The Association of the Senior Corps of Civil Administrators of the State (Acsace) has requested this Thursday in Congress the launch of a broad State Pact on Public Service that will ensure generational renewal, given the forecast that almost half of the workforce of the General Administration of the State will retire in the next ten years.
The association’s president, David Lafuente, made this call during the opening of the first congress promoted by civil administrators, an event that brought together around 200 public employees and institutional officials such as the Secretary of State for Public Service, Consuelo Sánchez Naranjo, the Fourth Secretary of the Congress Board, Carmen Navarro, and former Minister of Justice Rafael Catalá. The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, also joined the event through a video shown during the ceremony.
Lafuente began his speech with a tribute to the victims of the recent railway accident in Urda and with an express recognition of the public servants who took part in managing the emergency. Next, he appealed to all political parties with parliamentary representation to commit to that generational renewal, a challenge that, as he stressed, cannot be addressed or resolved within the framework of a single legislative term.
In addition, he defended the approval of a Professional Public Executive Statute, the professionalization of public employees, and the need to support both generational renewal and the future Professional Public Executive Statute with tools and training programs in artificial intelligence. He also called for more resources for the systematic evaluation of public policies and new measures that strengthen integrity in the administration.
"We will not be few of the civil servants who, from a management position, have known how to say no to something that didn’t sound entirely right to us. That is also public service," Lafuente said during his address.
Message from Teresa Ribera at the congress
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, highlighted in a video released at the congress the historic role of these officials in the modernization of Spain, emphasizing that they have been present in the country’s main transformations.
Along the same lines, the also former third Deputy Prime Minister of the Government has highlighted the work of this group and has especially underlined the growing weight of women in these bodies and their contribution to the design of public policies.
The Deputy Prime Minister has closed her remarks by emphasizing that, in a complex international context full of challenges, it is essential to keep relying on "solid" and "well-prepared" administrations with "professionals". "Without a serious professional administration that works shoulder to shoulder with the other colleagues, with the other administrations, with respect for people, anticipating the needs of citizens, none of this would have been possible," she concluded.