Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 135: Rectifying the Officialdom (Two Chapters in One)

Since the end of the Franco-Prussian War, European countries have entered a relatively stable stage of development.

All countries have recognized their shortcomings and are currently working hard to reform and improve. From history, we can also know that this period is exactly the time when emerging industrial countries led by Germany and the United States continue to rise and eventually surpass old powers such as Britain and France in industry.

Did the British give up trying during this period, just playing terribly and allowing Germany and the United States to surpass them?

Not really. The British industry and economy also grew a lot during this period, but the main reason was the size of the UK, which resulted in a high upper limit for the UK.

Britain became powerful because it promoted the first industrial revolution and colonized half of the world. Without such vast colonies, Britain would not necessarily be able to compare with Germany.

The German region has been one of the hegemons of Europe since the Holy Roman Empire, but there are numerous factions and endless wars among the various states in the country. This is the reason why no top power has emerged in the German region.

At present, the German region has been unified, and Germany's development can no longer be restricted by any country. When all the German states are added together, they have more territory and population than Britain and France, which is one of the fundamental reasons for Germany's strength.

Although a country with a large population is not necessarily strong, a strong country must have a large population. The reason why European countries gradually declined in later generations and even had to rely on the European Union to compete with major powers such as the United States is precisely because the population of a single European country is far inferior to that of powerful countries such as the United States.

The reason is easy to understand. The larger the population, the more labor force there is, and the more labor force there is, the faster the economy will expand. If there are two countries with the same industrial and economic scale, the one with a larger population will have greater development potential.

Before extremely advanced technology replaced manual labor, population was one of the criteria for measuring a country's strength, and it was a relatively strict criterion.

The good news is that Spain's population growth rate, which had stagnated for several years, has finally begun to increase steadily.

Only six months had passed in 1872, but Spain's population had already increased by at least 6, nearly as much as it had increased in the whole of the previous year.

Although there is no more precise figure for Spain's total population, it is certain that Spain's population has officially exceeded 1700 million, ranging from approximately 1705 million to 1710 million.

If the good population growth momentum can be maintained this year, Spain's population is expected to exceed 1720 million by the end of the year.

Compared with other powerful countries, such a population is naturally small. But for Spain itself, being able to achieve a relatively good population growth rate also proves that the efforts of the Spanish government have not been in vain.

The biggest factor affecting population growth is the increase in per capita income in Spain.

In fact, it is normal to think about it. People will only consider having children when they have enough food to eat and can survive.

If you can't survive yourself, having a child will not only increase your burden, but will also make your child live a life worse than death.

The birth rate can to a large extent measure the happiness index of a country's people, because the unfortunate people will not even consider the issue of having children.

Although Spain has not done well in this regard, it has made considerable progress compared to previous governments.

As time came to July 1872, the spring breeze of reform finally blew into the Spanish government.

Prime Minister Primo has only two suggestions for internal government reforms: simplifying government departments, reducing the number of government office staff and monitoring corruption to improve government efficiency.

Corruption exists in every country. Corrupt governments will always breed corruption. This is unavoidable in any political system or country.

Although the current Spanish government was established after the revolution, the revolution did not have a profound impact on the regional governments.

The main impact is on the Spanish cabinet government, and it is very difficult for these officials in the cabinet government to engage in corruption.

After all, there is Prime Minister Primo above them, and there is also the supervision of the more powerful parliament. But it is still easy for state and city governments to commit corruption.

Spain's annual fiscal budget is limited, so it is naturally impossible to waste part of it on corrupt officials.

However, in order to avoid causing far-reaching impact on the government, Prime Minister Primo decided to let bygones be bygones for past acts of corruption and focus on supervising future acts of corruption.

In addition to focusing on regulating government corruption, Prime Minister Primo also issued a decree ordering regional and municipal governments to reduce the number of officials as appropriate.

Some regional governments have too many officials, some of whom are just trying to get by. Spanish officials generally earn more than ordinary people, so it is better to get rid of these people as soon as possible.

Carlo is also willing to see the government pay more attention to the supervision of corrupt officials. Carlo is not in charge of these things at present, and it would be best if Prime Minister Primo could take the initiative to supervise corruption.

In order to make the Spanish governments at all levels more honest and effective, after careful consideration, Carlo also recommended to Prime Minister Primo the establishment of a bill on performance appraisal of officials.

Carlo did not provide a detailed explanation, and the specific bill still needs to be formulated by Prime Minister Primo himself.

The specific regulations are also very simple, which is to conduct various assessments on government officials at all levels based on their different responsibilities.

Qualified people will accumulate political achievements, and if they meet certain political achievements, they will meet the conditions for promotion. On the contrary, if the political achievements are too poor, they must also be prepared to be demoted or even directly dismissed.

However, doing so will definitely offend a large number of officials. After all, they are doing well in their current positions and may not be willing to passively move their positions.

Therefore, it is better for such a bill to be submitted and promulgated by Prime Minister Primo, and Carlo does not intend to participate too much.

Prime Minister Primo did not object to this. This method can effectively improve the administrative efficiency of officials and also achieve the purpose of supervising officials.

Although this will offend some mediocre officials who are just trying to get by, these people are harmful to the Spanish government and have no benefit, so it is better to eliminate them as soon as possible.

The issue of offending people is no big deal to Prime Minister Primo. The reform has already offended a large number of forces, so what's the harm in adding another one?
Because he recognized the performance appraisal system proposed by Carlo, within a few days, Prime Minister Primo personally submitted a draft of the "Officials Performance Appraisal Bill" to the parliament.

The reason why he submitted it personally was because he attached great importance to rectifying the officialdom.

Only if Prime Minister Primo personally submits such a bill can it attract the attention of those officials and thus play a proactive role in rectifying the officialdom.

If there are still people who think that Prime Minister Primo is just pretending, when the time comes when the knife of integrity is placed on their necks, he will not have the final say.

In the first draft of this bill, Prime Minister Primo divided the Spanish government into three levels: national government, regional government and municipal government, all of which were included in the performance appraisal scope.

Officials at the three levels of government who perform well can be promoted to higher levels of government. Those who fail to perform well will be demoted or even dismissed.

Considering that this assessment bill involves a large number of officials, the assessment content will not be too strict.

Basically, as long as officials complete tasks within the scope of their duties, they will receive a pass or above evaluation. If they have made certain achievements, they will receive an excellent or above evaluation and be prepared for promotion.

Those officials who cannot even do their job well will only have a bad impact on the country if they are allowed to stay in their positions. For the current Spanish officials, there are many ways they can increase their political achievements. For example, they can promote the development of the local economy and industry, reduce the illiteracy rate, promote literacy education, promote ethnic integration and even develop the population, etc., which can increase their political achievements.

As long as you make a little contribution, it is not difficult to reach a qualified level.

The main purpose of doing this is to eliminate corrupt officials and incompetent officials. If there is a little bit of ability, it is not impossible to achieve nothing.

According to the Spanish Constitution, the parliament has the power to appoint and dismiss governments at all levels. Therefore, as long as this bill is passed by the parliament, the performance evaluation of the three levels of government can be smoothly implemented.

Such a proposal caused an uproar in parliament, and even the members who originally supported Prime Minister Primo were somewhat hesitant.

Such an assessment system is unprecedented and will break the system of nepotism and seniority-first that has existed in the Spanish officialdom for a long time.

A large number of nobles can easily obtain quite good official positions by virtue of their bloodline, and old hands in officialdom can also compete for senior executives by virtue of their qualifications.

Those who are truly capable rarely obtain titles and official positions through their own efforts. Apart from emigrating, it seems that the only way out for common people is to gain their own identity and status through revolution, like Prime Minister Primo.

The new official performance evaluation system completely broke the original Spanish bureaucratic system, changing from placing more emphasis on lineage and prestige to placing more emphasis on personal ability.

From a national perspective, this is certainly an improvement. Only if these officials find ways to create political achievements can Spain's economy and industry move forward rapidly under the efforts of these officials.

If the officials of these regions and cities do not have much enthusiasm for economic and industrial growth itself, how can Spain's comprehensive national strength improve rapidly?

By linking the country's economic and industrial progress, including some decrees issued by the cabinet government, with the political achievements of these officials, even if not for the development of the country, they will work hard for their own personal interests, for their own political achievements and for their own higher official positions.

There is a clear difference between doing it passively and doing it actively. For Spain at present, it is also in urgent need of some more
Young officials with passion and energy will change the official landscape.

"Mr. Prime Minister, is your bill too radical?" Some members of the parliament raised objections, and were obviously dissatisfied with the content of the bill submitted by Prime Minister Primo:

This completely breaks the previous bureaucratic system in Spain. Can I say that this will have a severe impact on the existing bureaucratic system in Spain and will also cause a large number of officials to lose their jobs? "

"I admit that you are right." Prime Minister Primo nodded calmly in the face of doubts, and then questioned: "But why not?
Instead of letting those guys who don't get their work done continue to stay in high positions in regional and municipal governments, it is better to let capable and motivated young people take up such positions.

Or are you willing to give up the future of Spain for your position?"

Prime Minister Primo's questioning immediately caused cold sweat to break out on the forehead of the congressman who raised the objection. He waved his hands repeatedly and hurriedly explained: "I am not willing to give up the future development of Spain. I am just worried that such a bill will have an impact on the existing bureaucratic system and undermine the stability that Spain has worked so hard to maintain."

"Don't worry about this." Prime Minister Primo said with a playful smile on his face, "This bill is necessary for Spain's reform and is also related to the success of the reform.

Ladies and gentlemen, do you want to see people who are unwilling to contribute to the country occupying important positions in regional and municipal governments?

For the sake of Spain, we are willing to endure any pain. Only by allowing those who are truly willing to work for the revival of Spain to take important positions can the revival of Spain become a reality, rather than just a dream.

All fluctuations caused by the bill are temporary, and the impact on Spain is long-term. In order for Spain to become stronger in the future, I think we can tolerate temporary pain in exchange for the opportunity for Spain to become stronger. "

After some persuasion from Prime Minister Primo, the reformist MPs also expressed their support for the bill.

After all, most of the reformists are young people with ideals, ambitions and certain abilities. They do not have much say in the political arena, and this bill will not only not affect them, but will become a weapon for them to get promoted in the officialdom.

In fact, seniority-based promotion is common in official circles of all countries. After all, everyone is willing to trust officials who look more mature rather than a young and passionate person who has just started out.

For other jobs, people in their twenties and thirties are the most energetic. But for government jobs, people in their thirties and forties are too young. Forties and fifties are the golden age for a politician to be the most mature.

The prime ministers of various countries are generally old men in their 40s, 50s, or even 50s or 60s, because this is the only way to convince officials and people of various countries.

In fact, the harm of seniority-based promotion is not so great when it comes to the prime minister and important government departments. But in the major regions and municipal governments, the harm of seniority-based promotion is still quite great.

If the older officials do not move up, the younger generation will not be able to move up. Currently, among the major regional and municipal governments in Spain, there are only a small number of young officials under the age of 30, and most of them are middle-aged officials over 30 years old.

A large number of these people are conservatives. When faced with the reform decrees issued by the Spanish government, even if they do not express much opposition on the surface, they will secretly hinder the implementation of the decrees in various ways.

The biggest problem in Spain right now is that the government's orders are not implemented. It is difficult for the government to implement the orders quickly in the regional governments.

The solution to this problem is very simple, which is to replace those pedantic and conservative officials with young officials who support reform.

In order to keep their positions and go further, these promoted young officials will be more supportive of reform, which will naturally promote Spain's reform more effectively.

Reform in every country is extremely difficult because it requires confronting the vested interests and some pedantic conservatives within the country.

Regardless of whether they were willing to be loyal to the royal government or not, as long as they hindered the promotion of reform in Spain, this issue would eventually need to be resolved.

“Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I have no objection to the implementation of this law. But I have a question: if we implement a method of appointing and dismissing officials that prioritizes performance, will it cause some officials to go to extremes for their own political achievements?

Another question is how can we ensure the loyalty of these officials who are promoted because of their achievements? If they are not loyal to the government, then promoting them will also harm the country. "Another official raised his own question, but this question was obviously milder than the previous direct and clear objection.

"That's easy." Prime Minister Primo nodded and gave his answer: "In terms of performance evaluation, the parliament can take full responsibility and set up a corresponding agency to evaluate the performance of officials.

Those who falsify their achievements will have their achievements annulled and will be given the worst results in the assessment. What we need are achievements that can truly improve the livelihood of the Spanish people and the development of the economy and industry, not achievements that officials falsify for their own benefit.

Secondly, we can also add requirements for political ideology in the assessment of officials. All Spanish officials must love this country. I don’t want those who have no feelings for the country to take high positions in the government.

We can even set up certain assessments in this regard to ensure that our officials are competent and loyal.”

Prime Minister Primo had already thought of this. Although personal ability is more important in the new performance evaluation system, this does not mean that the personal morality and ideological evaluation of officials should be abandoned.

No matter how capable an official is, if he has problems with his thinking, he will cause harm to the country.

Wrong ideas can lead to corruption at the very least, and betrayal of the country and the government at worst. Either choice will cause great harm to Spain.

Prime Minister Primo is unwilling to see the officials selected by his performance appraisal system fall into the vortex of corruption again, which may be even worse than corruption, and directly betray the country and the government.

A two-in-one chapter of 5,000 words, please support!

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(End of this chapter)