Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations
| Secretary of State for Territorial Policy | |
|---|---|
| Secretario de Estado de Política Territorial | |
Coat of Arms used by the Government | |
Incumbent since 22 April 2026Miryam Álvarez Páez | |
| Ministry for Territorial Policy Secretariat of State | |
| Style | The Most Excellent (formal) Mr. Secretary of State for Territorial Policy (informal) |
| Member of | Foreign Policy Executive Council |
| Reports to | The Territorial Policy Minister |
| Nominator | The Territorial Policy Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch |
| Formation | February 20, 1987 |
| First holder | José Francisco Peña Díez |
| Website | mptmd.gob.es |
The secretary of state for territorial administrations, currently named secretary of state for territorial policy, is a senior minister of the Spanish Ministry of Territorial Policy responsible for the relations between the central government and the regional and local authorities.[1]
The secretary of state also supervises the decentralized agencies of the central government in the regions and it promotes and coordinates political cooperation through assisting the prime minister in the organization of the Conference of Presidents. Finally, the secretary also ensures compliance with regulations on co-official languages and their implementation at the national level.[1]
The secretary of state for territorial policy is appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Minister for Territorial Policy. Since 22 April 2026, Miryam Álvarez Páez has served as secretary of state.[2]
History
The need to create a department focused on the coordination of the different state administrations appeared after the approval of the Constitution, which established a decentralized state composed of different autonomous communities. Given this, the Ministry of Territorial Administration was created in 1979 and was in force until the end of 1986.
In 1987, the Ministry of Public Administrations was created, which assumed the powers over the civil servants and the territorial organization, creating a Secretariat of State focused on the relations of the different administrations called the Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations.[3]
In 2000, the Secretariat of State changed its name to Secretariat of State for the Territorial Organization of the State and changed its name again in 2004 to Secretariat of State of Territorial Cooperation until 2011 when PM Rajoy in an effort to reduce the deficit of the State, reduced the governmental apparatus integrating this Secretariat of State in the Secretariat of State for Public Administrations (in charge of the civil servants and now also of the relations between administrations) and the Ministry of Public Administrations also merged with the Ministry of the Treasury.
In 2016, with the economical improvement, the Secretariats of State of Public Function and Territorial Administration were separated again and the latest was integrated with its Ministry in the Ministry of the Presidency.
Since 2018, the Ministry for Territorial Administrations recovered its independence and was renamed Ministry for Territorial Policy and Public Function (taking the competencies over the civil servants from the Ministry of the Treasury). Briefly, from 2020 to 2021 the Secretariat of State assumed all the competences about civil service.
Organization
From the Undersecretariat is organized as follows:[1]
| Secretariat of State Organization (2026) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Secretary of State | Cabinet (Chief of Staff) | |
| Office of the Conference of Presidents | ||
| Secretary-General for Territorial Coordination |
Directorate-General for Regional and Local Cooperation | |
| Deputy Directorate-General for Regional Cooperation | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for Regional Bilateral Relations | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for Local Cooperation | ||
| Directorate-General for Regional and Local Legal Framework | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for the Regional Legal Framework | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for the Local Legal Framework | ||
| National Coordinator of the Internal Market Information System | ||
| Division for Regulatory Cooperation | ||
| Directorate-General for the General State Administration in the Territory | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for Institutional Relations | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for Coordination | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for Human Resources | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for Finance and Asset Management | ||
| Inspectorate of Services of the General State Administration in the Territory | ||
| IT Division | ||
| Deputy Directorate-General for European and International Relations | ||
List of secretaries of state
| No. | Image | Name | Term of office | Ministers serving under: | Prime Minister appointed by: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Began | Ended | Days of service | |||||
| 1.º | José Francisco Peña Díez | 28 February 1987 | 11 May 1996 | 3360 | Joaquín Almunia Amann Juan Manuel Eguiagaray Jerónimo Saavedra Joan Lerma i Blasco |
Felipe González | |
| 2.º | Jorge Fernández Díaz | 11 May 1996 | 23 January 1999 | 987 | Mariano Rajoy | José María Aznar | |
| 3.º | Francisco Camps | 23 January 1999 | 1 April 2000 | 434 | Ángel Acebes Paniagua | ||
| 4.º | Gabriel Elorriaga Pisarik | 6 May 2000 | 20 April 2004 | 1445 | Ángel Acebes Paniagua Jesús Posada Javier Arenas Julia García-Valdecasas | ||
| 5.º | José Luis Méndez Romeu | 20 April 2004 | 14 May 2005 | 389 | Jordi Sevilla | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero | |
| 6.º | Ana Isabel Leiva Díaz | 14 May 2005 | 14 July 2007 | 791 | |||
| 7.º | Fernando Puig de la Bellacasa | 14 July 2007 | 25 April 2009 | 651 | Elena Salgado | ||
| 8.º | Gaspar Zarrías | 25 April 2009 | 24 December 2011 | 973 | Manuel Chaves González | ||
| 9.º | Antonio Beteta | 24 December 2011 | 12 November 2016 | 1785 | Cristóbal Montoro | Mariano Rajoy | |
| 10.º | Roberto Bermúdez de Castro Mur | 19 November 2016 | 19 June 2018 | 577 | Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría | ||
| 11.º | Ignacio Sánchez Amor | 23 June 2018 | 29 June 2019 | 371 | Meritxell Batet | Pedro Sánchez | |
-
|
Miryam Álvarez Páez Acting |
29 June 2019 | 30 January 2020 | 215 | Luis Planas | ||
| 12.º | Francisco Hernández Spínola | 30 January 2020 | 3 February 2021 | 370 | Carolina Darias | ||
| - | Miryam Álvarez Páez Acting |
3 February 2021 | 24 February 2021 | 21 | Miquel Iceta | ||
| 13.º | Víctor Francos Díaz | 24 February 2021 | 21 July 2021 | 147 | |||
| - | Miryam Álvarez Páez Acting |
21 July 2021 | 1 September 2021 | 42 | Isabel Rodríguez García | ||
| 14.º | Alfredo González Gómez | 1 September 2021 | 6 December 2023 | 826 | |||
| 15.º | Arcadi España | 6 December 2023 | 27 March 2026 | 842 | Ángel Víctor Torres | ||
| - | Miryam Álvarez Páez Acting |
27 March 2026 | 22 April 2026 | 26 | |||
| 15.º | Miryam Álvarez Páez[2] | 22 April 2026 | Incumbent | 57 | |||
References
- ^ a b c Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service (20 March 2024). "Real Decreto 273/2024, de 19 de marzo, por el que se desarrolla la estructura orgánica básica del Ministerio de Política Territorial y Memoria Democrática". Official State Gazette. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
- ^ a b "El Gobierno nombra a Miryam Álvarez como 'número dos' de Política Territorial tras la marcha de Arcadi España". Castellón Plaza (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-04-21.
- ^ "Royal Decree 221/1987, of February 20, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry for Public Administrations is determined". boe.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-26.