An “anomaly” that must be “put to an end”. Thus, the Minister of Justice, Local Administration and Interior of the Government of Andalusia described: Jose Antonio Nieto (PP), the Free Designation Posts (PLD) in the regional staff, as we call the civil servants who, for reasons of trust or aptitude, are appointed at the discretion of the regional government, without any competition ordinary merit.
Questioned this Wednesday before the Andalusian Parliament, questioned by the Vox group on this controversy, the regional leader affirmed that created a “working group” composed of members of its council and the unionsto whom proposals have been addressed “to put an end to what is an anomaly”.
“This is an anomaly because you have to choose between the bad and the worse.“, Nieto explained. He clarified that when a specific position needs to be filled, “dysfunctions arise that are difficult to resolve.” “If you need a lawyer for procedures, a veterinarian can come forward,” he said, questioning the use of called ordinary merit competitions in which the curriculum vitae is taken into accountthe experience and seniority of civil servants to access higher levels of the Administration.
There are approximately 2,800 freely designated positions
The intention of the Executive of Juanma Moreno (PP) is that these positions of “Trusted officials” are reduced to a minimum “immediately”” and that they constitute a “minority” in the General Administration of the Junta de Andalucía, made up of 41,900 civil servants, of which around 2,800 currently occupy positions through the PLD system.
ABC revealed that, far from decreasing, over the last five and a half years the number of positions occupied by civil servants appointed without competition has increased by around 700, which has led to a unanimous complaint from all unions to put an end to to this system which, according to him, limits the possibilities of promotion of career civil servants between levels 26 and 30 of the Council, the highest and best paid.
In line with this complaint taken up by Vox, the Minister of Civil Service was keen to stress that all those who occupy these freely designated positions are civil servants who, previously, “accessed the civil service through an opposition” and that “in all cases, legality and regulations are respected.” “These are not second-hand devices,” he warned.
Nieto defended that the certain destinies of the Administration require “a singularization that is not resolved for the moment.” Reducing the presence of PLDs in the administrative structure is a “priority” for the Andalusian government, because it wants to “put an end to a situation that is uncomfortable and that we do not like.”
The proposal of the Andalusian Executive This involves using a hybrid model, halfway between the PLD and the ordinary merit competition. The recently approved Andalusian Civil Service Law describes it as a “specific competition” and envisages assessing the curriculum vitae but also the aptitude on the basis of an interview with the candidates when the position is awarded.
Vox denounces the “hypocrisy” of the Andalusian government
Nieto responded to a question posed by the Vox MP from Almeria Montserrat Cervanteswho criticized the “hypocrisy” of the Andalusian government, which “reproduced the same practices and vices criticized by the PSOE“when the PP was in opposition and defended the reduction of “hand-picked positions” of civil servants to “depoliticize” the administration.
Cervantes lamented that “The proliferation of these positions has created a bottleneck in terms of internal promotion.” and caused the blocking of “opportunities for thousands of civil servants” to occupy better paid positions within the Council. Vox estimates that 425 PLDs have been appointed on a discretionary basis from January to September 2024, or 266 in the last four months, at a rate of “two per day”.We are talking about more than 3,000 civil servants occupying positions assigned by hand.“, which represents more than 7% of the total,” according to the Vox parliamentarian’s estimates.
