The Ministry of Public Function has granted full powers for the first time to the regional governments of the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha and Catalonia, who this Saturday comprehensively manage the selection and training of new qualified local officials at national level. According to El Pais, this unprecedented cooperation coincides with the simultaneous implementation of selective tests in four parts of the country: Madrid, Barcelona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Toledo, where 4,853 applicants seek one of the 1,000 places on offer.
This call, of an exceptional and additional nature in relation to the usual supply of public offices, responds to the pressures accumulating due to unfilled vacancies and to the aim of adapting local administration to the specific needs of each community. As reported by El Pais, the positions were distributed among 584 intervening secretaries, 102 secretaries and 314 auditors and treasurers, reflecting a common diagnosis of the shortcomings of local governments.
According to the Ministry of Public Service, decentralization of examinations allows candidates to take examinations and subsequent training within the autonomous community in which they reside. The test is scheduled at 10:00 in the Peninsula and at 9:00 in the Canary Islands, according to the local time zone, facilitating mobility and professional roots of candidates in their home regions. El País media highlighted that this logistical requirement also seeks to promote the integration of future officials into the environments in which they will be appointed.
El Pais newspaper explained that the organization and supervision of the entire process falls on a shared governance model, where the ministry and regional governments coordinate every stage, from registering applicants to publishing results and managing training courses. The three autonomous regions recently signed an agreement with the Ministry of Public Employment, giving them the ability to regulate the entire selection and training process, representing a fundamental change in Spanish local public administration.
The national qualification system, according to the Ministry, ensures the ability of selected officials to practice the profession where there are staff needs, while respecting regional equality of access to public functions and promoting professionalism in municipal administration. As published by El Pais, the new framework allows for a more precise allocation of places by considering specific requests from the local communities themselves, with the aim of improving the match between supply and demand in the public sector.
The resulting group of officials will assume key tasks in the secretariats, interventions and treasuries of local entities. These functions include administrative oversight, ensuring procedural transparency, and monitoring city council spending. According to institutional sources consulted by El Pais, filling these positions with qualified employees is essential to guarantee the legitimacy of municipal institutions and their proper functioning in all regions.
The model tested in this extraordinary call aspires to become a reference for future public recruitment processes and the transfer of powers in human resources, as described in the PAIS report. In addition to decentralizing examination administration, the joint administrative agreement provides communities with autonomy to determine training content, adapt the provision of places to local needs and professionalize technical teams according to their own standards.
The Ministry of Public Service stressed that the experiment will work to consolidate joint governance models between the state and independent administrations in managing access to administration, increasing efficiency and modifying the institutional response to the demographic and organizational challenges facing the country. Through flexibility and regional adaptation, the tests can shorten the integration time of employees and strengthen the roots of public employees in the communities of their destination, El Pais reported.
The process, as El Pais noted, is structured in clearly differentiated stages to ensure transparency and guarantee the equality, merit and capabilities of those selected. Applicants who pass each stage will be able to complete the training without having to travel outside their community, which contributes to retaining talent and uniting teams at the local and regional levels.
El Pais newspaper reported that Saturday’s operation represented the largest logistical and organizational deployment recorded in one day to reach local public office with a national license. It therefore represents an experiment in future forms of intergovernmental cooperation and decentralization in the selection and management of human resources for the Spanish administration. This experience will set a precedent in addressing the coverage of key positions within local entities, guiding professionalism and adapting to the regional diversity of the country.