MADRID, 23 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The senator for the Principality of Asturias Francisco Blanco will be appointed General Secretary for Industry and SMEs in the next Council of Ministers, replacing Raúl Blanco, who will lead the General Directorate of the Industrial Organization School Foundation, as reported this Friday the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

The new Secretary General for Industry and SMEs has a degree in Business Administration and Management and a PhD in Economics from the University of Oviedo. Between 2007 and 2011, he was General Director of Economic Finance of the Gijón City Council, being responsible for the areas of budgets, taxation, accounting and wealth.

Likewise, between 2011 and 2015 he was a councilor in the Gijón City Council, a position that he made compatible with his tasks as a teacher. In 2015, he was appointed Minister of Employment, Industry and Tourism of the Government of the Principality of Asturias and in 2019 he was elected senator in the thirteenth and fourteenth legislature, a position in which he has remained to date.

As a senator, he has been spokesman for the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Senate in the Industry, Commerce and Tourism Commission.

In addition, Francisco Blanco has also held different positions in various institutions linked to the Principality of Asturias, such as President of the Institute for Economic Development of the Principality of Asturias, the Public Society for Tourism and Cultural Management and Promotion and the Foreign Promotion Society.

He has also held the position of vice president of the Regional Promotion Society and has been a member of the boards of directors of Pymar (Small and Medium Shipyards in Reconversion) and the Port of Gijón.

"In addition, his professional life has been dedicated to teaching and academic research. He was an associate professor at the University of Oviedo from 1993 to 1997, the year in which he obtained a position as tenured professor of Applied Economics at that same university, at the that still remains linked", added the portfolio directed by Reyes Maroto.

Meanwhile, in the next Council of Ministers, the dismissal of Raúl Blanco as Secretary General of Industry and SMEs will be approved due to the fact that he will take over the General Directorate of the Fundación Escuela de Organización Industrial, a public organization linked to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

Maroto thanked Raúl Blanco for his "vocation for public service and excellent work at the head of the Secretariat", in which he has had to face the "negative effects of the pandemic in the industrial sector by developing new industrial capacities to protect the health of the population".

"He has also been responsible for implementing the new instruments of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed with Next Generation funds, such as the Perte (Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation) which represent the largest investment in politics in history industry in our country", added the Ministry of Industry.