A bad-mannered changeover

The financial situation of regional governments was, before the May 22 elections, a serious financial problem for the economy, with Spain obliged by its commitments in Brussels to carry out an adjustment plan that must produce a reduction of public deficit to three percent of GDP in 2013; and it is still a problem. Delays in payments to suppliers are common coin in many regional and local governments. The dramatic situation of indebtedness and deficit in some regions (Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia and Murcia) weighs like a millstone on the international credibility of Spanish debt. But unfortunately, in spite of the gravity of the situation, the recent campaign saw no debate on this matter.

However, after the elections, when the new regional and municipal governing teams ought to be concentrating on putting together austerity policies, the debate has burst into political life in a more spurious form. The Popular Party (PP) in Castilla-La Mancha has publicly accused José María Barreda's outgoing Socialist Party (PSOE) government of leaving the region bankrupt, so that civil service salaries cannot be paid. It also lays charges of seizure and destruction of public documents, so as to prevent the new government from seeing them, and of packing public companies with friends and parasites.

The escalation of the conflict reveals a lack of common sense. Regional and local governments have long squandered money on unnecessary and exorbitant public works. This is just as true of PP-run governments as it is of those controlled by the PSOE. The May elections ought to have been an occasion for putting a stop to this, and for implementing austerity policies with the greatest possible consensus. To this end it is necessary that inter-party pacts to form governments be concluded promptly, and that the changeovers be conducted with transparency and in good faith.

But the PP in Castilla-La Mancha has not chosen the path of common sense. It has preferred that of voicing generic accusations based on "estimates" and guesswork, without any proof at all. It is no secret that the accounts of Castilla-La Mancha, like those of other regions, include grave problems; and that new data may appear to confirm how serious they are, calling for new cutbacks. But for this very reason, PSOE and PP must work together on the tasks that await them: first, smoothing the changeover of powers, and then making decisions.

The PP knows the difficulties of the regions and cannot feign surprise, being in part responsible for them. The austerity lately called for by Rajoy squares poorly with the fact that PP fiefdoms have jacked up their expenditure four times above the average. It cannot be ruled out that the PP accusations may be intended as an excuse to launch into drastic cutbacks in investment and social expenditure, contrary to their electoral promises. The audits they are calling for must serve as a basis for practical measures, not merely for denigration and alarm. This is not what the public expects from the PP's management.