Óscar Puente continues at the head of the Ministry of Transport after having put his position at the disposal of Pedro Sánchez. According to what he told journalists this Friday, the president of the Government rejected his departure because he considered it would be "unfair", a conversation that leaves a political consequence difficult to avoid.
The revelation comes when there is one month left until the general elections on 29 November and the Government is trying to respond to the crisis caused by the railway accident in Urda (Toledo), in which at least 69 people have died. Puente concentrates a large part of the explanations about the functioning of the network, the decisions adopted before the crash and the demands for resignation. Sánchez, meanwhile, has focused his interventions on attention to the victims, the clarification of the causes and the need to restore confidence in high speed.
That distribution of roles could allow the president to maintain a certain distance from the controversy surrounding Transport. But the support that Puente attributes to Sánchez also makes it difficult for the political wear and tear to remain confined to the minister. If the head of the department offered to leave and the president asked him to continue, the responsibility for keeping him in the Government reaches Moncloa directly.
Sánchez's support comes through Moncloa and from Puente's own mouth
The presidential support has been known so far through two channels. On Thursday, sources in Moncloa said that Sánchez retained his confidence in the minister and ruled out his dismissal. Those same sources argued that the accident was not related to Puente's political management.
This Friday it was the minister himself who explained that he put his position at the disposal of the president and that the latter asked him to continue.
Sánchez acknowledged this Friday, during his visit to the Cecopi in Toledo, that there is a "broken trust" in the Spanish high-speed system and promised solutions to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring again.
The absence of a personal statement of support does not mean that the president has withdrawn his backing. However, it contrasts with other crises in which Sánchez did decide to publicly defend questioned ministers.
The precedent of Marlaska and an unambiguous defense
Fernando Grande-Marlaska offers one of the clearest examples of Sánchez's resistance to calls for the resignation of a member of his Government.
After the tragedy that occurred at the Melilla fence in June 2022, the Minister of the Interior came under intense pressure over the police action and the explanations from his department. On November 4 of that year, during the Spanish-Portuguese summit, Sánchez personally assumed his defense with an unequivocal statement: "The minister has my support and also my recognition".
Six days later, the president again ruled out his dismissal during an interview on laSexta. Marlaska remained in the Executive despite the criticism and the demands for accountability.
The circumstances of Melilla and Urda are different, both because of the nature of the tragedies and because of the responsibilities that must be investigated. The precedent, however, shows that strong political pressure does not necessarily lead to the dismissal of a minister and makes it possible to appreciate a difference in the way presidential support is communicated.
In the case of Marlaska, Sánchez defended him directly before public opinion. In Puente's case, so far, the most explicit explanation about his continuity has come from the Minister of Transport himself.
González Laya and Ábalos, the other paths chosen by Sánchez
Sánchez's trajectory at the head of the Government also offers examples of ministers who left their responsibilities after episodes of political wear and tear or in reshuffles designed to renew the Executive.
Arancha González Laya left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 2021, after the diplomatic crisis with Morocco triggered by Spain's reception of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.
Also in July 2021, José Luis Ábalos left the Government, until then Minister of Transport and one of the political figures closest to Sánchez. His replacement was part of a broader reshuffle, in which Carmen Calvo also left and Iván Redondo departed from the head of the presidential Cabinet.
Those changes responded to a different context and Sánchez presented them as a renewal to boost recovery after the pandemic. Their interest as a precedent lies in the fact that not even personal and political closeness to the president guarantees indefinite continuity in the Council of Ministers.
A minister necessary for management, but uncomfortable for the campaign
The Urda accident has altered the socialist campaign when barely a month remains until the general elections. Puente, one of the ministers with the greatest public presence and capacity for political confrontation, must now devote much of his appearances to explaining what happened on the railway network and responding to calls for resignation.
Now, the socialist electoral team is adapting its strategy in the face of the minister’s loss of prominence in the campaign. Thus, any public intervention by Puente runs the risk of being dominated by questions about Urda, even when he intends to address other matters.
His continuity also offers advantages for the Executive. It allows the head of the department to be retained during the investigation and avoids a ministerial reshuffle in the middle of the campaign. In addition, Puente can take on the technical and parliamentary explanations while Sánchez concentrates his appearances on the institutional response to the tragedy.
That distribution of responsibilities feeds the hypothesis that the minister may act as a political firebreak for the president.
The problem for the PSOE is that the debate has already outgrown Puente’s figure. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has linked the Government’s responsibilities with the elections of 29N, so the opposition does not limit its reproaches to the Ministry of Transport, but also directs them at the president.
The decision to keep Puente ties his future to Sánchez's
The account that the minister offered this Friday introduces a circumstance that may condition the coming weeks. By explaining that he wanted to step aside and that Sánchez rejected his departure, Puente has made public the president’s personal intervention in the decision to keep him in office.
But the political effect is difficult to separate from the words chosen. If Sánchez considers it "unfair" for Puente to resign, he will have to defend that decision while the investigations continue and new details about the circumstances of the accident become known.
The president has promised to restore citizens’ confidence in high-speed rail, damaged after the tragedies of Adamuz and Urda, which together add up to at least 115 deaths in 2026. The question is whether he can do so with the same minister at the head of Transport and without the controversy conditioning the socialist campaign.