Former Spanish Minister Javier Moscoso Dies at 90

Javier Moscoso, who served as Minister of the Presidency in Spain’s first Felipe González government and later as Attorney General, died on 17 July at the age of 90 in Jávea, Alicante, according to Socialist Party sources. A lawyer and career prosecutor, Moscoso joined politics in 1979, was appointed minister after the Socialist landslide of 1982 and oversaw the landmark Public Administration Act. He became widely known for introducing paid personal-leave days for civil servants—still colloquially called “moscosos”—before moving on to head the Prosecutor’s Office from 1986 to 1990. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences, praising Moscoso as “a model of knowledge, rigour and commitment”. After leaving frontline politics, Moscoso served on the editorial board of Thomson Reuters Spain and in 2017 received the Gold Medal of Merit in Work from the Council of Ministers.