# Merit in Spain's administration and the 90% cut in advisers: a radical-centre plan with the numbers

> Spain's ministries employed 959 eventual staff, the political advisers appointed and dismissed at will, in January 2026, half of them in the Presidency, against 639 in 2019. Democracia 21 proposes cutting advisers by 90% and appointing, promoting and dismissing on merit. The radical-centre version writes a hard cap into law, at roughly the British scale of about 150 advisers for the whole government, publishes every name and salary, and moves senior managers out of free appointment into open competitions judged by independent panels with fixed terms and evaluations.

- URL: https://www.radicalcentre.eu/en/articles/merit-spain-administration-cut-advisers
- Language: en
- Publisher: radical centre / centro radical
- Published: 2026-10-15
- Topic: Democracy & institutions
- Author: radical centre
- Licence: CC BY 4.0

## Key points

- In January 2026 Spain's ministries had 959 eventual staff, 490 of them in the Ministry of the Presidency, which includes the Prime Minister's office.
- El Debate, using the same official bulletin, counted 639 in 2019, an increase of 48% while the number of ministries rose from 17 to 22.
- The UK had 159 special advisers across the whole government in March 2026; France caps a minister's private office at 14 people.
- Spain's law already says the number and pay of eventual staff must be public, yet Civio could identify only 220 of 795 advisers.
- The plan: a legal cap of about 150 advisers, every name and salary published, and senior managers chosen by open competition with independent panels.

Among the proposals in Miriam González's launch speech for [Democracia 21](/en/articles/democracia-21-miriam-gonzalez-proposals-radical-centre), one is easy to remember: cut political advisers by 90% at once, and apply merit and ability to every appointment, promotion and dismissal in the administration. The idea deserves a serious answer, which starts with the numbers.

## How many advisers Spain has

Spanish public law calls them *personal eventual*. Article 12 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees defines them as staff who only perform functions expressly classed as trust or special advice. Each government sets how many it wants. They are appointed and dismissed freely and leave when the minister they serve leaves. Time spent as an adviser can never count as merit for entering the civil service. And the law adds that their number and pay "serán públicas", shall be public.

The official public employment bulletin, published by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, counted 959 eventual staff in the ministries in January 2026. Almost half, 490, worked in the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, which includes the Prime Minister's office at Moncloa. Most other ministries had between 8 and 24. The bulletin warns that career civil servants serving in these posts are left out of the count, so the real number of political appointees is higher.

The trend is steep. El Debate, using the same bulletin, counted 639 eventual staff in 2019 and 948 in January 2025, an increase of 48%, while total ministry staff grew by about 2%. Part of the rise follows the number of ministries, which went from 17 to 22. The Presidency alone went from 314 to 477. Publication is weak too: the paper cites Civio, which after more than a year of requests could identify only 220 of the 795 advisers listed at the end of 2023.

## What other European democracies do

The United Kingdom publishes a list of every special adviser, with pay bands, each year. On 31 March 2026 there were 159 across the entire government, with a paybill of £17.9 million in 2025/26. France caps the size of ministerial private offices by decree: since October 2025, according to Acteurs publics, a full minister may have up to 14 members and a minister delegate up to 8.

Measured against those benchmarks, Spain's 959 is high. A 90% cut would leave about 96 eventual staff, below the British figure. That is achievable, and the more important question is how to make any reduction last. A cut made in one day by one government can be reversed in one day by the next, as the jump since 2019 shows. Our overview of the speech already suggested turning the headline into a permanent rule. Here is what that rule looks like.

## The second half: merit for the people who run the state

Advisers are only part of the story. The bigger lever is the senior management of the administration. Spain's Law 40/2015 requires directors general to be career civil servants, unless the ministry's structure decree makes a reasoned exception, and subdirectors general are appointed under the principles of equality, merit and ability. Royal Decree-law 6/2023 created the category of professional public managers and requires calls to state the skills being assessed. It also keeps appointment and dismissal in every case by *libre designación*, the discretionary procedure, and allows dismissal for loss of confidence as an exception. Merit is written into the law; discretion still decides.

Francis Fukuyama's work, which we [explained on day 8](/en/articles/fukuyama-political-order-and-political-decay-explained), shows why this matters. An impersonal bureaucracy, recruited and promoted on merit, is what lets a democracy resist clientelism, and the order of reforms decides whether parties capture the state or the state disciplines the parties. Jennifer Pahlka, in [today's explainer](/en/articles/jennifer-pahlka-recoding-america-explained), adds the modern twist: the civil service also needs product managers, data people and engineers, hired fast and on merit, or the state cannot deliver its own laws.

## The radical-centre plan

The left brings a principle the right sometimes forgets: public jobs belong to the public. Equal access, protection from patronage and a strong, well-funded civil service that serves whichever government wins are social goods, and they protect the people who work in the state as well as the people it serves. The market-liberal tradition brings the discipline: merit, efficiency, fewer euros spent on political jobs, and managers judged by results. The piece that belongs to neither is the institutional design, and it has four parts.

A legal cap on advisers. Parliament sets by law, for the whole central government, a maximum of around 150 eventual staff, with a ceiling per minister and a separate one for Moncloa. That is about the British scale and a cut of roughly 85% from today. Regions and large city councils adopt their own caps by the same method.

Full publication. Every adviser's name, post, pay and functions appear on the Transparency Portal within a month of appointment, as the law already intends. An adviser who is not published is not paid.

Advisers advise. Eventual staff cannot manage civil servants, sign administrative acts or sit on selection panels. Technical work goes to technical staff.

Open competitions for senior managers. Directors and subdirectors general are chosen through public calls with published criteria, assessed by an independent panel of senior civil servants and outside experts, which sends the minister a shortlist of three. Terms run for five years, with an annual performance agreement and a published evaluation. Dismissal before the end of the term needs written reasons. A minister keeps the right to choose among qualified people, and loses the right to choose anyone at all.

This keeps what González is right about, a professional administration and far fewer political jobs, and makes it durable. It also answers the week's tension. A capable state needs ministers who can lead and managers who can act, and none of this plan adds a veto: the panel shortlists, the minister decides, and Parliament sets the numbers in the open.

## FAQ

### How many advisers does the Spanish government have?

The official public employment bulletin counted 959 eventual staff in Spain's ministries in January 2026, of whom 490 worked in the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, which includes the Prime Minister's office. Career civil servants holding these posts are not counted, so the real number is higher.

### What is personal eventual in Spain?

Staff appointed without competition to posts formally classed as positions of trust or special advice. Article 12 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees says they are appointed and dismissed freely, leave when their minister leaves, and that their number and pay must be public.

### What did Democracia 21 propose about advisers?

In her launch speech on 10 October 2026, Miriam González proposed cutting political advisers by 90% at once and applying merit and ability to appointments, dismissals and promotions in the administration.

### How many special advisers does the UK government have?

The UK Cabinet Office reported 159 special advisers (155 full-time equivalent) on 31 March 2026, with a paybill of £17.9 million in 2025/26.

## Sources

- [Estadística del Personal al Servicio de las Administraciones Públicas, enero 2026](https://digital.gob.es/content/dam/portal-mtdfp/funcion-publica/rcp/boletin/2026_01/EPSAP_Enero_2026.pdf), Ministerio para la Transformación Digital y de la Función Pública (2026)
- [Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2015, texto refundido del Estatuto Básico del Empleado Público](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2015-11719), Boletín Oficial del Estado (2015)
- [Real Decreto-ley 6/2023 (Título IV, función pública)](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-25758), Boletín Oficial del Estado (2023)
- [Sánchez dispara el número de asesores en los ministerios, que roza el millar](https://www.eldebate.com/economia/20250915/sanchez-dispara-numero-asesores-ministerios-roza-millar_334360.html), El Debate (2025)
- [Special adviser data releases: numbers and costs, July 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-adviser-data-releases-numbers-and-costs-july-2026/special-adviser-data-releases-numbers-and-costs-july-2026-html), UK Cabinet Office (2026)
- [Sébastien Lecornu revoit légèrement à la baisse la taille des cabinets ministériels](https://acteurspublics.fr/articles/sebastien-lecornu-revoit-legerement-a-la-baisse-la-taille-des-cabinets-ministeriels/), Acteurs publics (2025)