Sánchez feminizes the PSOE leadership to overcome the Cerdán case.

Madrid / BarcelonaPedro Sánchez's new ally at Ferraz will speak Catalan. Valencian Socialist Rebeca Torró, Jordi Hereu's deputy in the Ministry of Industry and Tourism as Secretary of State for Industry, will be the new PSOE organizational secretary, replacing the already dismissed Santos Cerdán. And the party's new spokesperson will be Montse Mínguez, from the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), a rising star in Madrid, given that she is the second-in-command of the parliamentary group in Congress. The first changes were announced one day before the party's federal committee meeting, where the moves Sánchez has promised to shake up the leadership in the wake of the alleged corruption scandal must be approved. The PSOE's new organizational area has been expanded and will have three deputy positions—until now there was only one, held by Juanfran Serrano, who will presumably leave the executive branch—to provide counterbalances. By choosing female profiles, the party also aims to send a message of response to the known conversations between José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García about prostitutes. From now on, this practice will be punishable by expulsion from the party.

The big surprise is that a member of the PSC is taking over as spokesperson for the PSOE, proof of the almost total integration of the two formations. A current member of Congress, Mínguez was already a member of the interim team of the organizational secretariat following Cerdán's resignation, and it was assumed that she would rise internally. Two weeks ago, the Catalan president, Salvador Illa, met with Sánchez on the back of the case. This is unprecedented in the history of the PSOE: never before had a member of the PSC been a spokesperson, as they are two different parties. Born in Lleida, Mínguez was a member of Àngel Ros's government team as deputy mayor. Within the PSOE as a High Secret. Economic, Enma López, to whom the party also gave a lot of exposure. In fact, she used to have more media presence than the theoretical spokesperson, Esther Peña, now replaced.

As for Rebeca Torró, born in Ontinyent in 1981, she was Minister of Territorial Policy, Public Works, and Mobility in the last year of Ximo Puig's term in office in the Valencian Government—her longtime supporter—and until then had been the regional Secretary for Sustainable Economy. She was one of the people who negotiated the arrival of a Volkswagen battery gigafactory in Sagunto, which she visited this week as deputy in the Ministry of Industry. She is well known to Sánchez's Secretary of State for Communication, Lydia del Canto, a Valencian national, former head of communications for Puig in the Valencian Government and for Diana Morant, the leader of the Valencian Socialists. Sources consulted by ARA explain that Sánchez consulted with the Minister of Science about the appointment of Torró, who will now have to step down as deputy in Industry.

The three people attached to the organization will be Anabel Mateos, who will also be Secretary of Territorial Coordination; Francisco J. Salazar, who will also be in charge of electoral analysis and action; and Borja Cabezón, head of Democratic Action and Transparency. These three names were already part of the Socialist federal executive that emerged from the 41st Congress in Seville, held at the end of last year, and in fact, Salazar and Mateos retain their portfolios and simply add the position of deputy to the organization. In contrast, Mateos was secretary of coastal municipalities and now becomes the second-in-command in the organization with Territorial Coordination, the position Cerdán had held when José Luis Ábalos was the secretary of the organization.

Reduce incompatibilities

Torró is a new addition to the executive, which will undergo further changes this Saturday, especially because there will be departures. Sánchez's intention is to reduce the number of people who combine organizational positions in the state PSOE with those of the regional or provincial federations, given that the statutes only allow 10% of the executive to be made up of people with dual positions. It remains to be seen who ultimately leaves, but this situation includes Pilar Alegría, general secretary of the PSOE in Aragón; her organizational secretary, Manuela Berges; the leader of the Socialists in the Region of Murcia, Francisco Lucas; the president of the PSPV (Socialist Party of Catalonia), Alejandro Soler; the secretary of ideas and programs of the PSIB (Socialist Party of Catalonia), Marc Pons; and the current spokesperson, Esther Peña, the provincial leader of the PSOE in Burgos. Rebeca Torró herself will combine positions as secretary of the economic, industry, and productive sectors of the PSPV executive.

Furthermore, beyond the names, Sánchez is expected to announce new internal dynamics in his speech this Saturday, more collaborative approaches, so that a single person does not wield as much power as was the case until now with Santos Cerdán. Confronting corruption and sexism, given the precedents, are the main objectives for restoring the image of the PSOE. In fact, this afternoon the socialist leader gathered all the Equality officials and spokespersons to address this issue, and it was decided to include in the code of ethics that the simple act of soliciting sexual acts in exchange for money will entail the most serious sanction: expulsion.