Daniel Viaña Madrid

Madrid

Updated Wednesday, January 31, 2024-13:57

The Government continues to trust that the 2024 General State Budgets will go ahead but, at the same time, it recognizes that after Junts voted yesterday against the Amnesty Law, the path to approval of public accounts is much more complicated. . And for this reason, it is already working in an alternative scenario without accounts, and that includes the search for

tools to approve the salary increase for civil servants

in 2024 that is linked to public accounts.

Sources from the Ministry of Public Service confirm that, if the Budgets are delayed or even extended, a way would be found to apply the

2% increase agreed for this year

. The figure could reach up to 2.5% depending on the evolution of inflation.

What is not in question is the increase of

an additional half point charged to 2023

that was confirmed yesterday, when the advance data from National Accounting confirmed that growth even exceeded the Executive's forecasts.

The Council of Ministers will "very soon" approve the increase, which could

already be on the February payroll

of civil servants and which will be accompanied by a kind of extra pay that includes the arrears, since the increase will be applied on January 1 from last year. This 0.5% increase is also added to another 0.5% that was already applied in October and leaves the 2023 salary revaluation at 3.5%.

In 2022, public salaries also rose by 2.5%, so the revaluation in the last two years will reach 7% and, after the application of the aforementioned 2% this year,

the increase will be 9%

.

End of mandatory appointment

Public Service, and specifically Minister José Luis Escrivá, has also announced

that he will eliminate the mandatory prior appointment

in public administrations that was established with the pandemic. "This requires a regulatory change that we will see how we bring to Parliament as soon as possible," Escrivá explained during his appearance in the Congress of Deputies.

"It is evident that for many citizens there is no substitute for in-person attendance, which is why this change is so important," added the minister, although he also pointed out that last year there were more than a million consultations without an appointment at the Administration

Escrivá has also stated that the staff of officials of the General State Administration (AGE) is very old. So much so that "more than half

will retire in 10 years

", and that "in 2020, 47% of public employees in central administrations were 55 years old or older."

The minister has also stressed that public workforces have not yet recovered from the cuts that were applied during the financial crisis. And, for all this, Escrivá has announced a plan that will put

an end to the replacement rate

, and will apply a plan to attract junior and senior talent.