The Spanish government is attempting to back debt for regional governments that meet their deficit goals just after announcing 15 billion euros in regional spending cuts. An initiative like this can be viewed as a wink to the CiU's intentions to create guaranteed state-issue bonds and will inaugurate the national government's control over regional government budgets.
This model compares to the one that Germany is applying to its own states, and it seems logical that it would be applied to other administrations within Spain, especially when they pose a threat to Spain's credit rating. For governments like Valencia, an intervention from the capital is already under way.
One key point lies in the lack of transparency in information provided by regional governments, not just the fact that the numbers were not transmitted to central government in a timely way, but that there were successive scandals associated with profligate spending of taxpayer money. Citizens deserve to see more transparency.
Spanish citizens should know exactly how their tax dollars are spent so that they can openly debate about what spending to keep and what to do away with. Even though it is clear that the majority of the national budget is allocated to education and healthcare, public media comprises a significant part of the budget as well. Ultimately, we have to review inefficiencies in the system and even analyze what has caused our competitive edge to dull. A rational debate should begin.