Minister of Culture

In June 2018, Guirao was chosen to succeed Màxim Huerta as Minister of Culture and Sport, after Huerta's resignation and took office on 14 June.^[1][14] His mandate had as main objectives the reform of the "Ley del Mecenazgo" and the "Ley del Deporte", to attend to the precarious situation of cinema and to mediate in the internal war of the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores.^[15] As a minister, he stated that, despite being against bullfighting, he should not impose anything and the changes should be in accordance with a balanced and settled social evolution and respecting what is a "Mediterranean tradition".^[15] One of the first measures he took was the cancellation of the merger between the Teatro Real and the Teatro de la Zarzuela and the approval of the "Estatuto del Artista" in June 2018.^[15][16] He was also very much in favor of promoting the visibility of women's sports at the same level as men's sports.^[17] In August 2018, he was the first Spanish Minister of Culture to recognize video games as "culture".^[18]

On 21 August of that year, he threatened cinema managers to review the lowering of VAT on movie tickets if they did not comply with it, since at least 50% of movie theaters had not applied the reduction from 21% to 10% that the Spanish government had approved few weeks ago. Despite the controversy generated by these statements, in September Guirao stated that this "wake-up call" was useful.^[19]

On 11 December 2018, he announced that in the first quarter of 2019 the conflict generated by the Salamanca Papers would come to an end, so that it would no longer be returning to the Catalan government the documents that were confiscated from it after the Spanish Civil War. Guirao also rejected the return of a set of documents that the Catalan government requested because he alleged that they were not covered by the law.^[20]

In March 2019, the Provincial Committee of the PSOE chose him to be first in the electoral list to the Congress of Deputies for the constituency of Almería.^[21] He was elected MP in the general election of April.^[22] He was re-elected as deputy for Almeria in the November 2019 general election.^[23]

After the Notre-Dame fire in Paris on 15 April 2019, Guirao convened an interministerial meeting for 16 April to study measures for heritage protection in emergency situations and said that day in an interview that the government plans to review the security of all the country's monuments.^[24] On 26 April, after the extraordinary meeting of the "Historical Heritage Council", he announced that the government would approve the implementation of 3.5 million euros for plans to safeguard cultural property in the event of emergencies.^[25]

In June 2019 Guirao reached an agreement with the Duchess of the Infantado whereby the Ministry of Culture became able to use the entire Palacio del Infantado, ending a process that began in 1960.^[26]

On 9 January 2020 it was announced that Guirao was discontinued as Minister of Culture and Sport^[27] and was succeeded by José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes on 13 January.^[28] Shortly after, on 29 January, he resigned from his seat in the Congress.^[29] The unexpected dismissal of Guirao left unfinished the new "Patronage Law", whose draft was already finished; the reform of the "National Institute of Performing Arts and Music" and the approval of its regulatory law; the extension of the "historical heritage law" which had as a novelty the inclusion of the cultural landscape, industrial, photographic and audiovisual heritage as new assets to be protected; and the approval of tax benefits for international production, whose draft was ready to be submitted for approval.^[30]

Post-ministry

In May 2020 he was re-appointed Chief Manager of Fundación Montemadrid.^[31] In that position, Guirao had to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the foundation and worked on the renovation of the Palacio de la Música de Madrid.^[13] Guirao stepped down as director of the foundation at the end of 2021 and was succeeded by Amaya de Miguel in April 2022.^[12]

In August 2021 he published the book that he coordinated together with the academic Magdalena Cantero entitled Aún hay tiempo. Paisajes para después de la pandemia ("There is still time. Landscapes for after the pandemic").^[32] On 17 September 2021 the minister of Culture Miquel Iceta appointed Guirao commissioner for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, as president of the National Commission created to organize the events of that ephemeris.^[33] On 10 November, Guirao testified as a witness before the Provincial Court of Valencia in the trial for the alleged fraud in the purchase and donation of works by the painter Gerardo Rueda by the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern.^[34]