[11] With the change of government led by Prime Minister José María Aznar in 1996, Guirao remained in office until 2000.

[12][13] In addition, he was a guest professor of the master's degree in Cultural Management at the Carlos III University of Madrid.

[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".

[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.

[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.

[12] In August 2021 he published the book that he coordinated together with the academic Magdalena Cantero entitled Aún hay tiempo.

[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.