Pilar Cancela Rodríguez was appointed to the position of State Secretary for International Cooperation at the Council of Ministers meeting held on 20 July 2021.
Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Ms. Cancela Rodríguez holds a Degree in Law from the University of Santiago de Compostela. She has been a civil servant in the Regional Government of Galicia's Administrative Corps since 1993, with the rank of Senior Expert in Workplace Risk Prevention (since 2006). Twice, she was appointed to the post of Director-General for Labour Relations in the Government of Galicia: in 2003, and from 2005 to 2009. Moreover, Ms. Cancela Rodríguez has been a Member of Parliament for the Socialist Party of Galicia (PSdeG-PSOE) since 2016, representing the province of Corunna. In Parliament, she has chaired the Equality Committee and the Monitoring Committee for the State Pact against Gender Violence. She has also served as Organizational Secretary for the PSdeG-PSOE, and as Chair of its Management Board. Since June 2017, Ms. Cancela Rodríguez has held a seat on the Federal Executive Committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), being responsible for the Area of Migration Policies and for PSOE-Foreign Affairs. In addition, she is a trustee of the Pablo Iglesias Foundation.