The minister who debuted in worn-out sneakers before the king

MadridCarlos Cuerpo (Badajoz, 1980) often generates laughter among those attending press conferences after cabinet meetings. "It's a very good question," he concedes when a journalist has ever touched his nerves. His cabinet colleague, Pilar Alegría, also disarmed him when asked if Cuerpo was a "bad person," as Vice President Yolanda Díaz had let slip when they were discussing the reduction of the working day. "You know that saying that the face is the expression of the soul? Well, I see my colleague's face and some expressions don't match, right?" Alegría said, and Cuerpo burst out laughing. With a sense of patience, he answers in off the record all the doubts posed by journalists and does not avoid making statements in front of microphones, unlike other ministers more allergic to the press.

Everyone highlights - including Yolanda Díaz - the good personal treatment of the Minister of Economy, protagonist this week, in which he has become the negotiator of aid against Donald Trump's tariffs. When he took office as minister in December 2023, it was also on everyone's lips because he swore the position to Felipe VI wearing slippers. sneakers Somewhat worn. A member of the State's Commercial and Economics Corps, he is one of the least politically charged figures in the Spanish government, and parliamentary groups have appreciated this. They say he doesn't hesitate and makes it clear from the outset what can and cannot be agreed upon. When Nadia Calviño was the minister, Cuerpo was the Secretary General of the Treasury. Some treatises claim he is "more neoliberal" than his predecessor.