SPAIN:KING JUAN Carlos, accompanied by Queen Sofia, Crown Prince Felipe and other members of the royal family, yesterday formally opened the ninth legislature of the Spanish parliament since democracy was restored 30 years ago. Only on such state occasions is the crimson and gold tapestry canopy unfurled, the red carpet unrolled and the main door opened to admit the head of state.
During his inaugural address, the king remembered those who had died in terrorist attacks and called for all sectors of society to work together to fight terrorism. He praised the nation for its "maturity" in creating a modern democratic society with advances in education and welfare.
Yesterday's session was the first time the new ministers, appointed by prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero last weekend, took their seats on the blue front benches of the chamber - the rest are upholstered in red leather.
The new cabinet marks a landmark in Spanish political history for having a majority of women. Mr Zapatero, a convinced feminist, named nine women ministers and only eight men. One of the most influential members of his government is the deputy prime minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, who remains in her post in the new cabinet.
"I feel very proud to have more women ministers than men in my cabinet," he said after they had been sworn in by the king on Monday. He has pledged to make gender equality an even more important part of his second four-year term as prime minister.
In line with this pledge, he has created a new ministry, that of equality, headed by 31-year-old Bibiana Aido, the youngest minister in Spain's history, whose task it is to promote the role of women in Spanish life and combat the scourge of domestic violence, which has cost more than 20 lives so far this year.
Other woman ministers are Cristina Garmendia, minister for science and investigation; Beatriz Corredor in housing; Magdalena Alvarez, transport and development; Mercedes Cabrera in education and social affairs; Elena Salgado, public administration and Elena Espinosa in agriculture and the environment.
But the most surprising appointment is the new minister of defence, 37-year-old Carme Chacon, the first woman in Spanish history to hold this post. A Catalan politician, Ms Chacon has been a parliamentary deputy since 2000, and held the post of minister of housing in the final months of the last Zapatero government.
The fact that a woman should head such a traditionally male dominated world of the military is a sign of the enormous strides Spain has taken since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.
Ms Chacon has promised to work to encourage more women to join Spain's armed forces, whose ranks they were allowed to join only 20 years ago.
The minister is seven months pregnant with her first child, although she has not made it clear whether she will take the full 16 weeks of maternity leave permitted by Spanish law, or how she will combine her ministerial duties with those of motherhood.
Mr Zapatero has so far made no comment on the criticism levelled at him by Italy's new president, the arch-machista Silvio Berlusconi, who described the government as: "Zapatero's pink cabinet. He will have a lot of trouble keeping all those women under control."