Moncloa stresses that, in proportion, he has fewer advisers than Ayuso in Madrid and Feijóo in Galicia

PP reproaches that spending has gone from 7 million in Rajoy's time to more than 19 million

MADRID, 19 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Undersecretary for the Presidency and for the Territorial Administrations, Alberto Herrera, has defended this Wednesday the need to have advisers in Moncloa and has replied to the criticism of the PP and Vox for what they consider an exorbitant number of eventual personnel assigned to this department emphasizing that, in proportion, the General State Administration has fewer eventuals than the Community of Madrid, where Isabel Díaz Ayuso governs, or Galicia where until a few months ago the now leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, did so.

This was stated by Herrera during his appearance before the Congressional Budget Committee, where, for yet another year, the PP and Vox have censored the "infinite" number of advisers in Moncloa according to Vox deputy José María Sánchez. On her side, the 'popular' Edurne Uriarte has denounced that spending on advisers has gone from seven million in Mariano Rajoy's last budget to more than 19 million.

Herrera has highlighted that temporary staff, which parliamentary groups also have, is necessary in public administrations to respond to the ever-increasing demand for transparency and accountability from public officials.

In his opinion, rather than by their number, the work of these people should be judged by their results. In any case, he has also pulled figures and has contrasted the temporary staff of the General State Administration with that of two other administrations governed by the PP.

According to these data, in the Community of Madrid, a region with more than six million inhabitants, there are 268 temporary, and in Galicia the figure rises to 167. "Approximately there are 3.97 temporary for every 100,000 inhabitants in Madrid and 6.2 for every 100,000 inhabitants in Galicia, while in the General State Administration it is 1.79 for every 100,000 inhabitants", he commented.

That is why he has asked PP and Vox to "modulate the decibels" of their criticism on this matter. In addition, he has explained to them that in order to censor this excessive number of Moncloa advisers, they use the number of places created for this type of staff but that they do not have to be "covered".

Likewise, he recalled that in 2019 it was concluded that career officials who work in the area of ​​the Presidency of the Government should be "computed as temporary staff". It is, he has said, of 124 public employees who, if they did not occupy those positions, would have to be paid the same because they are civil servants.

Herrera has also insisted on the fact that "no less than 224" people hired as temporary staff in the government complex have been there for "more than four years", that is, they were already there when Mariano Rajoy governed and probably also previous presidents.

The undersecretary has also replied to the reproaches of the PP and Vox for the, from his point of view, "excessive" spending planned for the Spanish Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2023.

Herrera has stressed that these are "reasonable" figures that correspond to "about three euros per inhabitant", compared to the more than eleven, for example, that Sweden used to organize its current presidency.

Specifically, the Government has planned an item of 146 million euros in the General State Budget to organize the community presidency, a figure that is distributed among several ministries, although the bulk corresponds to those of the Presidency and Foreign Affairs.