Presentation of Rajoy's new government at the Moncloa Palace | Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images Mariano Rajoy, back to the old routine The Spanish PM puts the economy, Catalonia and Brexit on the agenda.

MADRID — Spain at long last has a new government — and it looks a lot like the old one.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy stayed true to form and played it safe when he named his cabinet on Thursday evening, picking trusted allies for top jobs and putting three topics at the top of his agenda: the continuation of his economic policies, standing up to the Catalan secessionist challenge, and making sure Spain plays its part in the Brexit negotiations.

Same economic track

The conservative leader, who will need cross-party support to pass legislation in the face of a hostile parliament, kept seven ministers from his first term, including his core economic team.

Luis de Guindos who negotiated a €40 billion bailout for Spanish banks with Brussels and revised deficit goals, stays on as economy minister; Cristobal Montoro, who was in charge of domestic budget cutbacks, remains in the finance ministry; and Fátima Báñez, who implemented labor market liberalizing reforms, stays as employment minister.

Keeping the same team in place suggests Rajoy has no time for experiments after steering the country through a devastating economic crisis. “I’m not willing to demolish what has been built,” Rajoy said in his investiture debate last week.

Unemployment in Spain now stands at 19 percent, down from a peak of 27 percent in 2013, and the country’s economy is expected to grow by more than 3 percent this year, one of the strongest rates in Europe.

The Catalan problem

Rajoy also put his deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, in charge of relations with the regions in a clear signal that he intends to make dealing with Catalonia’s separatists a top priority.

The prime minister has said he considers the region's push for independence to be the biggest crisis facing the country.

Sáenz de Santamaría will play a key role in negotiations with all regions over a new financing system. Discrimination in the allocation of public funds has been one of the main complaints of Catalan pro-independence forces, which control the regional government and are determined to hold a binding referendum on independence next year — a vote Madrid refuses to allow.

However, Sáenz de Santamaría has lost part of her portfolio from Rajoy's first administration, as government spokesperson. That responsibility transfers to Íñigo Méndez, the education minister, whose reputation for being affable could come in handy given the conservatives’ need of allies.

Another move aimed at easing tensions with Catalonia — and with the rest of the country’s political forces — was the dismissal of Jorge Fernández Díaz as interior minister, after he was caught on tape plotting against leaders of Catalan separatist forces. He has been replaced by newcomer Juan Ignacio Zoido, a former mayor of Seville.

“The priorities are maintaining economic growth, solving the regions’ financing problem and cooling down the situation in Catalonia,” said José Ramón Caso, a political consultant.

The Socialists, the main opposition party which paved the way for a second Rajoy term last month when they agreed not to block his reappointment, were unimpressed with the new team.

Spokesperson Mario Jiménez told reporters Rajoy hadn’t assembled “a government for dialogue” and criticized his decision to keep the main economic ministers.

Rafa Mayoral of the far-left Podemos said all the country could expect from the new conservative cabinet was “cutbacks” and “social suffering.”

Budget and Brexit

The government's most pressing task is approving a new budget, with orders from Brussels to reduce the country's deficit by €5.5 billion next year — a challenge that will put the new cabinet's negotiating skills to the test. Reforms on pensions and education are also on the agenda.

Rajoy raided Brussels to appoint a new foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis: a former ambassador to the EU, an EU expert and the advisor who has accompanied the PM at all summits in Brussels.

The move hints that Rajoy is not satisfied with Spain’s influence in Europe and that he wants to have a bigger say in the Brexit negotiations.

“Dastis is the man for the job in terms of knowledge,” said Ignacio Molina, an analyst at Real Instituto Elcano, a think tank. But he warned that the new man will have to overcome his lack of weight in Rajoy’s Popular Party and his lack of experience in a political post.

Women rivals

Another new anointment is María Dolores de Cospedal, the PP’s second-in-command, as defense minister — a post without much political influence but lots of prestige.

Cospedal and Sáenz de Santamaría are long-standing rivals but also both close Rajoy allies. A senior party source said Rajoy has tried to balance the Cospedal and Sáenz de Santamaría factions “so that there’s equilibrium between the two most powerful women in the country.”

The new cabinet has five women and eight men with an average age of 53 years, slightly younger than the previous administration.

They will have a hard time governing, as Rajoy has the smallest parliamentary backing in Spanish democratic history.

Although the PP came out on top in two elections — in December and June — they fell short of a majority. Only a U-turn by the Socialists averted a third election — planned for December 25 — and ended 10 months of political deadlock.