Chapter 135 Rectifying the Officialdom (two chapters in one)

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

All countries have recognized their own shortcomings and are currently working hard to reform and improve. From history, we can also know that this period of time 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 their efforts during this period and let Germany and the United States surpass them?

No. The British industry and economy have also grown a lot during this period. The main reason is that the scale of the British mainland is limited, which leads to the upper limit of the United Kingdom.

Britain's strength is due to the promotion of the First Industrial Revolution and the colonization of half of the world. If there were no such vast colonies, Britain would not necessarily be comparable to Germany.

The German region has been one of the hegemons of Europe since the Holy Roman Empire, but there are many factions and endless wars between the states in the country. This is the reason why the German region has not produced top powers.

At present, the German region has tended to be 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 that the population of a single European country is far inferior to that of powerful countries such as the United States.

The reason is also easy to understand. The more people there are, the more labor force there is, and the more labor force there is, the faster the economic expansion rate will be. Two countries with the same industrial and economic scale, the one with a larger population will have greater development potential.

Before there was extremely advanced technology to replace manual labor, population was one of the criteria for measuring the strength of a country, and it was a more stringent 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 have passed since 1872, but Spain's population has increased by at least 150,000, close to the population increase in the whole of last year.

Although there is no more accurate figure for the overall population of Spain, it is certain that the population of Spain has officially exceeded 17 million, approximately between 17.05 million and 17.1 million.

If this good population growth momentum can be maintained this year, it is expected that the population of Spain will exceed 17.2 million by the end of the year.

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

The biggest reason affecting population growth is the growth of per capita income in Spain.

In fact, it is normal to think about it. People will only consider having children if they have enough food to live.

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

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

Although Spain is not excellent in this regard, it has made considerable progress compared with the previous government.

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

For the reform within the government, Prime Minister Primo had only two opinions, namely simplifying government departments, reducing the number of government office staff and monitoring corruption to improve government efficiency.

Corruption exists in every country, and a corrupt government will always breed corruption, which is inevitable in any political system and any country.

Although the current Spanish government was established after the revolution, the impact of this revolution on the governments of various regions was not too deep.

The main impact is still on the Spanish cabinet government, and it is very difficult for these officials of the cabinet government to embezzle.

After all, there is a Prime Minister Primo above his head, and there is also a more powerful parliamentary supervision. But for state governments and municipal governments, it is still easy to embezzle.

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

However, in order not to cause a more far-reaching impact on the government, Prime Minister Primo decided to let bygones be bygones for past corruption and focus on supervising future corruption.

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

Some regional governments have too many officials, and some of them are just taking advantage of the situation. The income of Spanish officials is generally higher than that of ordinary people, so it is better to get rid of these people as soon as possible.

Carlo is naturally willing to see the government pay attention to the supervision of corrupt officials. Carlo can't control these at present, and it is best for Prime Minister Primo to take the initiative to supervise corruption.

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

Carlo did not explain in detail, and the specific bill still needs to be formulated by Prime Minister Primo himself.

The specific regulations are also very simple, that is, according to the different responsibilities of government officials at all levels, they are subject to various assessments.

Those who pass the exam will accumulate political achievements, and those who meet certain political achievements will meet the conditions for promotion. On the contrary, if your political performance is too poor, you should be prepared to be demoted or even directly dismissed.

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

Therefore, it would be better for Prime Minister Primo to submit and promulgate such a bill, and Carlo does not intend to get too involved.

Prime Minister Primo has no objection to this. This method can still effectively improve the administrative efficiency of officials, and can also serve the purpose of supervising officials.

Although they will offend some relatively mediocre officials who are doing no good, these people are harmful to the Spanish government, so it is better to eliminate them as soon as possible.

The problem 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 one more?

Because he recognized the performance appraisal system proposed by Carlo, within a few days, Prime Minister Primo personally submitted a draft of the "Official Performance Appraisal Bill" to the parliament.

The reason why I submitted it myself was because I attached great importance to rectifying the officialdom.

Only when Prime Minister Primo personally submits such a bill can it attract the attention of those officials and thus have the effect of proactively rectifying the officialdom.

If there are still people who think that Prime Minister Primo is just showing off, it will not be up to him to have the final say when the butcher's knife of integrity is placed on his neck.

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 scope of performance appraisal.

Officials at the three levels of government who perform well can be promoted to higher levels of government under exceptional circumstances. Those who fail to perform up to standard may be punished by being demoted, or may be dismissed directly from office.

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 things within the scope of their duties, they can get an evaluation of passing or above. If they have made certain political achievements, they will be evaluated as excellent or above and ready to be promoted.

As for those officials who cannot even do things well within the scope of their duties, allowing them to stay in their positions will only have a bad impact on the country. For the current Spanish officials, there are many ways in which they can improve their political performance. For example, promoting the development of local economy and industry, reducing illiteracy rates, promoting literacy education, promoting ethnic integration and even developing population, etc., can all increase one's political achievements.

As long as you make a small contribution, it's not difficult to reach a qualified level.

The main purpose of this is to eliminate corrupt elements and incompetent officials. As long as you have a little bit of ability, you won't be unable to achieve anything.

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 appraisal of the three levels of government can be implemented smoothly.

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

Such an assessment system is unprecedented and will break the meritocracy and seniority-first system that has been maintained in Spanish officialdom for a long time.

A large number of nobles can easily obtain quite good official positions by virtue of their bloodline, and veterans in the 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 emigration, the only way out for civilians seems to be Prime Minister Primo, who gained his identity and status through revolution.

The new official performance evaluation system completely broke Spain's original bureaucratic system, shifting from placing more emphasis on bloodline and prestige to placing more emphasis on individual abilities.

On a national level, this is certainly progress. Only if these officials try their best to create political achievements can Spain's economy and industry advance rapidly with the efforts of these officials.

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

By linking the progress of the country's economy and industry, including the decrees issued by some cabinet governments, with the performance of these officials, even if it is not for the development of the country, they will do it for their own personal interests, their own political achievements and their own higher official positions. effort.

There is a clear difference between doing it passively and doing it proactively. For Spain at present, there is an urgent need for some richer people.

Young officials with passion and energy come to change the pattern of officialdom.

"Your Excellency, 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 Spain's previous bureaucracy. Can I think so? It will have a severe impact on Spain's existing bureaucracy and will cause a large number of officials to lose their original jobs. "

"I admit that what you said is right." Prime Minister Primo nodded calmly in the face of the doubt, and then questioned: "But why not?

Rather than letting those who do not do practical things to continue to stay in high positions in the regional and municipal governments, it is better to let capable and motivated young men hold such positions.

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

Primo Prime Minister's questioning immediately made the MP who raised the objection sweat on his forehead. He waved his hands and explained hurriedly: "I am not willing to give up the future development of Spain, but I am worried that such a bill will have an impact on the existing bureaucratic system and undermine the stability that Spain has finally maintained."

"Don't worry about this matter." 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 those who are unwilling to contribute to the country standing in important positions in major regions and municipal governments?

For Spain, we are willing to endure any pain. Only by allowing those who are really willing to work hard for the revival of Spain to take important positions can the revival of Spain become a reality, not just a dream of ours.

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 Prime Minister Primo's persuasion, the reformist MPs also expressed their support for this bill.

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

In fact, seniority is common in the officialdom of various countries. After all, everyone is willing to believe in officials who look more mature, rather than a young and passionate young man who is just starting out.

For other jobs, 20s and 30s are the time to be motivated. But for government work, 30s and 40s are too young. Forty or fifty is the most mature golden age for a politician.

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

In fact, the harm of seniority is not so great in terms of prime ministers and important government departments. But in major regions and municipal governments, the harm of seniority is still quite great.

If the older officials do not move their positions, the younger generation will not be able to move up. At present, among the major regions 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 part of these people are conservatives. When facing the reform decrees issued by the Spanish government, even if they do not have much opposition on the surface, they will secretly hinder the passage of the decrees in various ways.

The failure of decrees is the biggest problem in Spain at present. It is difficult for the decrees issued by the royal government to be quickly and smoothly implemented in the major regional governments.

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

In order to keep their positions and to go further, these promoted young officials will also support reform more, which will naturally promote the promotion of reform in Spain more effectively.

Reform in every country is extremely difficult, because reform needs to confront the vested interests and some pedantic conservatives within the country.

Regardless of whether they are willing to be loyal to the royal government, as long as they hinder the promotion of reform in Spain, this problem must be solved after all.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I have no objection to the implementation of this law. But I have a question. If we implement a performance-based appointment and removal method for officials, will some officials go to extremes for their own performance?

Also, how can we ensure the loyalty of these officials who are promoted because of their performance to the government? 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 corresponding institutions to evaluate the performance of officials.

The performance of those who falsify their performance will be abolished and the worst results will be given in the evaluation. What we need is performance that can truly improve the livelihood of the people and the economic and industrial development of Spain, not performance that officials falsify for their own interests.

Secondly, in the evaluation of officials, requirements for political thoughts can also be increased. All Spanish officials must be officials who love this country. I don't want those who have no feelings for the country to take high positions in the government.

Even certain evaluations can be set up in this regard to ensure that our officials are excellent in ability and loyal in thought."

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

A capable official, if he has problems with his thoughts, will harm the country.

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

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

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