Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has met with King Felipe VI to formally present him with his new cabinet, which will take office on Monday.

"The main task of this cabinet will be to consolidate the economic recovery and job creation," Sanchez said.

The reshuffle is the first since January 2020, when the coalition government, composed of Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the radical left-wing Podemos, was sworn in. 

While all five Podemos ministers will keep their portfolios, changes were announced in other key roles covered by Socialist ministers.

Deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo will be replaced by Nadia Calvino, who will also retain her current position of economy minister.

Sanchez's chief of staff, Ivan Redondo, who many consider the prime minister's right-hand man, will be replaced by Oscar Lopez.

Foreign minister Arancha González Laya, an independent, will be replaced by the current Spanish Ambassador to Paris, José Manuel Albares, while Isabel Rodriguez will become the new government spokesperson and territories minister.

Gonzalez Laya received widespread criticism after agreeing to treat Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front and president of the self-declared state of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara, in a Spanish hospital, causing a diplomatic row between Spain and Morocco.

This is Sanchez's second government after his "gobierno bonito" or "beautiful government," as it was dubbed by national media, between 2018 and 2020, which was also the one with most female ministers in the country's history and Spain's shortest government since its transition to democracy.

In April 2019, Sanchez called a snap election after his draft budget was not approved by parliament, abruptly ending his first fragile coalition government with the support of Podemos. 

Despite Sanchez winning most seats in the April 2019 election, it fell short of producing a majority and he later failed to make a coalition deal with Podemos.

Forced to hold another general election in November 2019, Spain's fourth in four years, Sanchez again won most votes and this time managed to form a coalition government with Podemos. 

The new government - the one currently in charge, and after the reshuffle with an average age down from 55 to 50 - was forced to face significant challenges from the very start, most significantly the handling of the pandemic and the economic recovery, and the issue of Catalan independence.

Three weeks ago, Sanchez announced he would pardon nine jailed pro-independence Catalan leaders who were arrested in 2017. It was an interesting political gamble on behalf of Sanchez, as polls showed that 53 percent of Spaniards were against freeing the Catalan politicians, but the prime minister expressed optimism that the controversial move "is a clear message of concord" able of placating the independence push in Catalonia.

Miquel Iceta, who was in talks with the Catalan regional government regarding the pardons and is a member of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, will become culture minister within the new cabinet.

_{Cover image: Reuters/IntsKalnins}