Spain: reform of the General State Administration
Under an agreement reached between the Spanish government and the trade unions after several weeks of negotiations with the Ministry of Finance, 29,578 positions are to be filled in Spain's General State Administration in 2022, 15,880 for free entry and 9,591 for internal promotion. The national press is impressed.
Best decision in a long time
El País is delighted at the prospect of young, efficient public employees:
“The timing could not have been better. According to the OECD, Spain is one of the countries with the oldest public servants in the world, after Greece and Italy. ... Spain has also been reprimanded several times for having such a large number of its state administration employees on temporary contracts. ... The result has been a growing number of public employees in insecure jobs and an absence of staff with solid public-sector careers, a circumstance which inevitably affects their efficiency. ... If we want quality public services we must have the necessary human resources, both in terms of quantity and quality.”
The more public servants, the better the service?
La Vanguardia also hopes that the initiative will bring more efficiency to the administration:
“Contrary to the popular belief, Spain is not a state full of public servants. ... If you look at the figures, there are no more public sector employees than in our neighbouring countries. In this sense, the agreement reached on Monday between the government and the trade unions to launch the largest public employment offer in Spain's history is not a wasteful action on the part of the government, but a necessary step. ... However the number of civil servants is one thing, but the quality of the service offered to citizens is quite another. ... This must be done with good judgment. Otherwise the words 'Come back tomorrow' may continue to fall short.”