Missing the former minister Fátima Báñez, who was traveling on the train involved in the accident in Toledo

BarcelonaThe person who was Minister of Labor during the government of Mariano Rajoy, Fátima Báñez, is one of the people missing in the train accident in Toledo this Wednesday. According to the employers' association CEOE, they are awaiting news about the executive, who currently chairs the business organization's foundation. "We business owners are dismayed by the railway accident," maintains the CEOE in a statement.

Báñez (Huelva, 1967) is known politically for having promoted the controversial labor reform of Rajoy's Popular Party executive, which made the labor market more flexible in 2012, in a liberalization that outraged the left, social movements, and unions, who called a general strike. This labor reform was partially corrected by the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, when she joined the coalition executive of the PSOE and Sumar. The former minister, who was also a PP deputy in Congress from the second government of José María Aznar—which began in 2000—left the front line of politics in 2019, after the change of government with Pedro Sánchez, and rejoined the private sector. Since 2020, she has been president of the CEOE Foundation and, currently, she is a member of the board of directors of the pharmaceutical company Rovi, in addition to being a director of the international subsidiary of the energy company Iberdrola.

The Andalusian Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Sanz, stated in a media briefing that they do not have "any information about Fátima" beyond the fact that she was on the train, "just like with all the people" who were passengers. "We are in contact with her relatives, who are in the area; for now, we have no information," he said, and added that they are also requesting information from hospitals. For his part, the Mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, when asked about the former politician, stated that he had no news about her: he said in a press conference that "she may be injured, she may not have been able to communicate with anyone, she may have lost her phone... It is too early to draw any kind of conclusion." He did clarify that Báñez was traveling to attend an event for the Confederation of Employers of Andalusia.