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Bambi’s first steps

1. Appoints a Cabinet of eight men and eight women

2. Brings Spanish troops home from Iraq. The withdrawal is such a success that José Bono, the Defence Minister, awards himself a medal

3. Sacrifices Spain’s newly won EU voting powers under the Nice treaty in order to break the deadlock over the European Constitution. He wants Spain to be among the first countries to approve it

4. His first Bill aims to tackle Spain’s domestic violence. Some 77 women died at the hands of their partners or former partners last year. Victims will receive special funding and perpetrators must undergo rehabilitation in prison

5. Promises legal recognition of gay marriages, despite fierce opposition from the Roman Catholic Church

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6. Ends male primacy in the royal line of succession. Crown Prince Felipe has been assured that his right to rule will not be affected, even though he has an older sister

7. Lifts ban on stem-cell research and ends compulsory religious education — both innovations of the previous conservative Government. Catholic hierarchy even angrier

8. Scraps an ambitious project vilified by ecologists to pipe water from the River Ebros in northern Spain to Valencia and Murcia. The socialists have promised better water conservation plans and desalination plants

9. Promises to transform the Senate into a chamber representing the autonomous regions and to give greater powers to Catalonia and the Basque Country. Critics predict the break-up of Spain

10. Is about to make divorce easier and quicker, with only one partner’s consent needed. He was harangued for his pains by the Archbishop of Santiago. The Government may remove state funding of the Church