Nadia Calviño


Nadia María Calviño Santamaría is a Spanish economist and civil servant who serves as Third Deputy Prime Minister of Spain since 2020 and as Minister of Economy since 2018 under prime minister Pedro Sánchez. In 2020, her portfolio was renamed as Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
Calviño started her career in different positions within the Ministry of Economy and in 2006 she started to work for the European Commission. She worked in several directorates-general and in 2014 she was appointed Director-General for Budget. She served as such until June 2018, when prime minister Pedro Sánchez appointed her as Minister of Economy and Business. In 2020, the prime minister promoted her to deputy prime minister.

Early life and education

Nadia María Calviño Santamaría was born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain on October 3, 1968. Her father, José María Calviño, was former director general of the Radio Televisión Española. She graduated in with a degree in economics in 1991 from the Complutense University of Madrid and a law degree in 2001 from the National University of Distance Education.

Career

She is a member of the Senior Corps of State Economists and Trade Advisors. In the Spanish administration, she served as general director of the National Competition Commission.
After more than a decade working in the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Calviño moved to the European Commission in 2006. There she held the posts of Deputy Director-General attached to the Directorate-General for Competition and Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, as well as Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.
From 2014 to 2018 Calviño served as Director-General for Budget, under the leadership of European Commissioner Günther Oettinger. She has also worked as a professor at the Complutense University.

Minister of Economy of Spain

In June 2018 Calviño was chosen by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to be part of his new government as Minister of Economy and Business of Spain, following the motion of censure that the PSOE presented against the previous government of Mariano Rajoy and that was approved by the Congress of Deputies on 1 June 2018. Thus, on 7 June she took office as Minister of Economy and Business before the King at Palace of Zarzuela.
Following the resignation of Christine Lagarde as managing director of the International Monetary Fund in 2019, Calviño was one of the candidates considered by European governments as potential successor; she withdrew after a first round of voting among representatives of the EU’s 28 member states and the post went to Kristalina Georgieva instead.

Deputy Prime Minister

In the electoral debate of 5 November 2019, Pedro Sánchez announced that Nadia Calviño would assume an economic vice-presidency if gets invested for the premiership, office she assumed as Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation on 13 January 2020 before the King.
In this new stage, Calviño's powers on new technologies and digital transformation expanded, creating in her department new positions related to this affairs, such us the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence.

COVID-19

In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic expanded to Europe, reaching Spain in late January. In March, Calviño announced a 200-billion-euro package to fight the economic effects of coronavirus, which included loans and guarantees to self-employed and to small and medium-sized entreprises and large companies.
Although Calviño initially opted for Eurobonds, due to the reluctance of some European countries, she adopted a more pragmatic position and she proposed to use the European Stability Mechanism but without conditions, an option accepted by the European Council which allowed the unlocking of €500 billion funds to the most affected European states. However, Calviño stated that neither she nor the government renounced Eurobonds and that they will continue to work on them in the medium term.
In mid-April, Calviño proposed to its European counterparts a 1.5 trillion euro recovery fund, that would be financed through perpetual debt issued by the European institutions.

Possible candidate to Eurogroup chair

In Mid-June 2020, rumors increased about a possible candidancy of Calviño to be the next president of Eurogroup. Spanish Prime Minister declared that Spain would be "very interested" on it. The Spanish government officially proposed Calviño on June 25. Calviño quickly received the support of the majority of the opposition in the Spanish Parliament.
The first european government to show support to Calviño's candidature was the German government through its chancellor, Angela Merkel, who stated that "It is no secret that there is support for Nadia Calviño’s candidature in the German government". She also added that she was "pleased when women get leading political roles, and the Eurogroup has never been headed by a woman.". In June 28, Portuguese PM António Costa also supported Calviño. In July 8, Italian PM Giuseppe Conte publicly supported her. A day later, French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, did the same.
Calviño is mother to four children. Among her hobbies are 1950s cinema and cooking. She speaks Spanish, English, French and German.