Carles Ramió: “We will end the politicization of public management”

Carles Ramió (Girona, 1963) is a professor of political science and administration at Pompeu Fabra University, and as of this week formally chairs the commission of experts launched by the Government for the transformation of public administration (CETRA).

What is now the main problem of public administration?There is a first element: demographics have crushed us. We are now 8 million and these new citizens are consumers of public services. The second, the aging of the population, which consumes more public services. And, the third, is also the aging of public employees, 50% of whom will retire in the next ten years. The situation is critical.

Are resources and officials lacking?Things are not always solved with more resources, but with a more effective and efficient management system.

How is it done?This is what the commission will work on, but, for example, if you don't have stability with the commands because they are all chosen by free designation and change with every change of government – and in Catalonia lately this is very frequent –, there is no kind of continuity. Knowledge and a lot of time are lost. Countries with more continuity in professional management have better institutional and service quality.

What does he mean when he says public director?In the deputy general directorates, which are positions of free designation for which one must be a civil servant, but the Government can dismiss them discretionally and arbitrarily and appoint whomever it pleases. There is a certain politicization of this area: many times appointments are not made based on meritocratic criteria and it is not clear that these people have the necessary competencies. And, furthermore, our ambition is also for an important part of the general directorates to be for management professionals.

How many general directions would it affect?Halfway there. The criterion we propose is that the more technical ones be for professional public managers. This means civil servants of the Generalitat, other administrations, or from outside. The important thing is that there is a meritocratic selection.

How does meritocratic selection guarantee?There are two mechanisms. One is that the public official must prove that they have the competencies according to the curriculum and an evaluation. And the other model is that each time there is a vacancy, a commission is formed that looks at the curricula and makes a selection of who has the best profile. It can be one or the other, or a mix.

With the current system, have parties appointed unprepared people to public leadership positions?Parties place their clients, affiliates, etc. in general directorates, this is evident; and that on many occasions they do not have the competencies is also evident. When the government changes, high-ranking officials and councilors must be changed, yes, because it gives democratic legitimacy, but the key issue is how far this political direction should go. That it reaches all general directorates and sub-directorates (among civil servants) is excessive politicization. With the reform, the first thing we will do is put an end to this: technical positions will be recognized and only professionals will be able to access them.

This reform of public management has already been heard from previous governments and has not occurred. Does the fact that the general directors appointed by parties contribute to their financing through their salary hinder this change?The reform is difficult because parties do not usually go against their own interests. The more freedom and flexibility in hiring and firing people, the more power and influence. Therefore, for the ruling party to decide to take this step is a gesture of institutional and political generosity. This will give legitimacy to the reform. Until now, this courage had not been shown.

And with this new system, will public management positions contribute to party financing through the financial charter?I have always been against this. Obviously there cannot be this type of link because they will be chosen in a meritocratic way as professionals, not in an arbitrary and almost clientelistic way, as had been done until now. Symbolically, in the professional sphere it is inadmissible.

You also talk about a working group for the simplification of administration. Is this a cutback?No, this is the fight against bureaucracy, which is like cholesterol: the administration needs it, because there is a guarantor and legal certainty part, but we must fight the bad one. Proposals will be made to try to eliminate procedures that do not add value. In a few months, an omnibus or normative simplification law will be presented in which changes to various legislations will be proposed to streamline procedures. This will be the second test of life.

Do you trust to gather political support?It is true that the political landscape is highly complicated and makes majorities very difficult, but I find it hard to believe that parties can go against the professional public direction, which is what is intended to be incorporated into the budget accompanying law, because even if it is a pretense, they all have it in their political programs. It is even more difficult for me to believe that they can be against a simplification law to better serve citizens.

You want things to happen from 2025 onwards.We are action-oriented. If things start to be noticed from January 2026, it will be too late. My idea is that in ten months a third of the proposals that the commission's final report will include will already be implemented; another third will already be starting to be implemented, and a third will remain pending; for example, a new public employment law, which will be slower.

Earlier he said that half of public employees will retire in ten years. How is the succession being prepared?We need to change the selection processes. Now the tests are based solely on memorized knowledge and are enormously slow.

Can this be done with the current law?We have certain limits. Regulationally, transition changes can be made towards the new model. We need faster, but strictly meritocratic, election systems.

Put an example.Instead of basing everything on an extremely extensive syllabus, it must be reduced. And establish a new testing system, which can be more competence-based; for example, the EU conducts an intelligence test and a psychological test to see if you are capable of working collaboratively, in addition to a digital proficiency test.e