Spain | More spending, more responsibility, more modernity

Summary

The response to the crisis has been overwhelming, and spending will increase to around 50% of GDP. Spain needs to establish a culture that demands greater accountability on how budgetary resources, and resources from the European recovery fund, are allocated.

Key points

• Key points:
• A large part of this increase is temporary, but once the crisis ends, there may be the temptation to convert temporary measures into permanent ones and redirect resources to other uses. The risk here is that institutions may not ensure that this spending is used efficiently.
• Public institutions must first be modernized, by establishing mechanisms that assess policies and that insure transparency, allow us to choose the most beneficial projects for society, and make us aware of the costs of implementing these and of scrapping certain reforms.
• We need greater coordination between authorities, reducing the strain of the ever-increasing regulations with which companies and workers must comply.
• It is also essential to modernize active employment policies, harnessing the wealth of data available on the job market and vacancies, their characteristics and the characteristics of job seekers, etc. This will require greater investment not only in physical infrastructure, but also in human capital.

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