Government “minister” for Madrid puts emphasis on law and order

The job of head of the central government’s delegation within the regional administration of Madrid — a sort of minister’s post for the capital — is not one that has traditionally captured the electorate’s imagination, nor does the person occupying the role often make the headlines. But since taking over in January, Cristina Cifuentes has been busy talking to the media and using internet social networks to announce her intentions.

“This is a largely unknown institution. I want to open the delegation, and to be able to listen to anybody who wants to be heard. I want the government delegation to be useful; it has the potential to do a lot of work that hasn’t been done until now,” says Cifuentes, a former deputy speaker of Madrid’s regional parliament, from her office in the center of the capital.

Appointed by the prime minister, the Government Delegate is the central government’s top representative in Spain’s regions, and is second only to the head of the regional government. Cifuentes is in charge of all the services provided by the central administration in Madrid, and is charged with coordinating the work of the state with the regional administration.

Seen as representing the PP’s more progressive faction — she recently called on the party to remove references to its Christian influences — Cifuentes maintains good relations with supporters of both Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Madrid’s regional premier, Esperanza Aguirre, who has opposed Rajoy’s leadership of the party.

Now that the Popular Party controls the central government as well as the regional and municipal administrations, one task that Cifuentes is clear about coordinating is law and order in the capital. She is critical of how her predecessor handled the street protests that took place last year when the 15-M protest movement spread and occupied Madrid’s Puerta del Sol main square for two months, with protestors of various stripes camped out there.

“I would never have allowed the Puerta del Sol demonstration to take place. There is no logic in allowing an illegal occupation for two months under deplorable sanitary and hygiene conditions and with the added problem of maintaining public order in the center of the city, as well as the damage it caused to commerce and the disturbances to the people living in the area. And, of course, the international impact it had on the city. Simply put: it should never have been allowed to happen.”

Despite a freeze in hiring new officers, she says she wants to see more police patrolling the capital. “This can be done by reassigning units and through better coordination between different forces. It means doing more with less.”