It is the fundamental principle of the Administration's Science that the organizational structures need to be adapted to the changing demands of the society to which they are to serve. The magnitude and intensity of the political changes that Spanish society has experienced, the deeply felt need to achieve greater efficiency in the direction of political-administrative tasks, the desirability of coordinating bodies In the case of the various sectors, the demand for more intensive public action in some fields, which require greater emphasis and more specific treatment, made the changes necessary. in the structure of the State Administration. To carry out these changes means to carry out a reform of the Administration in all its extension and depth, that is to say, to reform not only the organization of the Central Administration, but also the Peripheral and the Institutional Organization and to reform the procedures and public function agents.

However, this Royal Decree limits its scope to a first phase of the administrative restructuring consisting of the essential retouches of the global powers of the ministerial departments, providing for a second phase phase in which the ministries thus constituted will have to propose their internal reordering and the definitive dependence of the services, whose effects are created in some cases, as in the matter of Social Security, interdepartmental mixed commissions which will have to propose what is appropriate. All of this will not do but make it possible for the lines of an authentic administrative reform, which the present Royal Decree does not contemplate, to be brought before the representative of the nation.

Restructuring is done by operating on large administrative blocks, which in cases where they need to be changed from one department to another, do so in full, in order to avoid the risks of confusion and possible cessation of the administrative activity. This procedure is the most appropriate for the present restructuring to affect neither the rights nor the subjective situations of civil servants, which will only be affected by their situation, in some cases, by reason of the name and ownership of the Department to which they are attached.

The new organisation that the present Royal Decree establishes has taken particular account of the impact on public expenditure, so that in no case will it be increased, but rather reduced as far as possible. and according to the Decree-Law eighteen/thousand nine hundred and seventy-six, eight of October, which serves as a foundation. The rapporteur is the reduction in the number of ministers. The figure of the Secretary of State, intermediate between the Minister and the Assistant Secretary, is created, which has already proven its effectiveness in the most advanced administrative organizations to intensify the administrative actions in certain areas. The creation of five Secretaries of State is compensated by the disappearance of ten currently existing Sub-secretariats.

In the practical application of the principles that inspire the present Royal Decree, the creation of the Ministry of Defense, which is demanded by the need for modernization of the Armed Forces and the unification of politics, is highlighted. National Defense. The intensification of the administrative activity on social sectors that demand increasing attention justifies the creation, universally felt, of the Ministry of Health and Social Security. The emergence of a Ministry of Economic Affairs is, on the one hand, a result of the need to bring together a number of currently dispersed competences in the field of economic planning and planning; on the other hand, the desirability of singling out economic policy decisions, extracting them partly from the Ministry of Finance, and attributing them as a competence of the new Department to be created. The new name of the Ministry of Industry and Energy is particularly important as a reflection of the importance of the energy sector, which is so vital to the economic development of our country. The creation of the Ministry of Culture and Welfare comes to fill a gap in administrative action, giving cultural and social policy the right instrument for its future expansion. Finally, the appearance of a Ministry of Transport and Communications responds to a need to coordinate with greater rationality the action on previously dispersed sectors. The same must be said of other changes that are being made, such as the unification of the Departments of Public Works and Housing or the new organization of the Ministry of the Presidency.

In its virtue and in use of the authorization granted by the article twenty-six of the Royal Decree-Law eighteen/thousand nine hundred and seventy-six, of eight of October, on the proposal of the President of the Government and after deliberation of the Council Ministers at their meeting on the Fourth of July of a thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven,

DISPONGO:

Item one.

The State Central Administration is organized in the following Ministerial Departments:

-Foreign Affairs.

-Justice.

-Defense.

-Hacienda.

-Interior.

-Public Works and Urbanism.

-Education and Science.

-Job.

-Industry and Energy.

-Agriculture.

-Trade and Tourism.

-Presidency.

-Economics.

-Transport and Communications.

-Health and Social Security.

-Culture and Welfare.

Item two.

One. The Ministry of Defense is hereby established as the Central Administration of the State responsible for the ordination and coordination of the Government's general policy as regards the National Defense, as well as the implementation of the policy. Military personnel, with the exception of the Civil Aviation Secretariat, and the departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Ministries, all of which are integrated into it.

Two. The holder of the Ministry of Defense, as responsible for training the Armies of the Earth, Sea and Air so that they can fulfill their respective missions, will exercise all the functions of management of the defense policy that is not reserved or exercised directly the President of the Government, and those related to the Board of Chiefs of Staff that is expressly delegated to it.

Three. The Ministry of Defense shall have a Secretariat, the holder of which shall assume, among others, the functions, attributions and responsibilities that correspond, according to the current legislation, to the current Army and Air Undersecretaries, as well as the that, being their own of the figure of Undersecretary, are referred to in point eight of the preamble of Law nine/thousand nine hundred and seventy, of four of July, organic of the Navy, whatever the higher authorities of the Administration Naval who today perform them. The posts of Deputy Secretary of the Army and Air, as well as that of Admiral Secretary General referred to in Article 20 of the said Organic Law of the Navy, are hereby deleted by this Royal Decree.

The position of Deputy Secretary will be exercised by a General Officer or Admiral in activity.

Four. The posts of Secretary General of the Army, Navy and Air are created, exercised by General Officers or Admirals in a situation of activity and that under the direct dependence of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense will be tasks and responsibilities to be determined.

Five. Under the direct dependency of the Department holder, the Higher Defense Information Center is created, which will incorporate the functions and agencies of the Administration to be determined.

Article three.

The Ministry of Finance is set up under the Secretariat for Budget and Public Expenditure, which will assume the responsibilities related to the Directorates General of the Treasury, Budget, State Heritage and Insurance. The Financial Economics Sub-Secretariat is deleted.

Article four.

The Ministry of the Interior will be renamed the Ministry of Interior.

Article five.

The Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism is created, in which the following bodies are integrated:

(a) All the organs and entities of the Ministry of Public Works not transferred to the Ministry of Transport and Communications in this Royal Decree.

b) All organs and entities under the Ministry of Housing.

c) The Directorate-General for Territorial Action and Environment of the Ministry of the Presidency.

Article six.

In the Ministry of Education and Science the Secretariat of State for Universities and Research is created.

Item seven.

The Ministry of Industry will be renamed the Ministry of Industry and Energy, depending on the functions related to the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Article eight.

One. The Ministry of Commerce will be renamed the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism.

Two. A Ministry of Commerce and Tourism is created by a Ministry of Tourism, which assumes all the competencies and units that are integrated or dependent on the Tourism Secretariat, and the position of Deputy Minister of Tourism is extinguished.

Three. The Ministry of Commerce and Tourism also integrates the Superior Price Board.

Article nine.

One. The Ministry of the Presidency shall incorporate the following Units and Services:

a) The currently dependent on the Minister Secretary of Government.

(b) Those integrated into the Subsecretariat of Office and the Technical Subsecretariat of the President of the Government, both Subsecretariats being extinguished.

Two. A Secretariat of State for Public Administration whose scope of functions will be determined by Decree is created within the Ministry of the Presidency. The position of Under-Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency is deleted.

Article ten.

One. The Ministry of Economy is set up, which will have the task of establishing guidelines for general economic policy, short and medium-term programming, and the study and proposal of measures to make good progress advisable. of the national economy.

The Ministry of Economy will assume the current responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance in matters of financial policy. Banco de España e Instituto de Crédito Oficial. The Ministry of Economy also includes the current Planning Secretariat with all its organs and units-except the Directorate-General for Territorial Action and the Environment-and the National Statistics Institute.

Two. The Minister of Economy will be dependent on a Secretary of State for Economic Coordination and Programming, who will attend the meetings of the Delegation of Economic Affairs and will exercise the functions of the Secretary of the Economy. The role of the Planning Assistant is deleted.

Three. For organic purposes, the Ministry of Economy is attached to the National Economy Council.

Item eleven.

One. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is set up, in which the following bodies are integrated:

a) The General Directorate of Posts and Telecommunications of the Ministry of the Interior.

b) The Government Delegation to the Spanish National Telephone Company.

c) The General Directorate of Land Transport of the Ministry of Public Works.

d) The Assistant Secretary of the Merchant Navy of the Ministry of Commerce and all the management centers that are dependent on it. The Government within four months shall determine the final dependence of the Directorate-General for Fisheries.

(e) The Civil Aviation Secretariat of the Air Ministry and all the Management Centres that are dependent on it, without prejudice to what the Government determines in accordance with the provisions of the second final provision.

(f) All the Bodies and Entities attached to and linked to the Bodies referred to in the previous paragraphs, including the National Network of Spanish Railways. Spanish Railways of Via Estrela and its corresponding Government Delegations.

Article twelve.

One. The Ministry of Health and Social Security is hereby established, which shall be composed of the Secretariat and Technical General Secretariat of the Department and the following Organs:

a) The Ministry of Government's Directorate General for Health.

(b) The Secretariat for Social Security, the Directorates-General for Social Security Management and Health Care, and the Social Security and Social Security Financing and Social Services, the Ministry of Social Security, Job.

(c) Autonomous State Entities. Services, Institutions and Bodies and Commissions, Collegiate Bodies. Professional corporations and other entities assigned to the Ministries of Government and Labor, through the management centers that are transferred or linked to them by reason of direction, supervision, guardianship or protectorate.

Two. A Joint Committee of the Ministries of Labor and Health and Social Security is hereby established, which will propose to the Government the definitive distribution of responsibilities and powers in the field of Social Security between the two departments.

Article thirteen.

One. The Ministry of Culture and Welfare is created, consisting of the following Organs and Entities.

a) All units of the current Ministry of Information and Tourism, except those attributed in this Royal Decree to the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism.

b) The Sub-Secretary for Family, Youth and Sport with their Directorates-General, dependent on the Ministry of the Presidency.

c) The General Directorate of the Artistic and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Education and Science.

(d) The Bodies and Entities attached to or linked to the Management Centers and Agencies that are transferred.

Two. A Ministry of Culture and Welfare is created at the Ministry of Culture and Welfare, and the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Information is deleted.

First disposition first.

One. The Secretaries of State shall exercise in respect of the Units assigned to them the privileges provided for in the numbers one, four, five, six, seven, ten and eleven of Article 14 of the Law of Legal Regime of the State Administration, without prejudice to the senior management of the respective Minister.

Two. The Secretaries of State may also carry out the duties of the Chief Minister of the department.

Three. The Secretaries of State may attend to inform the Councils of Ministers and the Government's Delegated Commissions when they are convened.

Four. In those Ministry departments where there is no Undersecretary, the Secretary of State shall assume the functions recognized by the Secretary of State in accordance with Article 15 of the Law of Legal Regime of the State Administration.

Five. The Secretaries of State shall be appointed by Decree agreed upon in the Council of Ministers and on the proposal of the Minister concerned.

Final disposition second.

One. Within four months, the Government, by decree agreed in the Council of Ministers, will approve the regulatory provisions in the organic structures of each department, agreeing on the creation, modification, merger and deletion of the number of units, dependencies and agencies are considered appropriate, as well as their definitive attachment to the relevant Ministerial Departments.

Two. For the Ministries of Economy and Finance, appropriate measures will be taken to coordinate public expenditure, creating a budget and expenditure committee under the responsibility of the two ministries, which is responsible for the definition and proposal of the change in budgetary policy.

Third end disposition.

Dependents of the Ministries of Economy and Finance is created a Financial Policy Commission, which will correspond to the definition of the rules governing the financial institutions and the proposals that are considered appropriate in this scope.

Final disposition fourth.

The integrations of administrative units in the different Departments that are verified by this Royal Decree also assume the powers that were being exercised through these units.

Final disposition fifth.

The Ministry of Finance is authorized to carry out the transfers of precise credits and, where appropriate, to enable the necessary credits to comply with the provisions of this Royal Decree.

Final disposition sixth.

The Minister of Labor will assume the functions and competencies that today correspond to the Minister of Trade Union Relations.

Flnal disposition seventh.

This Royal Decree will enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of the State.

Additional disposition.

The Department of the Department of Economy is created at the Ministry of Economy.

Given in Madrid to four of July of a thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven.

JOHN CARLOS

The President of the Government,

ADOLFO SUAREZ GONZALEZ