Castilla-La Mancha: an austerity test case

If, before the May 22 regional elections, the possible loss of Castilla-La Mancha for the Socialists marked the line between a bad result and a complete catastrophe, a win in that region for the Popular Party (PP) meant turning its more-than-probable overall victory into a blissful triumph. Now that region has been conquered, it follows that its government should take on the role of shop window or test case for PP anti-crisis policy making.

PP leaders have themselves encouraged such an interpretation when faced with the inconsistent panorama provided by conservative administrations in the rest of the regions under the party's control, where the incoherence is such that it allows for the promise to reduce taxation in one place (Castilla-La Mancha) while raising it in another (Extremadura). The case of debt-laden Castilla-La Mancha could also give interesting clues as to how the PP will govern in Spain, assuming it wins power in the next general elections. In her investiture speech on Tuesday as regional premier, Dolores de Cospedal, who is also the PP's secretary general, sketched out some fundamentals of this new austere cost-controlling strategy that the party is putting forward as the best approach to the crisis.

One of the first things Cospedal and her regional administration must do is clear up the suspicions voiced by her own party colleagues after the elections as to the true situation of Castilla-La Mancha's public accounts. Those allegations of virtual bankruptcy were based on rumors or spurious data supposedly supplied by individual civil servants. It is important to now explain whether the region is bankrupt; whether there is a hidden deficit; if public employees can be paid or not; whether official documents have been stolen and destroyed; and whether the region's public agencies are stuffed full of cronies linked to the outgoing government, as the PP has said. The citizens of Castilla-La Mancha, and indeed of all Spain, have the right to know if these accusations were accurate. Claims such as these have not contributed to a strengthening of Spain's image in the financial markets.

Among the austerity measures Cospedal has put forward, the one that most catches the eye is the shutting down of various bodies that provide a measure of control over the government she now heads: the regional ombudsman, the Social and Economic Council and even the Public Accounts Board. The savings made are small and yet the dismantling of these institutions has an undeniable political charge. A regional government should not be a mirror image of the central administration in its bureaucratic complexity but the last thing any government should rid itself of are the bodies that oversee its functioning.

Reducing the number of high-ranked officials - by 60 percent during the current legislature - makes more sense, and it will be necessary to keep a close eye on progress in this direction. Other promises such as tax cuts and infrastructure investment will just have to wait. No one can escape the effects of the crisis.