The People’s Party is asking the government to clarify “possible irregularities” in objections to museum curators

“Does the government consider that this latest selection process has left 31 seats vacant?” asks PP. “What review or reparative measures will the Ministry of Culture take?” As this newspaper reported today, about twenty opponents filed an official complaint with the Ministry of Culture a week ago due to “irregularities” and “lack of transparency” in the corresponding selection process for the years 2023-2024, which ended last October. For the second year in a row, the number of vacancies reached about 40 percent, which is much higher than the 5-8 percent recorded in previous calls.

In the memorandum, the applicants denounced the courts constituted without a president or secretary, the lack of transparency and the violation of the principles of equality, merit and eligibility. At least a dozen of them went beyond the initial letter and filed appeals. In its parliamentary initiative, the People’s Party asks the government what review or compensation measures it intends to adopt in response to these claims, knowing that the principles of Law No. 40/2015 and Royal Decree 364/1995 could have been violated.

Opponents raise their voices

The main opposition party recalls that this year the European Patent Office provides for about 20 places for museum curators, and therefore wants the Ministry of Culture to clarify whether it “considers that the recent selection process left 31 places vacant.” Something similar has already happened in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 elections, where only 45 seats out of a total of 74 were filled, with 39.2 percent of vacancies remaining. In the previous three convocations (2016-2019), the vacancy rate ranged between 5 and 8 percent.

Taking into account the chronic staff shortage plaguing the Ministry of Culture, the people are now asking the Secretary of State for Public Service whether he is considering merging all the places that were vacant in the last two calls into the 2025 OEP. Finally, the Attorney General wants to know whether this situation affects human resources planning, the provision of public services in state museums, and the commitment to the replacement rate, “given the advanced average age of some Ministry of Culture officials.”

As ABC has learned, after three weeks in which the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts avoided responding to the opposition’s claims, things began to move this Thursday – coinciding with the publication of the information in this newspaper -. At noon, Conservative candidates began receiving details of their exam scores, although the content of those emails “makes it clear that they do not have transcripts of the court readings,” according to a person involved in the process.

No minutes required

Some candidates received brief feedback on their exams (not including marking criteria), while others were only able to find out the numerical score for each part, without further information. These emails include the names of members of the eligible courts, but errors also appear: in most cases only four names appear – when there should be five by law – and with positions that do not match those specified in the call.

It can be said that the culture confirms in writing the violations reported by these opponents. What the ministry has not yet sent is the required records.

Pressure is mounting on Minister Ernst Urtasun, who is already facing demands to provide clarifications through administrative and political channels. Meanwhile, its communications department chose to remain silent, as it usually does when faced with information that exceeds its agenda.