The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the appointment of Israel Arroyo Martínez as the new Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support, replacing Gonzalo García Andrés, who will leave the position after the departure of Nadia Calviño to the European Investment Bank (EIB). ). ), according to information provided by the newspaper ‘El País’ and confirmed by Europa Press. Added to this movement in the Economy Minister is another in the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Service, since the Council of Ministers has appointed Mayte Ledo as the new Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, a position in the which will take over from Carme Artigas, who officially left office on December 28, as reported by the ministry itself in a statement.
Arroyo was Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions between 2020 and 2022. As José Luis Escrivá’s ‘number two’, he managed to carry out the first part of the pension reform, which repealed the central elements designed by the PP in 2013 and imposed the return to the CPI as a reference to revalue benefits.
After leaving the Ministry at his own request, Arroyo returned to the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef) as head of data management. He was also general deputy director of Budgets, Economic Studies and Statistics, and deputy director of Payment Management and Reserve Fund Management in the General Treasury of Social Security, and previously was head of the Economic Studies and Situation Analysis Area in that same institution. .
The departure of Gonzalo García Andrés occurs days after the former first vice president and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, took office as president of the EIB on January 1, 2024.
Changes in Digital Transformation
This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers appointed Mayte Ledo as the new Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. Until now, Ledo served as cabinet director of the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, José Luis Escrivá. These functions will now be performed by Agustina Piedrabuena Moraleda, who was an advisory member of the minister’s cabinet.
On the other hand, the Executive has also appointed Iria Álvarez Besteiro as undersecretary of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service.
Artigas held the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence from 2020 to the end of 2023 and is a recognized expert in artificial intelligence – last October she was selected by the UN to co-chair the new supervisory body for this technology -, ‘big data’ and technological innovation that has around 30 years of experience in the industry.
On December 19, during an event on artificial intelligence and new technologies organized by the economic newspaper ‘Expansión’, she announced her decision to leave her position as Secretary of State to prepare her return to the private sector.
In the business world, she has also stood out for being co-founder and CEO of Synergic Partners, a company that was acquired by Telefónica in 2015.
