The spoils system that has been created in the regional and local government administrations is the most serious obstacle preventing Spain from reforming its public sector. Only a crisis like the one we are experiencing now could put an end to a tained Spanish democracy that, unfortunately, is tarnishing all parties within our country and countless people beyond our borders.
For example, for many years the Andalusian govenrment has sheltered 130 public entities that also make up a parallel administration that taxpayers contribute up to 3.3 billion euros annually to run. The lack of transparency is such that nobody knows a specific number of well-connected Spaniards who got jobs with the government without having anyone to compete with and stick around in doing cushy jobs for foundations or public companies. It is estimated that 26,000 people have won such jobs, and they earn significantly higher salaries than Andalusia's civil servants and lower-level government employees even though their exact roles are not publicly known.
At the core of Andalusia's petition to withdraw funds from Spain's regional government emergency fund (known as the Fondo de Liquidez Autonómica or FLA) and the rebalancing plans that this entails, the Ministry of Finance hopes to figure out the framework of Andalusia's labor and salary situations. The costs of these parallel administrations show the resistence that governments are putting up against reforms and, at the same time, show that it is urgent to actually complete these reforms. The national government intends to start with local governments, because they have more ability to handle them. The real battle will take place with the regional governments. Because the PP holds most of the political power and the weakest regional governments need financial aid, Rajoy has a chance to execute critical reforms across the country.
