Painful cutbacks in Catalonia

Certainly the cutbacks caused by this lengthy economic crisis will have to affect almost all of the headings of public budgets, but there are some essential services — such as public healthcare and education — which, if not exempt from the wave of cuts, at least ought to be approached in a different manner. The Generalitat (regional government) of Catalonia, which this summer closed 25 percent of hospital beds and 40 outpatient clinics, plans to cut by half the Christmas payment to 40,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare personnel of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS), the regional public health system, and proposes to postpone the payment of duty call and overtime hours. The argument is that the 2011 budget has to be complied with, and that to this end the government must save 46 million euros between now and the end of the year, thus avoiding the firing of substitute employees.

In a context of mass unemployment and general budgetary rigor, the cutback suffered by the Catalan health personnel ought to be bearable, but this new measure comes on top of others that are causing an alarming deterioration of the system's quality. It is hard to accept that 10 months after taking office, Artur Mas' government is still pointing to the previous tripartite regional administration's spendthrift ways to justify an ill-focused, erratic policy of austerity, in which it first eliminates the inheritance tax and then announces that Catalonia will not raise objections to a wealth tax, should this obtain the green light in the national parliament. Mas added no further details, thus dodging the political cost of introducing a new tax to raise income. The final remark that a special arrangement for Catalonia such as that of the Basque Country (which collects its own taxes) would solve the Generalitat's difficulties, is an unreal argument which signifies an intention not to accept responsibilities, and merely to enlarge its repertory of arguments.

With the cut in the December bonus, the Catalan healthcare budget will save only 0.5 percent, a petty sum which, however, will further anger employees already sufficiently exasperated by the closure of services. Certainly in Catalonia there are other budget headings that can be reduced without eroding such a cornerstone of the welfare state so vital to social cohesion. The main consequence of the deterioration of social services is the exclusion of the most vulnerable groups.

No one finds it easy to square budgets in this economic context, but it is unacceptable when a regional government succumbs to the easy temptation of containing deficit by cutting social services instead of looking at other options for saving, such as increasing the system's efficiency. The fact that public hospitals are still under-utilizing their costly installations in the afternoon is indeed unacceptable; but politicians have to work a little harder rather than introducing measures to rationalize their use, while the powerful unions that control the sector have to be more flexible.