The organization chart of senior officials of the Junta de Castilla y León dismantles the reduction in political spending that Vox has as a mantra. The far-right formation, which in April entered its first autonomous government together with the PP, is part of a coalition that has increased spending on permanent and temporary senior positions by 12.5% compared to the one signed in 2019 between PP and Ciudadanos.
From 93 positions with these characteristics, it jumps to 99 and in turn increases from 41 possible to 44 current ones. The disbursement for this goes from 7.13 million euros in the 2021 budgets, to 8.02 million in the accounts planned for 2023. The vice president, Juan Garcia-Gallardo (Vox), will charge 80,741.24 euros per year despite not run any counseling, something unprecedented in the community, and despite hardly having any powers.
The Budgets drawn up by PP and Vox and that were approved, except by surprise in the Castilla y Leon Courts, on December 23, include 8,026,150 euros destined for “senior positions” for the councils of the Board. The scheme continues to include 10 departments, the maximum allowed by the Statute, the same amount as in 2019. The total is divided between 6,236,262 euros to reward those 99 people, divided between 67 men and 32 women, and another 1,789,888 for the 44 hired as temporary, of which there are 19 men and 25 women with salaries between 35,000 and 58,000 euros per year. The extreme right has 26 of the 99 senior positions between the vice presidency, with hardly any functions, and the three areas it manages (Industry, Commerce and Employment, Agriculture and Livestock, and Culture and Sports) over the 10 of the regional Executive. In addition, Of the 44 possible there are nine that correspond to Vox. The more than eight million euros allocated to this task represent 12.5% more than the 7,136,285 that PP and Ciudadanos agreed to for 2021 and that were maintained until the end of that year the president, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco (PP) He broke with Ciudadanos and called the elections that pushed him to Gallardo. So there were 5,539,320 euros to pay to the 93 senior officials, and another 1,596,965 for the 41 eventual ones, 28 corresponding to the PP and 13 to Ciudadanos. This increase in investment is explained by the greater number of positions and because salaries have been updated by 2%. 285 that PP and Ciudadanos agreed to for 2021 and that were maintained until at the end of that year the president, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco (PP), broke with Ciudadanos and called the elections that pushed him to Gallardo. So there were 5,539,320 euros to pay to the 93 senior officials, and another 1,596,965 for the 41 eventual ones, 28 corresponding to the PP and 13 to Ciudadanos. This increase in investment is explained by the greater number of positions and because salaries have been updated by 2%. 285 that PP and Ciudadanos agreed to for 2021 and that were maintained until at the end of that year the president, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco (PP), broke with Ciudadanos and called the elections that pushed him to Gallardo. So there were 5,539,320 euros to pay to the 93 senior officials, and another 1,596,965 for the 41 eventual ones, 28 corresponding to the PP and 13 to Ciudadanos. This increase in investment is explained by the greater number of positions and because salaries have been updated by 2%.
The Castilla y León Transparency Portal has published, at the request of EL PAIS, the list of temporary personnel available in the previous legislature, since that information had disappeared with the new coalition in power, data that now allows this comparison to be made. The increase in senior positions is also replicated with temporary ones, among which the Presidency Council, led by Jesus Julio Carnero, of the PP, stands out. The communication directors and press officers of each of the ministries, whether from the PP or Vox, correspond to her, but among these appointments are many figures related to the PP or Manueco. Sources from his party criticize the “scandal” of certain cases “involved as if the Board were a recruitment agency” and that they attribute to “favors or pending accounts.” There are very different profiles among the most controversial. One of the most questioned is that of Daniel Llanos, advisor to the president and former councilor in Salamanca, a stronghold of the PP and where Manueco was mayor. Llanos, who was also fired from Nuevas Generaciones, has been reinstated after being forced to resign after a traffic accident caused by being drunk at the wheel.
Also notable is Carlos Paramio, councilor for the conservatives in the Valladolid city council and who has been chaining free appointment posts for several legislatures. Among the temporary personnel chosen by the extreme right is Alfonso Javier Sanchez-Guijo Acevedo, with a salary of 43,000 euros a year, as adviser to the Director General of Sports, his brother Enrique. Garcia-Gallardo justified the hiring of this relative because the senior officer has a visual disability, since he was even a Paralympic medalist in athletics. Vox also first signed Montserrat Lluis, director of coordination and social interaction, and Jose Maria Barrio Gil-Fournier, director of the vice president’s cabinet and cousin of Gallardo’s father, as temporary staff. Both, by redefining themselves as directors, went from earning 52,000 euros to 76,000 per year.
Increased proportional spending on vice presidency
Garcia-Gallardo’s vice presidency has four senior positions, including himself, despite hardly holding any administrative responsibilities. Vox’s speech reiterates his alleged desire to “cut political spending” and avoid the “superfluous.” His predecessor, Francisco Igea, of Ciudadanos, also assumed the portfolio of Transparency, Territorial Planning and Foreign Action, as well as the spokesperson for the Board. The Vox leader’s department has assigned an expense of 1,194,770 euros in personnel for 2023, of which 299,899 correspond to the four senior positions mentioned above, 25%. The area has associated 127,600 euros in current expenses and only manages 112,504 euros, which means that for every euro administered, another 10 are disbursed in personnel to execute it.
This proportion is in contrast to what happened in 2021, when the Ministry of Transparency, Territorial Planning and Foreign Action joined the Igea vice-presidency. Transparency and Foreign Action have been relocated to the Presidency and Territorial Planning has ended up in the Environment. That vice-presidency required a staff expense of 4,925,931 euros, of which 493,785 remunerated seven senior positions, 10% of the total. These departments had 14,202,340 euros for their investments, which means that for every administered euro, 0.35 euros were spent on the workforce, including both civil servants and senior managers or temporary workers.
