Nevertheless, this system gave the necessary stability to the country between 1875 and 1903. However, this system soon entered into a crisis with the internal fights between parties, the incipient dissolution of these and the appearance of new ones, such as the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in 1879.

With the ascension to the throne of the young Alfonso XIII, there was a radical change in Spanish politics. The personality of the monarch to have a central role in decision-making was reflected in the first Council of Ministers, in which, the king read article 54.8 of the Constitution and as a comment he said to his ministers: «As you have just heard, the Constitution gives me the concession of honors, titles and greatness; that is why I warn you that the use of this right is completely reserved for me». To this the Duke of Veragua replied, that the same Constitution affirmed that those decisions should be countersigned by the ministers, a position that Prime Minister Sagasta did not defend and implying that the monarch's argument prevailed. This reflects the characteristics that Spanish politics took, with a monarch with a personal power supported by the Armed Forces and the distribution of royal favors, as well as the cowardice of politicians to curb the king's desire for power and his authoritarian personality.

Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera

On 13 September 1923, the coup d'état of Primo de Rivera was held, ending with the approval of King Alfonso XIII and his appointment as head of government. With the arrival of Primo de Rivera to power a Military Directorate was established chaired over by him under the title of President of the Military Directorate —with full executive and legislative powers— and the office of President of the Council of Ministers and the own Council of Ministers were suppressed.

In December 1925, the Military Directory disappeared and a Civil Directory was constituted, recovering the positions of President of the Council of Ministers and Ministers of the Crown, as well as recovering the figure of the Vice President of the Council of Ministers, which had only been exercised by Joaquín María Ferrer between 1840 and 1841.

The most relevant of this period of civil government was the draft Constitution of 1929, which granted the monarch the ability to assist the Council of Ministers whenever he wished and chair over it should he attend; it had to approve the appointments and substitutions of the dismissals of the ministers of the Crown, although it was granted to the king the capacity to appoint ministers without portfolio.

This project did not prosper and Primo de Rivera ended up resigning and being replaced by another military, Lieutenant General Berenguer Fusté as Prime Minister, appointed as temporary until new elections were held to return the constitutional course to the country, but the local elections of 1931 eventually end up with the monarchy and the Second Republic was established.

Second Republic

With the arrival of the second republic and the approval of the Constitution of 1931, a parallel is established between the Government and the Council of Ministers, when it says in its article 86 that "the President of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers constitute the Government" and the figure of the President emphasizes that «he directs and represents the general policy of the Government» while the ministers «are responsible for the top direction and management of the public services assigned to the different ministerial departments». With this Constitution it can be affirmed that the Prime Minister ceases to be primus inter pares. As in the monarchical era, it was the head of the State who freely appointed the president of the council, but now it was the President of the Council of Ministers who appointed his ministers, with the exception of Article 88 that empowered the President of the Republic to appoint ministers without portfolio, something that also included the draft Constitution of 1929.

The Constitution at no time established the mechanism of parliamentary confidence, since it was the President of the Republic who appointed the Prime Minister freely, although they did respond jointly to their actions before the Congress and, if the parliament expressly denied them confidence, the head of the State was forced to cease them. Likewise, Congress could censure the government or individually the ministers forcing them to resign if approved by an absolute majority.

Therefore, the Council of Ministers in the Republican era continued to maintain the double confidence of the monarchical tradition, and must have the confidence of the Cortes and the President of the Republic.

The Council of Ministers had the legislative initiative that it shared with the Cortes, it had regulatory power and it could legislate by delegation of Congress. In addition, the Council of Ministers in exceptional cases could give authority to the President of the Republic to legislate on legislative matters, this provisional legislation being that Congress could later reject it.

Dictatorship of Francisco Franco

On 18 July 1936 a part of the Republican army took up arms against the constitutional regime. On 24 July, the National Defense Board was created in Burgos, which assumed "all the Powers of the State and legitimately represents the country before foreign powers." This body was organized in a collective way and took decisions jointly by decree. It was not until August of that year that Francisco Franco became part of the Board.

In September 1936, Franco assumed all the power of the State, by means of a Decree of the Board of 29 September 1936.

Article One - In compliance with the agreement adopted by the National Defense Board, the Chief of the Government of the Spanish State is granted to the Most Excellent General of Division Mr. Francisco Franco Bahamonde, who will assume all the powers of the new State.Article Two - He is also named Generalissimo of the national forces of land, sea, and air, and is conferred the position of General Head of Operations Armies.Article Three - This proclamation will be solemnly covered, before adequate representation of all the national elements that make up this liberating movement, and from it the opportune communication will be made to foreign governments.Article Four - In the short time that elapses until the transfer of powers, the National Defense Board will continue to assume what it currently exercises.Article Five - Any provisions opposing this Decree are repealed and without effect.

After almost two years of war and the Republican side practically defeated, a true government was formed on the rebel side, with Franco at the head, with a Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Francisco Gómez-Jordana Sousa, as well as ten other ministers. This government was regulated by the Laws of the Central State Administration of 30 January 1938 and the Law of 8 August 1939 that restructured the Government.The first of the laws changes the name of the head of the Government to that of the President of the Government —a name that is maintained today— that was linked to the head of the State. This law does not mention the Council of Ministers, although in practice it was in force even though all the dispositions and resolutions of the head of the State had to be submitted to the deliberation of the latter. The second of the laws does mention the Council of Ministers to indicate that the head of the State could dictate resolutions without the prior deliberation of the Council in cases of urgency.

Current constitution

With the approval of the democratic Constitution of 1978, the figure of the Government was separated from the concept of the Council of Ministers, lasting until the approval of the Government Act of 1997. The Constitution, in its article 98.1 establishes that the Government consists of the «President, of the Vice Presidents where appropriate, of the Ministers and of the other members established by law.» This tagline «and of the other members that the law establishes» refers to the possibility of including the Secretaries of State in the government. This separates the concepts of Government from the concept of the Council of Ministers (that, as its name indicates, is the meeting only of the ministers). However the Government Act of 1997 did not use the powers granted by the Constitution to include the Secretaries of State. It only considers the Prime Minister and the ministers as members of the government, therefore reuniting the Government and Council of Ministers.

The current constitutional system is presidential; highlighting the Prime Minister as the preeminent head of government and the center of parliamentary confidence above all the other members of the council. The President is the only member of Government who can propose a vote of confidence to Parliament, or present an appeal of unconstitutionality, among other powers. If the premier dies or ceases, the government ceases with him. This signals a return to the principles established in the Constitution of the Second Republic since the prime minister is not a simple primus inter pares (first among equals).

The parliamentary system obliges the government to have the confidence of the parliament at all times. If Congress censures the government on its own initiative then a prospective replacement candidate for Prime Minister must be nominated at the same time. If the censure motion carries, the replacement candidate is deemed to have the confidence of the Congress and automatically becomes the new Prime Minister. This constructive vote of no confidence was established by articles 113 and 114 of the Constitution; there have been four attempts, and the first successful vote was on 1 June 2018 when Mariano Rajoy was voted out in favour of Pedro Sánchez.

Regarding the election of the Prime Minister, unlike previous periods, the monarch does not appoint the head of the government. The role of the monarch is to nominate a candidate that the Congress of Deputies must approve or reject. If the candidate is approved, the monarch can appoint him. In the same way, it is the Premier who proposes to the monarch the appointment or cessation of the ministers. Since 1987, it is the Prime Minister by Royal Decree who decides how many ministries the Government has.

Meetings of the council

The Council of Ministers, as a general rule, meets weekly every Tuesday morning. Its meetings, from which minutes will be drawn up, may be deliberative and/or decision-making. The minutes will include, exclusively, the circumstances related to the time and place of its celebration, the list of attendees, the resolutions adopted and the reports presented. Therefore, the deliberations that the different members of the Government maintain, since these by law are of a secret nature, can not be collected.

The meetings of the council are convened and chaired by the Prime Minister, though, in his absence, Deputy Prime Ministers take the responsibility to chair over the cabinet and it is the Premier who establishes the topics to be discussed. Also on exceptional occasions, the cabinet can be chaired by the King of Spain: in that event the meeting is solely consultative.

Location of council meetings

Meetings of the Council of Ministers are held at the Council Building in Madrid. It is located at the Moncloa Palace complex, which includes the official residence of the Prime Minister and the headquarters of the government.

However, the Council of Ministers can meet in any city in the country. Some examples are the council's meetings in Barcelona in 1976 and 2018, the council's meeting in Palma de Mallorca in 1983, or the council's meetings in Seville in 1976, 2010 and 2018.

Collaboration and support bodies

According to the Government Act of 1997, there are two bodies with the mission of collaborate or give support to the Council of Ministers. These are the General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries and the Government Secretariat.

General Commission

The General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries is an auxiliary body of the Council of Ministers composed by all the secretaries of state and undersecretaries of the different ministries. The General Commission has as purpose to study the matters that must to be dealt in the Council of Ministers.

The chairman of the commission is the Deputy Prime Minister or the Minister of the Presidency if the first can not be present. The secretary of the commission is the Under-Secretary of the Presidency. The Solicitor General of the State shall also attend and those senior positions with the rank of Secretary of State or Under Secretary who are summoned by the President of the commission by reason of the matter in question.

Government Secretariat

The Government Secretariat is the support body of the Council of Ministers, the Government Delegated Committees and the General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries.

The Government Secretariat is responsible for assisting the Minister-Secretary of the Council of Ministers; conduct the calls of the members of the bodies it attends; collaborate with the Technical Secretariats of the Government Delegated Committees; guard the records and minutes of meetings; to collaborate in the technical quality of the norms approved by the Government and to ensure the correct publication of the dispositions and norms emanating from the Government that should be inserted in the Official State Gazette.

This body is part of the Ministry of the Presidency and currently is the Technical General Secretariat of the Ministry.

Current council

As of December 2025:

Cabinet and Council

Although in the English-speaking countries the terms Cabinet and Council of Ministers may mean the same, in Spain they are not the same. The Council of Ministers is the main body of the executive power while the Cabinet is an auxiliary body of the Prime Minister's Office, composed by the Moncloa Chief of Staff and several civil servants and advisers.