Javier Arenas, leader of the Andalucian PP party, and expected winner of the March 25th elections in the region, has announced that if he wins, he will cut the number of delegados in the Junta de Andalucia from the current 25 to just 7. The number of Conserjerías -regional Ministries- will likely be just 10 instead of the 13 that currently exist, as Arenas plans to fuse a number of them.
Currently, there are about 25 delegados, or high level delegates, which are commonly known as “cargos de confianza”, or jobs for the boys (even the press use this term). In theory, they are run important parts of the regional government in different parts of Andalucía. However, Arenas has rightly pointed out that this is an antique concept that should be binned, and says that if he runs all the really necessary jobs together, then he only needs 7 people to run the place.
He’s also promised to cut the regional administration management by at least 50%, as part of his electoral manifesto, pointing out that after 30 odd years of socialist rule, the Andalucian government is littered with job positions that only exist to reward people with jobs and pensions. He has promised to bring a modern, flexible and efficient government structure to Andalucia, based on modern democracy and technology, and has again reminded us that just because you got voted in doesn’t mean you, your family and your friends should all have a job for life.
Not sure how far I believe him, but hey, it’s a start. But he’s right that you could run the place with a dozen politicians, instead of the hundreds we have lying around the place currently. Although at first glance it seems that part of his plan to reduce the cargos de confianzas is just to rename some of the positions. Ah hem.
Remember the difference between the Parliament of Andalucia and the Junta de Andalucia – the Parliament is made up of all the different political parties and passes the laws, the Junta is the organisation that runs the place, and is controlled by the party in power (since democracy, the PSOE).