Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was sworn in as Spanish prime minister on Saturday and picked a Cabinet blending newcomers with experienced hands in charge of the economy and foreign policy.
King Juan Carlos presided over the solemn ceremony at the Zarzuela palace near Madrid, completing a shake-up of Spanish politics in the wake of last month's suspected al Qaeda-linked train bombings that killed 191 people.
"I promise on my conscience and honor to comply faithfully with the obligations of prime minister ...," Zapatero said, watched by outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
PHOTO: AP
Zapatero chose to take a non-religious oath of office -- promising with his hand on the Spanish Constitution -- rather than swearing on the Bible.
He becomes Spain's fifth prime minister since democracy was restored after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
Later Zapatero, 43, announced a Cabinet of eight men and eight women, fulfilling a promise to appoint equal numbers of men and women. Aznar's last Cabinet included five women.
Zapatero's Cabinet includes many members with no ministerial experience, but he put the most critical portfolios in seasoned hands.
His Socialists were the surprise winners of elections held three days after the March 11 train bombings, ousting the strongly pro-US Popular Party.
The Socialists won 164 seats in the lower house of parliament -- 12 short of an absolute majority -- and need support from regional or left-wing parties to get their policies through.
Mariano Rajoy, leader of the main opposition Popular Party, attacked the new government in a speech on Saturday, calling it weak and unstable.
Pedro Solbes, who stepped down early as EU monetary affairs commissioner, will oversee one of the euro zone's fastest growing economies, taking the helm of a powerful, combined economy and finance ministry.
Solbes, 61, served as agriculture and, later, economy minister under Felipe Gonzalez, Spain's last Socialist prime minister.
Miguel Angel Moratinos, 52, a veteran diplomat and former EU Middle East envoy, takes over as foreign minister.
He will need all his diplomatic skills if Zapatero goes ahead with his pledge to withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq unless the UN takes charge there by the end of June.
US President George W. Bush has urged Spain and other allies in Iraq to stick with Washington.
Moratinos will leave on an official visit to Washington tomorrow, a day after taking office, to show Zapatero's interest in maintaining good relations with the US, ABC said. A Socialist party spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Moratinos will hold talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He will stop over in Dublin for talks with Brian Cowen, foreign minister of current EU president Ireland, on the proposed EU constitution, ABC said.
Spanish opposition to a change in EU voting rules helped block agreement on the new constitution, but Zapatero has pledged to do all he can to get an agreement by mid-year.
Zapatero named Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, 54, a former secretary of state for justice, as first deputy prime minister while Solbes becomes second deputy prime minister.
Zapatero chose Socialist party heavyweight Jose Bono as defense minister. Bono, 53, will have to repair relations with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who he insulted earlier this year in private remarks to a colleague that were picked up by a television station's microphone.
The investigation of the March 11 bombings will be entrusted to Jose Antonio Alonso, 44, a former judge.
He takes over the Interior Ministry, while law professor Juan Fernando Lopez, 42, becomes justice minister.
Twenty-one people including 15 Moroccans are being held in connection with the March 11 attacks on packed commuter trains.
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