Cabinet Office (Spain)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gabinete de la Presidencia del Gobierno | |
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 Seeds Building, Moncloa, Madrid | |
| Department overview | |
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| Formed | July 19, 1976 |
| Preceding Department | |
| Jurisdiction | Spain |
| Headquarters | Palace of Moncloa, Madrid |
| Ministers responsible | |
| Department executives |
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The Cabinet of the Prime Minister's Office, officially Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government, is a political and technical assistance body at the service of the Prime Minister of Spain. The Cabinet of the Prime Minister is composed of multiple departments directly responsible to the Premier and coordinated by the Chief of Staff. The Cabinet Office, the officials that work on it, their offices and the departments make up the Office of the Prime Minister.
The functions of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister's Office are freely established by the Prime Minister through a Royal Decree signed by the Monarch. The duties of the Cabinet Office are focused on assisting the chief executive while most responsibilities over Government coordination and Council of Ministers assistance are assumed by the Ministry of the Presidency.
The current duties are:[1]
- To provide the Prime Minister with the political and technical information that is necessary for the exercise of its functions.
- To advice the Prime Minister in the matters that its disposes.
- To know the programs, plans and activities of the different ministerial departments, with the purpose of facilitating the Prime Minister's duties as coordinator of the Government's action.
- To carry out the study and monitoring of all the programs and actions of the European Union that have an impact on the Spanish public policies, providing the necessary information for European decision-making.
- To know the public policies and programs adopted and developed by the regional governments, in order to facilitate cooperation and co-governance in all those matters that demand concurrent and concerted action.
- To facilitate communication with citizens and attend to and respond to all suggestions, complaints and information addressed to the Prime Minister.
- To advice the Prime Minister in matters related to national policy, international policy and economic policy.
- To advise the Prime Minister on matters of National Security.
- To carry out those other activities or functions entrusted to it by the Prime Minister.
It is also responsible for the security of the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Presidency and their families, protocol, human resources and Government healthcare, although this duties are carried out by the Secretary-General of the Prime Minister's Office.[1]
History
The Cabinet was created for the first time in 1976, with the arrival of Adolfo Suárez to the premiership. Despite having been created in 1976, the Cabinet Office wasn't officially regulated until September 1978. The Royal Decree was very short and it only said that the Cabinet was and advisory body to the Prime Minister with the functions that the Primer would like to grant to it.[2]
With prime minister Felipe González[3] the Cabinet Office grow up establishing new departments and functions like knowing the ministerial departments plans. Moreover, at this time the Secretary of State for Relations with the Cortes and the Office of the Spokesperson of the Government depended it from the Cabinet Office.[4]
Prime minister José María Aznar elevated the rank of the Cabinet Office from Undersecretariat to Secretariat of State and continued boosting the Cabinet. Prime minister José Luis Rodrígez Zapatero didn't made many changes, with the exception of the creation of the Economic Office.
It was during the premiership of Mariano Rajoy when the Cabinet Office was granted with the powers that it has today. Most of the current departments were created at that time and in 2012 it granted the Cabinet responsibilities over national security by creating the Department of Homeland Security and granting the Deputy Chief of Staff the direction of the department. With Rajoy the Cabinet Office also received responsibilities over the Government communication policy by assuming the Secretariat of State for Press.
Prime minister Pedro Sánchez suppressed the Economic Office in 2018 and created in its place the Department for Economic Affairs. He also boosted the international matters by creating the General Secretariat for International Affairs, European Union, G20 and Global Security with rank of Undersecretariat in replace of the Department for International Affairs, that had rank of Directorate-General. Finally, he gave more autonomy to the Department of National Security by separating the offices of Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the Homeland Security Department in two different officials.[5]
