Heading to Andalusia: the "woman with the most power in democracy" sets off

Madrid"She always likes to mention that she has a degree in medicine." It is one of the traits that a former Catalan deputy in Congress in charge of economic affairs recalls when asked what he would highlight about the First Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, now that she is leaving Pedro Sánchez's government. The truth is that Montero's career is marked by Healthcare. Not only is she a doctor by training, but she took her first professional steps as a hospital manager. This, in fact, was her entry point into the Andalusian Ministry of Health in 2002. And perhaps because of this, Montero is now returning to her native land announcing that if she wins the elections – she is the PSOE candidate – one of the first measures will be to approve a plan to "save" public healthcare in Andalusia.

But Pedro Sánchez recruited Montero in 2018 not because she was heading the Ministry of Health, but one of the core portfolios of any Spanish executive: Finance. The fact is that Montero was then the minister in charge of the sector in Andalusia – Susana Díaz (PSOE) was governing. The socialist candidate managed to balance the regional accounts despite the ravages of the financial crisis, but she did so, precisely, by tampering with the numbers in her favorite department, Health, which led to strong criticism and mobilizations from the affected sectors. Beyond the nod to susanismo, Sánchez recruited her to do the same: control the State budget.

"I am very satisfied [with these eight years]," Montero stated this Wednesday from Congress, during her last government control session. The head of Finance has repeatedly highlighted her ability to make them sustainable, without sacrificing social policies. "I'm taking many things from these years with me," Montero reiterated in statements to the media. The socialist has emphasized her ability to dialogue within the government (especially during coalition stages), but also externally, with different political parties. Of course, she has not hesitated to criticize the PP's harshness: "I hope they abandon the tone of bickering and dehumanization." "I leave much wiser," she reiterated.

She also leaves having amassed a great deal of power, as she herself has highlighted. In addition to Minister of Finance, Sánchez appointed her spokesperson, then first vice-president, and therefore number two in the government, and meanwhile she has climbed positions within the PSOE. "Perhaps she has been, without a doubt, the most powerful woman in the entire democracy," Montero defined herself in the third person. Words that have, once again, drawn darts from the right: "She is not the most powerful woman, but the most arrogant in the democracy [...] and the worst Minister of Finance," the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, dedicated to her this Wednesday.

Balancing the public accounts

Despite the crises that have arisen, starting with the covid-19 pandemic, the Spanish government has closed 2025 with a deficit of 2.5% of GDP, thus meeting its objective, but also European fiscal rules. Meanwhile, public debt closed the year at 100.8% of GDP, the lowest level since the year before the coronavirus. However, challenges remain on the table, such as tying up the figures for the Social Security coffers – pension spending will continue to rise in the coming years –; reducing public debt in absolute terms – in December it also registered a historic high of 1.7 trillion euros – or completely ending the loopholes in the Spanish tax system that academics and tax experts have repeatedly pointed out. Although extraordinary taxes have been introduced on energy companies, banks, and the wealthy, the fiscal revolution is still waiting to happen.

All this is the work of the portfolio piloted by Montero. For this reason, some paraphrase the famous saying that a government is always a coalition – even if it is only formed by one party – between the Ministry of Finance, which must control the budget, and the rest of the ministries, which request resources. During these years, Montero has not only had to balance the numbers to secure the votes of political parties in Congress, but has also had to negotiate the demands of her executive colleagues. With Podemos and later Sumar, for example, the increase in certain benefits, such as those for childcare, has led to more than one clash.

Despite everything, Montero can say that she has managed to please both sides on three occasions: since Sánchez arrived at Moncloa in 2018, general state budgets (PGE) have been approved in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Budgetary extensions have been, however, the usual scenario, and Montero is leaving without having presented the project for new accounts for 2026, as Sánchez has committed.

Regional financing, an impossible sudoku

But this will not be the only unresolved issue left for the minister. If Sánchez noticed Montero, it was also to try to steer a reform of regional financing. For the socialist, it was not an unknown matter, especially since it was Susana Díaz, as Andalusian president, who in 2018 opened the negotiation with the then Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy (PP).

In 2021, she made a first attempt by presenting a new calculation of adjusted population, a key element of the financing system when distributing resources. It did not go well, and she has tried again this 2026, driven, of course, by the agreement between ERC and the socialists to invest Salvador Illa. Beyond taking into account the "singularity" of Catalonia, the proposal, which has not yet reached the Parliament, generally means more resources and weight for the communities in income tax and VAT. But Montero has only partially managed to please the republicans: the battle for Catalonia to collect all income tax for now, she has won.

Finally, in thisall in that the socialist trusted to do before returning to Andalusia was also the forgiveness of a part of the regional debt linked to the FLA, which is now being processed in Congress. The measure was also agreed with ERC in exchange for investing Pedro Sánchez. The Spanish government has always attacked the PP for rejecting a proposal that, it says, also benefits those communities it presides over. Andalusia is the best-off territory in absolute terms (18,791 million would be forgiven), something Montero will not hesitate to use as a card in the election campaign.