“The Government of Spain is committed to promoting the necessary standards To be able to take effect in December 2025 The corresponding increase for this year will be paid by 2.5 percentage points on applicable wages until December 31, 2024. … The literal paragraph of the first point of the agreement on salary increases for public employees in the period 2025-2028, signed yesterday by the Minister of Public Service, Óscar López, with the highest representatives of the CSIF and the public services union UGT, with the Head of Government, Pedro Sánchez, as an exceptional witness, aroused concern and indignation on Thursday in equal parts among the governments of the autonomous regions and local companies.
The government’s obligation to the unions to prove this Waiting for the salary increase this year, which will be 2.5%.Retroactive to January 1, it means that in the midst of the budget closure, regional administrations will have to bail out about 2.3 billion euros that were not planned to cover these expenses, while for local entities the bill is about 700 million euros.
he The cost to the state is estimated at approximately 543 million eurosbased on the total budget appropriations for staff expenditures planned for this year, although the regional administrations realize that the situation is not comparable because the terms of the agreement were negotiated by the central government without having any autonomy or municipalities.
I invite you, you pay
“It is a new example of Pedro Sanchez’s saying ‘I invite you, you pay.’” Gov He has returned to negotiating autonomy “Increasing the salaries we pay,” the Minister of Finance of the Region of Murcia, Luis Alberto Marin, lamented this Thursday, while demanding that, given the circumstances and the height of the year we are in, the executive that signed the agreement transfers to the regional administrations the resources necessary to confront this bill.
However, the cities of Murcia and Andalusia confirm that they will do everything in their power to pay their public employees the corresponding increase for 2025 before the end of the year. Sources from other autonomous regions were consulted They find it very difficult to do so Rather, they are wondering whether the state has the operational capacity to implement this payment before the end of the year.
2.3 billion
Millionaire bill for autonomous regions
This will be the cost to regional governments of shouldering the 2.5% increase for this year agreed by the government and unions.
“December payrolls would normally close between this week and next week, and the agreement still has to go through Cabinet, and then through each regional government council. It is almost impossible to pay in December», They say from an independent government. The same is reported by municipal sources, who expect that the vast majority of city councils will not have the material time to be able to formalize this increase before the end of the year, either for operational reasons or due to the unavailability of the treasury. Some departments consulted admit that bearing this additional cost “destroys” their end-of-year planning.
Precedents of supplementary increases regulated by the last salary agreement, according to the achievement of growth or inflation targets, Show the difficulties faced by management To transfer these changes to public employee payroll.
The government intends to translate the agreement into legislation as quickly as possible so that it can pay this additional amount to officials during December. Their desire is to submit the agreement to the Council of Ministers next Tuesday and propose a royal decree in the coming days, perhaps also with an increase in pensions, to obtain parliamentary approval and be able to implement the agreement before 2026.
What happens to the 2026 budget?
But the problems facing regional administrations are not limited to the short term. There are dozens whose budgets have been approved or are in the process of being approved that now find it on the cusp of December The government agreement greatly increases their expense account Of the employees who planned them. Another dimension of the problem is the need to adhere to the spending rule. Airef has already announced that the vast majority of autonomy will fail to comply, and with this additional expense the gap will be even greater.