From shelf-stacker to executive: the hiring of the spokeswoman's husband
The government spokeswoman's husband joined Solaria 51 days after her appointment, while €1.625 billion in public aid to the company was being processed
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Hired by Solaria 51 days after his vvife's appointment
How long does it take someone who has delivered bread and restocked shelves to manage more than a hundred people at an Ibex 35 company? The answer left by the information published by El Debate is 51 days, as long as their partner has just joined the Council of Ministers. Iván Molinero Camacho, husband of the Minister for Territorial Policy and government spokeswoman, Isabel Rodríguez, was hired by the energy company Solaria a month and a half after his vvife's appointment on 12 July 2021.
The cold fact: he has worked at the company since September 2021 and has almost two years on the payroll. The jarring fact: the government is simultaneously processing €1.625 billion in public aid to that same company. There is no court ruling or formal accusation, and the person concerned denies it. But the timing is the kind of coincidence that in any other country would dominate front pages for weeks.
The timeline: 51 days between the appointment and the contract
The sequence orders itself. On 12 July 2021, Pedro Sánchez reshuffled his cabinet: ministers left and new faces came in, including Isabel Rodríguez as Minister for Territorial Policy and government spokeswoman. Fifty-one days later, her husband appeared on Solaria's payroll, one of the Ibex 35's big renewable energy firms. He has remained at the company since then, and over time also joined Human Resources Operations, the area that provides tools to streamline HR services. Anyone who has been through a recruitment process asks the same question: what exactly is hired in those departments and on what criteria.
What did Molinero do before landing at an Ibex 35 company?
His previous career is a puzzle. Baker, supermarket shelf-stacker, sales assistant at a DIY store. Around ten jobs, most lasting only a few months, according to the CV he himself sets out. The steps immediately before his hiring were five months at Applus Norcontrol as a senior occupational health and safety technician and ten months at SIMA Ingeniería, Montajes y Servicios. Among his stated skills is proficiency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Once inside Solaria, the role was no small one: he joined the Health, Safety & Environment area, managing a team of more than a hundred people. It is the leap that generates the most comment, because a position of that responsibility at a listed company is not usually awarded to a CV with months-long stints.
The €1.625 billion being processed at the same time
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera, is finalising the award of €1.625 billion to the company. The money comes from the Next Generation funds, the European mechanism with which Brussels sought to repair the economic and social damage of the pandemic. So far, nothing irregular: subsidies for renewables are public policy and energy companies have been claiming them for years.
The issue is not the aid, it is the crossover. A senior-responsibility contract at the beneficiary company, a ministerial appointment at home and a multi-million-euro award in pogre. Each piece, separately, has an explanation. Together, they demand one that the person concerned has not given.
Meritocracy, nepotism or plain luck? The possible readings
There is an ironic reading circulating widely: Spain would be the country where a shelf-stacker becomes an executive and a cashier becomes a minister, and that would prove that castes do not exist. It is made in a mocking tone, but it describes a true fact: upward social mobility is possible. The problem comes when that mobility always travels in the same direction and with the same companion.
The second reading is more uncomfortable. Part of the analysis argues that if there were no public money involved, the promotion would not matter at all, and that what bothers people is not the contract but the taxpayer. Another current recalls that the phenomenon crosses party lines, administrations and private companies: placements through affinity, friendship or kinship exist everywhere, and they affect qualified employees who are sidelined under bosses with no verifiable track record. In this case, it is also noted that the classic narrative of a relationship of convenience does not fit, because she has more status and more wealth than he does.
Molinero's own version
On his hiring, he gave his explanation to El Debate: «My hiring has nothing to do with my vvife's appointment. Whatever you need, investigate.» He added that, whatever he said, each outlet would publish what it had already decided. That is the full response on record, and it clears up no doubt about the selection process.
What remains is the portrait of a country where social mobility exists, yes, but sometimes it arrives in the form of an Ibex contract and other times in the form of a running joke. What does not appear in any organisational chart is the explanation.
How long does it take someone who has delivered bread and restocked shelves to manage more than a hundred people at an Ibex 35 company? The answer left by the information published by El Debate is 51 days, as long as their partner has just joined the Council of Ministers. Iván Molinero Camacho, husband of the Minister for Territorial Policy and government spokeswoman, Isabel Rodríguez, was hired by the energy company Solaria a month and a half after his vvife's appointment on 12 July 2021.
The cold fact: he has worked at the company since September 2021 and has almost two years on the payroll. The jarring fact: the government is simultaneously processing €1.625 billion in public aid to that same company. There is no court ruling or formal accusation, and the person concerned denies it. But the timing is the kind of coincidence that in any other country would dominate front pages for weeks.
The timeline: 51 days between the appointment and the contract
The sequence orders itself. On 12 July 2021, Pedro Sánchez reshuffled his cabinet: ministers left and new faces came in, including Isabel Rodríguez as Minister for Territorial Policy and government spokeswoman. Fifty-one days later, her husband appeared on Solaria's payroll, one of the Ibex 35's big renewable energy firms. He has remained at the company since then, and over time also joined Human Resources Operations, the area that provides tools to streamline HR services. Anyone who has been through a recruitment process asks the same question: what exactly is hired in those departments and on what criteria.
What did Molinero do before landing at an Ibex 35 company?
His previous career is a puzzle. Baker, supermarket shelf-stacker, sales assistant at a DIY store. Around ten jobs, most lasting only a few months, according to the CV he himself sets out. The steps immediately before his hiring were five months at Applus Norcontrol as a senior occupational health and safety technician and ten months at SIMA Ingeniería, Montajes y Servicios. Among his stated skills is proficiency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Once inside Solaria, the role was no small one: he joined the Health, Safety & Environment area, managing a team of more than a hundred people. It is the leap that generates the most comment, because a position of that responsibility at a listed company is not usually awarded to a CV with months-long stints.
The €1.625 billion being processed at the same time
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera, is finalising the award of €1.625 billion to the company. The money comes from the Next Generation funds, the European mechanism with which Brussels sought to repair the economic and social damage of the pandemic. So far, nothing irregular: subsidies for renewables are public policy and energy companies have been claiming them for years.
The issue is not the aid, it is the crossover. A senior-responsibility contract at the beneficiary company, a ministerial appointment at home and a multi-million-euro award in pogre. Each piece, separately, has an explanation. Together, they demand one that the person concerned has not given.
Meritocracy, nepotism or plain luck? The possible readings
There is an ironic reading circulating widely: Spain would be the country where a shelf-stacker becomes an executive and a cashier becomes a minister, and that would prove that castes do not exist. It is made in a mocking tone, but it describes a true fact: upward social mobility is possible. The problem comes when that mobility always travels in the same direction and with the same companion.
The second reading is more uncomfortable. Part of the analysis argues that if there were no public money involved, the promotion would not matter at all, and that what bothers people is not the contract but the taxpayer. Another current recalls that the phenomenon crosses party lines, administrations and private companies: placements through affinity, friendship or kinship exist everywhere, and they affect qualified employees who are sidelined under bosses with no verifiable track record. In this case, it is also noted that the classic narrative of a relationship of convenience does not fit, because she has more status and more wealth than he does.
Molinero's own version
On his hiring, he gave his explanation to El Debate: «My hiring has nothing to do with my vvife's appointment. Whatever you need, investigate.» He added that, whatever he said, each outlet would publish what it had already decided. That is the full response on record, and it clears up no doubt about the selection process.
What remains is the portrait of a country where social mobility exists, yes, but sometimes it arrives in the form of an Ibex contract and other times in the form of a running joke. What does not appear in any organisational chart is the explanation.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (104 replies).
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