The first Spanish astronaut, Pedro Duque, will be the country's next science, innovation and universities minister, as first reported by Al rojo vivo on Spanish TV station La Sexta. Duque, 55 years old and from Madrid, is an aeronautical engineer who has flown in space twice: first, in 1998 on Space Shuttle Discovery, then again in 2003 in a Soyuz, visiting the International Space Station.
Isabel Celaá, from the Basque country, will be the new education minister in Pedro Sánchez's government, sources close to her have told Europa Press. Celaá, a professor who was born in Bilbao in 1949, was Basque minister for education, universities and research from 2009-2012.
PSOE's executive secretary for social security and the Toledo Pact (a reform of the Spanish social security system passed by the Congress in 1995), Magdalena Valerio, will be the next labour minister. Born in the small village of Torremocha, Extremadura in 1959, she started her career focusing on regional administration, later moving to the Spanish Congress for the period which saw the latest labour and pension reforms.
She graduated with a degree in law, becoming a civil servant in the management of the social security system and INEM (National Employment Institute). She has been a Congress deputy, a city councillor in Guadalajara and held various ministries in Castile-La Mancha, including labour and employment. She is currently secretary general for Guadalajara's public works ministry.
Prosecutor Dolores Delgado will be justice minister, sources close to the prime minister have confirmed. Of her 28 years of service, 25 have been spent at the National Audience court working on drug trafficking and ETA and jihadist terrorism.
Finally, Luis Planas will be the new agriculture minister. He has previously been Andalusia's agriculture minister and Spain's ambassador to Morocco. He tried to stand against Susana Díaz in PSOE's primaries for president of Andalusia after José Antonio Gríñan decided against standing again. Díaz went on to stand against Sánchez to become leader of PSOE three years later.