The Government is about to overcome the deficit target for the whole year

• Public Function.Sanchez exploits the last legacy of Montoro: approves the salary increase of the officials that agreed the PP
• Public Function: The Government will today approve the salary increase to officials to try to reach the January payroll

The Ministry of Public Function confirmed yesterday that civil servants' salaries will rise by at least 2%. And, at the same time, that after this increase and the one already approved for pensions, the Government is about to compromise the deficit target for the whole year when just 21 days have elapsed.

The rise in public salaries will involve an expenditure of 3,212 million euros, according to the Treasury. To this we must add the additional 1,406 million that led to the increase of 0.9% for pensions, and announced last week by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, so that the committed expenditure already amounts to 4,612 million. That is, almost four tenths of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) , when the target agreed for the whole year is 0.5%.

A single tenth of a difference when there are more than eleven months remaining, therefore, evidence that Spain will again fail to comply with the budget deviation this year. And it will, mainly, for two reasons. On the one hand, because the objective closed by the Government of Mariano Rajoy has proved too demanding and ambitious. " A path totally out of balance with reality ", as the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has explained on numerous occasions, and repeated again yesterday after the meeting of the Council of Ministers.

But also, and this is always obvious to the Executive, because the Government of Pedro Sánchez has hardly done anything to reduce the deficit. The different economic ministers repeatedly highlight the commitment to fiscal stability and compliance, but the reality is that the vast majority of study services believe that 2019 was a lost year in reducing deviation . The most notable warning in this regard is probably that of the Bank of Spain, which considers that the deficit closed 2019 at the same 2.5% of GDP that ended 2018, and advances that the deviation will be 2.1% in the present year.

In this context, the Government has among its main objectives to raise revenues through higher taxes and, of course, to renegotiate the path with Brussels as one of its objectives. He already did it shortly after the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy prospered, and although he succeeded later he was not able to approve the new objectives in Congress. This is a point that the Minister of Finance and Vice President Nadia Calviño also repeat regularly. But what is obvious, once again, is that neither with the revised and self-imposed objectives could it have been achieved.

In any case, now you will try again, and it will be one of the first steps in the process of processing the General State Budget of 2020 (PGE). So that compliance " does not harm growth, job creation or the recovery of rights, " said the Government spokeswoman, adding: "There is no doubt that there has to be a slope to reduce the deficit and debt, but the inclination may call into question job creation or growth, an absolutely priority element to be preserved by the economic team. "

Ascent to officials

Regarding the salary increase of the officials, a decision that was advanced by this newspaper, the Executive complied with the agreement that the former Minister of Finance and Public Function, Cristóbal Montoro, closed with the union representatives. The Government of Sanchez has tried to endorse the rise, stating that it was "their priority" and highlighting their commitment to the agreements, but the signing of the multi-year agreement occurred on March 11 , in the framework of the preparation of the Budgets of 2018 and when nobody imagined that the motion would occur and that the process would succeed.

The rise, which may reach 2.3% if the so-called additional funds are applied, will benefit " 2.5 million public employees, " explained the new Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Function, Carolina Darias, in her first act in office, and will have "immediate character and date of January 1".

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Maria Jesus Montero
• Public deficit
• Taxes

Letter to the Minister The PP's tax advisors rebel against Montero: "It threatens our ability to lower taxes"

Minister of FinanceMontero anticipates the tax increase: "Paying taxes is a guarantee for developed societies"

Until September The Government of Sanchez is unable to control the deficit and shoots at 3,800 million