The secretary of state for territorial administrations, currently named secretary of state for territorial policy, is a senior minister of the Spanish Ministry of Territorial Policy responsible for the relations between the central government and the regional and local authorities.
The secretary of state also supervises the decentralized agencies of the central government in the regions and it promotes and coordinates political cooperation through assisting the prime minister in the organization of the Conference of Presidents. Finally, the secretary also ensures compliance with regulations on co-official languages and their implementation at the national level.
The secretary of state for territorial policy is appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Minister for Territorial Policy. Since 22 April 2026, Miryam Álvarez Páez has served as secretary of state.
History The need to create a department focused on the coordination of the different state administrations appeared after the approval of the Constitution, which established a decentralized state composed of different autonomous communities. Given this, the Ministry of Territorial Administration was created in 1979 and was in force until the end of 1986.
In 1987, the Ministry of Public Administrations was created, which assumed the powers over the civil servants and the territorial organization, creating a Secretariat of State focused on the relations of the different administrations called the Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations.
In 2000, the Secretariat of State changed its name to Secretariat of State for the Territorial Organization of the State and changed its name again in 2004 to Secretariat of State of Territorial Cooperation until 2011 when PM Rajoy in an effort to reduce the deficit of the State, reduced the governmental apparatus integrating this Secretariat of State in the Secretariat of State for Public Administrations (in charge of the civil servants and now also of the relations between administrations) and the Ministry of Public Administrations also merged with the Ministry of the Treasury.
In 2016, with the economical improvement, the Secretariats of State of Public Function and Territorial Administration were separated again and the latest was integrated with its Ministry in the Ministry of the Presidency.
Since 2018, the Ministry for Territorial Administrations recovered its independence and was renamed Ministry for Territorial Policy and Public Function (taking the competencies over the civil servants from the Ministry of the Treasury). Briefly, from 2020 to 2021 the Secretariat of State assumed all the competences about civil service.
Organization From the Undersecretariat is organized as follows:
+Secretariat of State Organization (2026)Secretary of StateCabinet (Chief of Staff)Office of the Conference of PresidentsSecretary-General forTerritorial CoordinationDirectorate-General for Regional and Local CooperationDeputy Directorate-General for Regional CooperationDeputy Directorate-General for Regional Bilateral RelationsDeputy Directorate-General for Local CooperationDirectorate-General for Regional and Local Legal FrameworkDeputy Directorate-General for the Regional Legal FrameworkDeputy Directorate-General for the Local Legal FrameworkNational Coordinator of the Internal Market Information SystemDivision for Regulatory CooperationDirectorate-General for the General State Administration in the TerritoryDeputy Directorate-General for Institutional RelationsDeputy Directorate-General for CoordinationDeputy Directorate-General for Human ResourcesDeputy Directorate-General for Finance and Asset ManagementInspectorate of Services of the General State Administration in the TerritoryIT DivisionDeputy Directorate-General for European and International Relations
List of secretaries of state No. Image Name Term of office Ministers serving under: Prime Minister appointed by: Began Ended Days of service1.ºJosé Francisco Peña Díez28 February 198711 May 1996Joaquín Almunia AmannJuan Manuel EguiagarayJerónimo SaavedraJoan Lerma i BlascoFelipe González2.ºJorge Fernández Díaz11 May 199623 January 1999Mariano RajoyJosé María Aznar3.ºFrancisco Camps23 January 19991 April 2000Ángel Acebes Paniagua4.ºGabriel Elorriaga Pisarik6 May 200020 April 2004Ángel Acebes PaniaguaJesús PosadaJavier ArenasJulia García-Valdecasas5.ºJosé Luis Méndez Romeu20 April 200414 May 2005Jordi SevillaJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero6.ºAna Isabel Leiva Díaz14 May 200514 July 20077.ºFernando Puig de la Bellacasa14 July 200725 April 2009Elena Salgado8.ºGaspar Zarrías25 April 200924 December 2011Manuel Chaves González9.ºAntonio Beteta24 December 201112 November 2016Cristóbal MontoroMariano Rajoy10.ºRoberto Bermúdez de Castro Mur19 November 201619 June 2018Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría11.ºIgnacio Sánchez Amor23 June 201829 June 2019Meritxell BatetPedro SánchezMiryam Álvarez PáezActing29 June 201930 January 2020 Luis Planas12.ºFrancisco Hernández Spínola30 January 20203 February 2021Carolina Darias -Miryam Álvarez PáezActing3 February 202124 February 2021Miquel Iceta13.ºVíctor Francos Díaz24 February 202121 July 2021 -Miryam Álvarez PáezActing21 July 20211 September 2021Isabel Rodríguez García14.ºAlfredo González Gómez1 September 20216 December 202315.ºArcadi España6 December 202327 March 2026Ángel Víctor Torres -Miryam Álvarez PáezActing27 March 202622 April 202615.ºMiryam Álvarez Páez22 April 2026Incumbent
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