The Government dismisses and appoints six territorial delegates in a sudden move

The Council of Ministers on October 20, 2026, approved the simultaneous dismissal and appointment of the government delegates in Catalonia, Andalusia, Asturias, the Valencian Community, Aragon, and Extremadura. The decision is formalized in twelve royal decrees signed by King Felipe VI and countersigned by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) no. 261, of October 21, 2026, section II.A, between pages 140366 and 140378.

The dismissals are implemented through royal decrees 857/2026 to 862/2026, all of them «at the proposal of the President of the Government, and following deliberation by the Council of Ministers in its meeting on October 20, 2026», and using the standard formula of gratitude for services rendered. The appointments are contained in royal decrees 864/2026 to 869/2026, which include an express reference to article 72.4 of Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, the regulation that governs the appointment of government delegates in the autonomous communities.

Six departures with gratitude for services

Those replaced are:

• Carlos Prieto Gómez, government delegate in Catalonia, dismissed by Royal Decree 857/2026 (reference BOE-A-2026-21877, pág. 140366).
• Pedro Fernández Peñalver, government delegate in Andalusia, dismissed by Royal Decree 858/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21878, pág. 140367).
• Adriana Lastra Fernández, government delegate in the Principality of Asturias, dismissed by Royal Decree 859/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21879, pág. 140368).
• María Pilar Bernabé García, government delegate in the Valencian Community, dismissed by Royal Decree 860/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21880, pág. 140369).
• Fernando Ángel Beltrán Blázquez, government delegate in Aragon, dismissed by Royal Decree 861/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21881, pág. 140370).
• José Luis Quintana Álvarez, government delegate in Extremadura, dismissed by Royal Decree 862/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21882, pág. 140371).

The new heads of the delegations

The appointments published on the same day are:

• José Crespín Gómez, new Government delegate in Catalonia by Royal Decree 864/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21884, p. 140373).
• Isabel Mayo López, new Government delegate in Andalusia by Royal Decree 865/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21885, p. 140374).
• Cecilia Pérez Sánchez, new Government delegate in the Principality of Asturias by Royal Decree 866/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21886, p. 140375).
• Rogelio Llanes Ribas, new Government delegate in the Valencian Community by Royal Decree 867/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21887, p. 140376).
• Noelia Herrero Arenas, new Government delegate in Aragon by Royal Decree 868/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21888, p. 140377).
• María Teresa Macías Mateos, new Government delegate in Extremadura by Royal Decree 869/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21889, p. 140378).

A round of changes in the peripheral Administration

The twelve decrees share the same date —October 20, 2026— and issuing body, the Presidency of the Government, and are ordered consecutively in section II.A of the bulletin, dedicated to appointments, situations, and incidents. The numerical sequence is continuous between dismissals and appointments, with a single exception: Royal Decree 863/2026 (BOE-A-2026-21883, p. 140372), interspersed in the series, which provides for the dismissal of Manuela Villa Acosta as director of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government.

The handover affects six territories of very different weight in the territorial organization of the State: from a community with a unique financing regime and broad competencies such as Catalonia to single-province communities such as Asturias or Extremadura, as well as Andalusia, the most populous community, and the Valencian Community and Aragon. In all cases, the dismissal and the appointment are published on the same day, so the position does not remain vacant.

The Government delegation is the figure that represents the State in each autonomous community and exercises the coordination of the General State Administration in the territory, in addition to competencies regarding public security and relations with autonomous and local institutions. Article 72.4 of Law 40/2015 supports the appointment by royal decree of the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the president, which places these changes within the political sphere of the Executive and not within that of the administrative career.

The impact is immediate across six territories: the new delegates assume the ordinary representation of the State and the dialogue with regional governments and local corporations during a period of full administrative activity, while the outgoing officials conclude their tenure with the formal expression of gratitude for their services recorded in the bulletin. For the readers of those six communities, the change represents a new institutional interlocutor before the General State Administration, with practical effects on the coordination of services, the management of state grants, and dialogue regarding security matters.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 261, October 21, 2026, section II.A, pp. 140366-140378 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-21877 to BOE-A-2026-21889).