The PSC Secretary for Organisation, Salvador Illa was appointed Spain’s new Minister of Health in mid-January. This politician, a former mayor of the A native of Roca del Vallés and a long-standing member of the Catalan Socialist Party’s leadership, he has joined Pedro Sánchez’s government with a smaller portfolio, as the former Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare has been split into three separate ministries.
,"On 10 January, Pedro Sánchez announced the transfer of the Health portfolio to the PSC’s organisational secretary. This decision has reminded many of that of Ernest Lluch, also a Catalan and a member of the PSC, who headed the Ministry of Health under Felipe González in the 1980s.
Following a couple of politically turbulent years, which saw one government dismissed and another acting in its place, María Luisa Carcedo handed over the Health portfolio to the new Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, on 13 January.
What is the background of the new Health Minister? Salvador Illa’s political career
Salvador Illa was born in La Roca del Vallès in 1966. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona (UB) and a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Management from IESE. Since the beginning of his political career, the new minister has shown a clear commitment to local government: it was in La Roca, his hometown, that he first became involved with the PSC. First as a councillor and, later, as mayor.
In September 2005, he was appointed Director-General of Infrastructure Management at the Department of Justice of the Government of Catalonia. However, a few years later, at the start of the last decade, Illa returned to local politics, this time at Barcelona City Council, where he headed the Economic Management department and served as coordinator of the Socialist Group.
In recent years, the new Minister for Health has been active in politics at the Catalan regional level. Since 2016, he has been a member of the PSC’s executive committee, serving as the party’s Secretary for Organisation and as Miquel Iceta’s deputy.
