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 Secretary of State (Spain) 

In Spain, a secretary of state (SE or SdE) is a senior official that assumes the execution of the government policy in a specific area. Sometimes, the position of secretary of state is just a rank, since the position name can be another (e.g. the President of the National Sports Council and the Moncloa Chief of Staff have the rank of secretary of state). Originally, when the position was created in the 18th century, the secretaries of state were ministers in charge of a government department. They were replaced in the mid-1800s by the position of minister and the position was not recovered until the mid-1970s.

According to the current regulation, the secretaries of state could be part of the cabinet if the Government Act of 1997 is modified. They are appointed by the Monarch at the proposal of the competent minister and with the approval of the Council of Ministers.

Middle Ages
The origin of the office of Secretary of the King or Royal Secretary arises in the early 14th century when in the Cortes of Valladolid of 1312, Ferdinand IV established four chamber clerks in order to endorse and sign the mandates and gratitudes issued directly from the Monarch, taking this role away from the chancellors and notaries. With the establishment of the Trastámara dynasty in the mid-1300s, it appears the first mentions to the position of secretaries, such as clerks who acted in the most private and personal sphere of the monarchs. The most relevant secretaries of this times were Miguel Ruiz during the reign of Henry II and Juan Martínez del Castillo in the reign of Henry III. In the reign of Henry III, the institutional and diplomatic missions will be added to the functions of the secretary, highlighting Juan Rodríguez de Villaizán and Pedro Fernández de la Guardia. These officials were not necessarily nobles and they were usually chosen from the middle and low nobility.

During the reign of John II, the main function of the secretarieswas to dispatch all the documentation emanating from the King's Chamber, which meant following the instructions of the king's will, ordering the documentation and preparing the documents, and once signed, be endorsed. In addition, in the title of the documents signed by Fernando Díaz de Toledo (at the service of John II from 1421 to 1457) his condition as secretary already appears. A formula that continued with the royal secretaries of Henry IV.

The secretaries in the Polysynodial Regime
The victory of the Catholic Monarchs in the Castilian Succession War meant the superiority of the authority of the monarchical power, so that the Royal Council of Castile, established in the Cortes of Valladolid (1385) was configured as an instrument of government and administration at the service of the royal power as a result of the reforms undertaken in the Cortes of Toledo of 1480. This Royal Council was responsible for advice on the appointment and granting of grants, it assumed judicial tasks as the Supreme Court of Appeal of Castile and the supervision of the government and administration of the Kingdom. Its work was organized in five rooms: international affairs, justice, Kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon Affairs, and Brotherhoods and Finance Affairs.

With the complexity of the affairs to be managed and the progressive increase in the lands of the Monarchy, a distinction between the government of the Royal House and the territorial administration had to be clarified. The monarchs created advisory boards to advise the kings for a specific area, which would be the embryo of the Councils. During the reigns of Charles I and Philip II, along with the Royal Council of Castile other councils were created, ones for the advising on territorial affairs (councils of Aragon, Navarre, Flanders, Portugal, Indies, Italian territories...) and others for the advising on specific matters (councils of Military Orders, Crusades, Finance, Inquisition, War or State). From this polysynodial system, the most relevant council was the Council of State, created in 1521 and organized in 1526 as a supraterritorial advisory council of any issue of the Monarchy that the monarch considered relevant to discuss, although normally, this council assumed advisory responsibilities on foreign affairs and serious matters that could affect to the monarchy.

Since the beginning of this council-system in the late 15th century, along with the members that were part of each Council —the councillors—, it was the King's Privy Secretaries who acquired a the greatest influence in the political and administrative decisions due to its duties as link between the monarch and the councils. The privy secretaries advised them and executed the king's will. They also summed up the council's discussions, wrote down the monarch's final decision and wrote the final resolution to be approved in the councils. Enjoying the trust of the monarch,  they took decisions on their own at the expense of the powers of the Council without consulting the lawyers that made up the Councils; they also attended the daily correspondence, prepared the documents with their orders and dispatched the requests addressed to the king. The number of royal secretaries was at the will of the sovereign, and in fact in the Ordination of Montalvo —a law compilation of 1484— does not indicate anything about a limited number of secretaries, neither in the monarch's chamber nor in the Council. In addition, there was no hierarchy or distinction in the set of royal secretaries. The Catholic Monarchs met with six or seven secretaries, whose salaries were around one hundred thousand maravedíes, although they accumulated more positions and privileges —and other illegitimate income—, which made them accumulate true fortunes.

At the same time, each Council had its own secretaries dependent on the Council itself and with limited powers to matters within the competence of the Council, and therefore, did not necessarily have to be able to have direct access to the monarch or dispatch with him. However, with the creation of the Council of State, which the king himself chaired over, the secretary of the State Council became directly dependent on the king and not on the Council, which acquired a preponderant position on the councillors themselves. This made the secretary of the Council of State —called Secretary of State—, a privileged figure and key character of the Administration that it was at the center of the power spring, as it had continuous access to the king and the secrets of the Monarchy.

Apogee of the secretariat of the State Council (16th century)
During the reign of Charles I, the Viscount of Lombeck (1522-1524) and the Baron of Bouclans (1524-1528) served as secretaries of State. In 1529 Francisco de los Cobos was appointed secretary of State, however, because of his condition as the king's privy secretary, he had to he accompain him in his long stays outside Spain and therefore the office was occupied by acting secretaries of state such as Juan Vázquez de Molina or Gonzalo Pérez. After the death of Francisco de los Cobos in 1547, the office of secretary of State was vacant for a decade and Juan Vázquez de Molina served as acting secretary of state. With the abdication of Charles I in 1556, his son, King Philip II, divided the secretariat of State in two: one occupied by Juan Vázquez de Molina for Spanish affairs in order to support the queen regent and other occupied by Gonzalo Pérez for the foreign affairs.

Throughout 1558 the conflicts between the king's court established in Brussels and the regency established in Spain were sharpening, which meant the decline of the influence of Vázquez de Molina. Before his return to Spain —which occurred in August 1559— the king prepared his trusted personnel to defend his interests in enforcing his orders in the government, and thus appointed Francisco de Eraso to dispatch temporarily in the secretariat of the State for Spain when Vázquez de Molina was ill and could not do it himself. Vázquez de Molina accepted this situation and obtained the definitive authorization to retire in 1562, leaving Eraso in charge of the secretary until his death in 1570. After the death of Gonzalo Pérez in 1566, he was replaced ad interim by Antonio Pérez y Gabriel de Zayas and, in 1567, cardinal Diego de Espinosa, Chairman of the Council of Castile and Grand Inquisitor, reorganized the Council of State to strengthen the position of the Council lawyers to the detriment of the influence of the nobility; in this sense, Zayas was appointed Secretary of the Council of State for the North ("All state affairs concerning the said embassies of the Court of the Emperor and kingdoms of France and England, and those that are most offered concerning and dependent on those parties"), and Pérez was appointed Secretary of the Council of State for Italy ("All the affairs of State that are offered regarding everything in Italy, both to the embassy of Rome and to the other potentates (rich people) and our ministers and ambassadors of her"). This division was maintained until 1706.

VOY POR "La derrota y muerte del rey portugués en la batalla de Alcazarquivir en 1578"

Democracy (1977–)
The Secretaries of State had an unexpected historical prominence on 23 February 1981 on the occasion of the coup attempt (23-F) that kept the Government and the Congress of Deputies kidnapped. The meeting of the senior officials of the Administration chaired by the Director of the State Security Francisco Laína acted, in the absence of ministers, as a de facto executive branch in contact with King Juan Carlos I; in fact, it was the only legitimate power of the State that remained functioning apart from the judicial one, since the Senate did not meet and many senators were also kidnapped in the Congress building. This pseudo-caretaker government was popularly known as the Laína Cabinet.

Current positions

 * Secretary of State for Press (also called Secretary of State for Communication) (1996)
 * Secretary of State for Relations with the Cortes (1981)
 * Secretary of State for Democratic Memory (2020)
 * Secretary of State for Defence (1984)
 * Secretary of State for Social Rights (2004, took current name 2020)
 * Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda (2020)
 * Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (2000, took current name 2020)
 * Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (2020)
 * Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support (1982, took current name 2011)
 * Secretary of State for Energy (1996, took current name 2009)
 * Secretary of State for Environment (1993)
 * Secretary of State for Security (1994: took current name 1996)
 * Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1979)
 * Secretary of State for the European Union (1981; took current name 1995. Not used between 1996–2004 and from 2017–2018)
 * Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean (1985; took current name 2017)
 * Secretary of State for Global Spain (2018)
 * Secretary of State for Justice (1994)
 * Secretary of State for Labour and Social Economy (1981; took current name 2020)
 * Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions (1978; took current name 2020)
 * Secretary of State for Migration (2004; took current name 2018)
 * Secretary of State for Finance (1982; from 2004 to 2011, it was merged with the position of Secretary of State for Budget)
 * Secretary of State for Budget and Expenditures (1996; from 2004 to 2011, it was merged with the position of Secretary of State for Finance)
 * Secretary of State for the Civil Service (2009)
 * Secretary of State for Trade (1981)
 * Secretary of State for Tourism (1977)
 * Secretary of State for Transports, Mobility and Urban Agenda (2009; took current name 2020)
 * Secretary of State for Education (1988)
 * Secretary of State for Equality and against Gender Violence (2010, took current name 2020)

The unofficial title First Secretary of State it is a way for the media to refer to the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister, due to this position has the rank of secretary of state and is the chief advisor to the prime minister. The current chief of staff, since June 2018, is Iván Redondo. Before this, in the 18th century, the First Secretary of State was de facto the prime minister.

Other positions
These are some government positions with rank of secretary of state but with unusual names:


 * Moncloa Chief of Staff
 * President of the National Sports Council (also known as Secretary of State for Sports)
 * Director of the National Intelligence Centre
 * Chief of the Defence Staff