During this Spanish legislature, there have been several transfers of powers in Catalonia, but there is one agreed upon this year that could also have a significant impact: the responsibility for the comprehensive management of municipal secretaries and auditors. On the one hand, this was agreed upon by Junts and the PSOE last Friday in May with a compromise amendment, through a new additional provision to the law of local government foundations in the processing of the state civil service law. However, the Generalitat had already secured the commitment to transfer in the February Generalitat-State Bilateral Commission, although it must be finalized throughout the year.

We all complain about administrative bureaucracy and tend to place the blame on the perennial civil servant or the clumsy politician. And we feel quite relieved. But, if we're honest, we also know good public servants who do quiet, inconspicuous work, without whom things would be even worse. The administration closest to us, the municipal one, tends to be the one taking the fall. In Catalonia, moreover, there is a municipal administrative mini-fundism, with 947 municipalities. That's a lot. Surely too much. For the purposes of efficiency and economy of scale, some should be grouped together. An attempt was made 25 years ago with the so-called Roca Report, but the political parties didn't dare, and the bellwether politics have persisted, with the resulting dysfunctions and an endemic lack of resources and professionals. It's very difficult to keep all the wheels of an administration running smoothly, and when it's very small, it can't do everything.