Chapter 136: Implementation of the Bill

Although some people in the parliament obviously have different attitudes towards this official performance evaluation bill, it is obviously impossible to hinder the implementation of this bill at this time.

More than 50% of the seats in the Spanish Parliament are occupied by Prime Minister Primo's Progressive Party, and the Liberal Party, which supports reform, also has nearly 20% of the seats.

The sum of these two is more than 70% of the seats in the parliament. According to the Spanish Constitution, when the votes in favor exceed 70%, the bill can be established and implemented.

However, Prime Minister Primo does not intend to completely offend those conservative parties. Although a corresponding performance evaluation system has been formulated for the existing bureaucratic system, the department responsible for the evaluation is jointly composed of the parliament and the cabinet.

At the same time, the parliament also has the right to supervise the cabinet. Cabinet members also have to complete the so-called performance evaluation. In the case of poor performance for many consecutive times, the parliament has the power to impeach all cabinet members, including the prime minister, and will decide whether the cabinet member will stay or go based on the final result of the cabinet meeting.

This obviously strengthens the power of the parliament, which is why the bill was finally passed by the parliament.

However, for Prime Minister Primo, whether it is strengthening the power of the cabinet government or strengthening the power of the parliament, there is actually not much difference.

Prime Minister Primo firmly controls the cabinet government and parliament of Spain. It is better to say that the power of Prime Minister Primo has increased rather than the power of the parliament.

This bill does not have much impact on the Spanish people, and the people even applaud.

But for the Spanish officialdom, the promulgation of this bill is no less than a small earthquake.

But neither Carlo nor Prime Minister Primo intends to carry out a large-scale cleanup of the Spanish officialdom at this time.

This bill is actually aimed at those officials who have a corrupt style and no political ability. These people staying in office will only harm the country, without even a little benefit.

And those who are honest but incompetent, or those who have certain abilities but are corrupt, are actually not on Prime Minister Primo's liquidation list.

After all, to put it bluntly, these officials have their own value. Officials who are less capable but relatively honest will also have other positions that are not so demanding of their abilities.

And those officials who have certain abilities but are corrupt can also be used to do things temporarily. These people can also become livestock kept by the Spanish government to a certain extent, and they can be slaughtered when they are fattened up to fill the country's finances.

We are not afraid of officials' corruption, but we are afraid that officials will only embezzle if they are incompetent. As long as they can do something practical for the cities and regions and promote the development of local industry or economy, Carlo and Prime Minister Primo will not pay too much attention.

After all, everyone has their own little thoughts, and Carlo cannot require all Spanish officials to be honest and incorruptible officials.

As long as the embezzlement is not so outrageous, such as embezzling tens of thousands of funds from 1 million, it is harmless.

But if 1 million funds can be embezzled by hundreds of thousands, no matter how capable they are, they will definitely be included in Prime Minister Primo's liquidation list.

Of course, corruption also has to be divided into methods and means. Direct corruption from the Spanish government's appropriations must be resolutely stopped, but if it is to squeeze the old nobles and the church in every possible way, more tolerance is not impossible.

Before the announcement of this bill, Prime Minister Primo also deliberately spread the word to the majority of Spanish officials through the Progressive Party members, and let bygones be bygones for previous acts of corruption.

As long as the previous acts of corruption were not so exaggerated and the funds were less than one million pesetas, the Spanish government would let bygones be bygones and would not pursue past mistakes.

If the embezzled funds exceeded one million pesetas, it would be simple. As long as most of the stolen money was paid to the government in time, it would be possible to have one less name on the list.

In short, this is the attitude of Prime Minister Primo, or it can be said that this is the common attitude of Carlo and Prime Minister Primo.

As long as there is a little ability, a little shortcoming is acceptable. If there is no ability and only shortcomings, it is better to give up the position to others as soon as possible.

Of course, those rebels and traitors are excluded. No matter how capable the rebels and traitors are, once they are found to be rebelling or betraying the country, they must be dealt with strictly to ensure the stability of the Spanish government.

The limit of 1 million pesetas is the result of Prime Minister Primo's careful consideration. Doing so can save most people from disaster and catch a few typical cases of serious corruption.

If these people are sensible, they can also clear their names by handing over the stolen money to the government in a timely manner, so as to avoid being liquidated.

At the same time, it is also explaining to other officials that the government does not have the idea of ​​clearing up the past, and it has an attitude of letting everyone bygones be bygones.

But if these people don't know what's good for them, Prime Minister Primo doesn't mind letting them understand the harshness and cruelty of Spanish law and let them understand what the final fate of corrupt officials will be.

In fact, if we talk about the impact, the forces affected by this bill are still mainly the old aristocrats.

There is no way. Spain was too corrupt in the past, and the government and the army were almost controlled by the aristocrats. How did these aristocrats get their large estates? Isn't it the period when the noble class controlled the whole of Spain and tried every means to annex it from the Spanish peasants?

Since the nobles were able to accumulate a large amount of land during this period, they could naturally embezzle it through various means.

The former American colonies provided Spain with a large amount of gold and silver treasures. Only a part of these materials entered the pockets of the royal family and the government, and a large amount of materials became the private property of the nobles and the church.

Among them, there must be property obtained by the nobles and the church through legal operations, but it is not necessarily true that all of them were earned through legal means.

In any case, this bill did affect a large number of old-style nobles. After all, they were the most likely candidates to embezzle millions of pesetas from the government.

Although a million pesetas is nothing to the Spanish government, it is still a huge amount of money close to 40,000 pounds, which is still quite valuable in this era.

If converted into gold, it weighs 290 kilograms, less than half a ton of gold.

As the largest noble, Carlo naturally noticed the impact of this bill on the old-style nobles.

However, Carlo had to show up. After all, these nobles were still loyal to the royal family on the surface, and Carlo could not just ignore them.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the shareholders' meeting of the Royal United Bank, Carlo held talks with many Spanish nobles and talked about the recently announced "Spanish Officials Performance Evaluation Act" and the handling of past corruption.

Carlo secretly expressed his true attitude towards this bill, but also provided protection to the nobles.     Carlo said that nobles who had embezzled more than one million pesetas in the past only needed to donate 1 million pesetas to the Royal United Bank for free, and Carlo would let bygones be bygones.

The reason for the free donation to the Royal United Bank was that the Royal United Bank was jointly founded by the royal family and the nobles.

These corrupt nobles donated to the Royal United Bank, and the royal family and the nobles got the actual benefits.

Carlo's decision was supported by other nobles. After all, for most nobles, they didn't have to do anything to get actual benefits.

As long as one noble donated to the bank, the nobles could get 250,000 pesetas based on their shares. If this is the case for one person, if more nobles donate to the bank, the remaining nobles who are not implicated will get more funds.

During the meeting, it was obvious that several nobles had ideas, but they would not express their willingness to donate to Carlo in public.

In fact, this is true. After the meeting, several nobles found Carlo privately and expressed their willingness to use donations to cleanse their previous sins.

But most nobles were indifferent. After all, the wealth of nobles has been accumulated over hundreds of years, not just one generation of nobles.

Most nobles' personal embezzlement funds cannot reach 1 million pesetas, and Carlo cannot settle accounts with the deceased nobles of the previous generation.

But anyway, the final result is in line with Carlo's expectations. This incident can be regarded as a wake-up call for these old nobles, letting them understand that the current Kingdom of Spain is not the previous kingdom government, and the royal family cannot allow these old nobles to exploit the lower-class people of Spain at will.

Prime Minister Primo obviously attaches much more importance to the implementation of the official performance evaluation bill.

Since the Spanish Parliament passed this bill, Prime Minister Primo has required the regional governments to formulate performance evaluations of the officials of the entire region within one month and submit them to the official evaluation department established by the parliament and the government.

Assigning reasonable tasks to all officials in the entire region has become the primary task of the district governors of each region. If they complete the tasks well, it will be their performance, and if they do not complete the tasks well, they will naturally be deducted points.

Starting from the day the bill was promulgated, the Spanish government has begun to evaluate all officials.

Prime Minister Primo will not have any patience for those officials who are both incompetent and immoral. It is what Prime Minister Primo has to do to quickly remove these incompetent and corrupt officials from the government in the shortest possible time.

In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of officials, Prime Minister Primo also asked the department responsible for the performance evaluation of officials to set up a specific reward and punishment system.

Although poor performance in the evaluation will lead to government punishment or even dismissal from office, if the evaluation results are good, they can also increase their salary, accumulate certain merits and get promoted.

Accumulating military merits can get a title, and accumulating political achievements can also get a title. Knowing that it is impossible to attract all Spanish officials by simply promoting their positions and increasing their salaries, Prime Minister Primo also specifically asked Carlo to clarify that accumulating political achievements can also give him the opportunity to be awarded a title.

Even if he is just a commoner, if he has made considerable political achievements in his official position, and his political assessment has always been relatively good, he will have the opportunity to be awarded a title.

As long as he works diligently all his life and does not make any serious mistakes, it is relatively easy to get a baron title.

Now is no different from the past. Nobles are indeed very common in Spain, and barons are not rare.

Even for Spain, the earl is like an honorary title and has become a common existence.

There are even a lot of dukes, which is why Carlo has always been troubled by the old-style nobles, because there are too many old-style nobles in Spain, and the number is simply too large.

The title of official position is not so attractive to those great nobles. After all, they are already the top of the Spanish nobles, and it is difficult for them to move up in the title.

Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano, who are at the top of the Spanish political and military circles, can go further and get room for promotion in terms of titles.

For most dukes, it is good enough for them to keep the existing family property and go further on its basis.

As for the title of Grand Duke, which is higher than the duke, you must establish considerable merits to obtain it, which is not so easy.

In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of a large number of officials from civilian backgrounds, Prime Minister Primo also arranged a large number of relatively simple tasks, such as reducing the illiteracy rate in various places, promoting the use of Spanish on a larger scale, etc., which can be done with a little effort.

It is not a free credit, but it is definitely easy to accomplish.

For example, reducing the illiteracy rate is something the government is vigorously promoting. As long as local officials are not stupid and actively cooperate with the government's policies, the reduction of illiteracy is inevitable.

As for the promotion of Spanish, it is mainly aimed at officials in Catalonia and Basque.

Officials who want political achievements must promote the use of Spanish in these areas and reduce the application scenarios of local languages.

Previously, the Spanish government fought against these nationalists, and now the mayors of Catalonia and the Basque region will do these things.

The nationalists' promotion of the use of local languages ​​will endanger the performance of local officials. Even if they are reluctant, they must reduce the use of local languages ​​as much as possible for their own future.

The officials in these regions are basically local ethnic groups. In this way, they can also form a confrontation between local nationalists and officials, and reduce the threat of local independence through differentiation.

The official reform caused a great sensation, but in fact only a small number of officials were affected.

In the two months from July to August 1872, the assessment department seriously dealt with at least two hundred officials, including mayors and heads of minor government departments.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Primo made a major change in the cabinet after taking office. At present, the ministers of the cabinet are all progressive parties or liberal parties who support reform. These people may not be so loyal to Carlo, but their own abilities are still good, at least not related to incompetence.

Two-in-one chapter, 1,000 words are owed and will be made up tomorrow.