The icing on the cake of this legislature of disrepute in the region would be that the 2023 budgets were passed with a remarkable salary increase for the regional deputies and some of them came forward to defend it with the same argument that Patxi López had a few used days ago in congress
The PSOE’s parliamentary spokesman, Patxi López, justified the 3.5% pay increase for national deputies, in line with what had been approved for civil servants, in the need to “make politics dignified”. The argument sounded surprising to say the least, as he said that deputies are well paid, but not those who devote themselves to politics in other institutions, such as city councils, a perfectly valid question, but one that is raised to justify their own salary increase. and those of the rest of their glories. That doesn’t seem very worthy to me. It is true that certain public responsibilities, some very high and others not so much, are not well paid (except for the presidency of Correos, Paradores, RTVE, the CNMV…) and that means that the exercise of politics and the public administration management does not attract the most qualified professionals. True as it is, as has happened in the major parties, and now more so with new formations that leaders need to hold public office, politics has become a job for many people with uncertain professional horizons. It suffices to glance at the professional careers of many Murcian leaders, of old and new politics, to verify that many are not among the most prepared for public affairs and also that many of those who appear are personally better off than before going into politics. With the scattering of forces and coalition leaders, joining the regional government is not an unattainable goal for those with no merit or work experience, if they are in the right place at the right time. I refer to the facts. Don’t get me wrong: the exercise of politics is a public right that must be democratized and available to every citizen. It cannot be the sphere of activity of the few, rich or well positioned, as it used to be in cacique Spain and still in many electoral democracies. That politics cares about life is a fact that Patxi López himself testifies with his person. Dedicated to this for almost thirty years. And I am glad that this is the case in his case, because he is an honest politician, who, like any of us, makes mistakes and is more or less lucky when he puts forward a point of view. That the president of the government of Spain, whoever he is, charges 90,000 euros a year, almost half that of the president of Aena or Renfe, is an unjustifiable anomaly. It is a salary that falls short of their responsibilities, which is even more apparent when compared to the EUR 75,000 that councilors receive from regional governments per year. All politicians should be paid decent salaries and in accordance with their varying levels of responsibility, but linking salaries to the dignity of the activity performed is a bad recipe. There is no unworthy work, whatever is charged, what there is is unworthy wages.
Political activity cannot be poorly paid, but its dignity depends on conducting it with honesty, transparency, and dedication to serving the public. In the Region, the political level is not looking its best. In fact, we are dealing with a frenzied legislature that inflicts incalculable damage on the prestige of the Regional Assembly. Transformed into a kind of circus with three rings, it has been the scene of maneuvers more typical of parliamentary filibusterism, the result of pacts without lights or stenographers, which practically led to the functional collapse of the Chamber seven months before the elections. There has been nothing illegal in the actions of the parties, but it is chain behavior that is not at all constructive and undermines the honor of politics. It all started with a motion of censure presented with all legitimacy, but reckless because of the profiles involved, and agreed outside the representative bodies of the candidate parties (PSOE and Cs) in parallel negotiation with the of them (Cs) to renew the government. And of course, apart from public opinion, which came face to face with the fruit of that secret accord. The PP executive overcame control with alliances with several CS dissidents in another secret pact that turned them into armchairs in the Board of Directors. Then three of the four Vox deputies rebelled against their national leadership and took control of the group, its name and financial allocation. Now, in a two-stage move that could not happen without the approval of the PP (another opaque pact), Vox’s national leadership has deactivated the deputies associated with Macarena Olona, leaving a source of funding for a hypothetical formation of the former national leader It is the counselor Campuzano, the same who ousted Vox, who was the pinnacle of the Abascal operation, went to the Mixed Group and dragged there those deputies he can’t even see and whom he and the two from Podemos, two from Cs and one from the authentic Vox. Eight delegates in a political space designed for no more than four, much like the four Marx brothers’ cabin in “A Night at the Opera.” It is not known who will represent that group, how this will affect the balance in the Council of Spokespersons, who will be the new Secretary of the Table and whether the House Rules of Procedure need to be changed.
The legislature can be terminated. Few initiatives can arise from this representative mess that looks nothing like the correlation of forces emanating from the polls. The budgets for 2023 remain in place. I suppose the regional government will do everything possible to approve them: they will be sizeable and, like Sánchez’s, they will be designed with the polls in mind. The icing on the cake of this notorious legislature would be that the public bills passed with a remarkable salary increase for the regional deputies and some of them came forward to defend it because of the need to make politics dignified.
Source: La Verdad
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