Alberto Bravo, candidate to lead Cosital: “We want an integrating project in which we all fit”

Alberto Bravo Queipo de Llano leads the candidacy of the Madrid College of Secretaries, Auditors and Treasurers under the name “COSITAL we are all”. He is graduated in Right by Comillas Pontifical University (ICADE) and Official Master in Training of Local Administration Officials with National Authorization from the Menéndez Pelayo International University in collaboration with INAP. Currently, he is the deputy secretary in the Torrelodones City Council and is willing to succeed José Luis Pérez, current president of COSITAL. Prepared for the electoral race of elections that have not yet been called, Bravo Queipo de Llano has taken some time to attend OKDIARIO.

Q.- What is the role of city council secretaries and auditors?

R.- National authorized persons are a fundamental figure in the control of the legality of local entities. That is to say, of the city councils and the councils, fundamentally. We are civil servants of the A1 subgroup, which the State selects us to serve in local entities, and precisely the State selects us to have a certain distance from the focus of political power that we have to control.

Q.- And that is precisely the controversy…

R.- Effectively. One of the issues that worries us is the issue of the transfer of powers to the autonomous communities, and now, in part, certain powers have been ceded to the Basque Country, through the General State Budget of 2022, and it is under appeal in the Constitutional Court by PP and Vox, and in the last Budget Law, that of 2023, an assignment to Catalonia was intended, which has not finally been consummated, but which is a danger that is there and that we cannot ignore.

Going back to functions, we exercise legal and economic control functions. The secretary exercises the functions of legal control and then there is economic control, which is exercised by the treasurer. This economic control is carried out to prevent public money from being used for purposes other than those provided by law.

Q.- It is important to highlight the fact that you have to be independent.

R.- We have to be independent and impartial, and that is why to date, since 2013 we depend on the State. It is the State that exercises this control. We have to be independent and impartial and we have to stay away from the focus of political power that we must control.

Q.- And why is there so much controversy with your figure?

A.- The controversy arises from the stabilization procedures. It is intended to make permanent temporary employees who have accessed through procedures in which the principles of merit and capacity have been attenuated, and that due to the simple fact of having remained on an interim basis occupying a certain position, it is intended to be stabilized. There, 60% of the weight in these contest processes will be the experience; that is to say, they will not have to pass an exam in which they demonstrate that they have acquired sufficient knowledge to perform these important functions.

Q.- In other words, they skip some very tough competitive examinations that you, however, have had to overcome with great effort.

R.- They are competitive examinations with approximately 150 topics, which are serious and rigorous, which have an initial composition exercise, an oral exercise that requires significant memory capacity, and a case study. It is a complete opposition and one of the most rigorous at the state level.

Q.- Why did you decide to take this step forward now?

R.- The work of the current president is beyond doubt. He has been in the position for eight years, and they are doing important work in defense of the qualification, but the truth is that at this moment there is a certain disaffection with the collegiate work. Sometimes they do not explain well enough what they do, there is a lack of visibility, there is a lack of certain firmness in some of the measures that the Government has adopted… We want to encourage participation. The last assemblies have barely attended ten people out of a total of 300 that currently make up the Madrid College, and what we want is to give people back the illusion of being part of this group.

Q.- And why is this illusion lost?

R.- I believe that it is due to the continuous attacks that the authorization has suffered over the years and that, on occasions, have not been sufficiently answered. For example, the transfers of the Basque Country, which were finally consummated, or the delays in holding the competitions. Now, the unitary contest corresponding to 2022 has not been called with the due frequency, and it is suspected that, perhaps, it may be related to the stabilization processes. They do not want to put out to competition positions that can be covered and that break the seniority of the interim, and that they cannot present themselves. It may be one of the reasons.

Also the fact that the same people have been holding collegiate positions for many years and there are new batches of qualified people who also demand a place and be able to work and support the profession at an institutional level.

Q.- I understand that if in the end interim positions are accepted into your positions, your work is somewhat undervalued…

R.- In addition, it would allow them to compete on equal terms even with certain advantages. Someone who has been, for example, seven years acting as an interim will have more points than someone who has accessed through a rigorous procedure but who has been in office for two years. So, a dysfunction is created that is clearly unfair.

Q.- And what about the transfer to the communities?

R.- It is striking that they intend to transfer the selection of national qualified to the autonomous communities because it is an experiment that has already failed. The autonomous communities, from 2007 to 2013, were the ones that selected the qualified, and the communities did not call places periodically, each one did so with a different periodicity, they limited access -affecting the principle of equality- demanding the language requirements , and also the level of demand was reduced, because the oral exercise, which is so important, was no longer required in some autonomous communities.

In short, it is a measure that did not work, which, as we have commented before, was already included for the Basque Country in the 2022 Budget Law, which has been rejected in the 2023 Budget Law for Catalonia but that we are not completely convinced that it will not be proposed again by the Catalan nationalists because in particular Gabriel Rufián (ERC) already said in parliament that of the new places offered in the Royal Decree of Ukraine, which are 1,000, 400 of them were going to destined for Catalonia. And it catches our attention and we believe that it may be the prelude to a new assignment.

Q.- To these 1,000 we must add the 600 that are already summoned…

R.- At present, the job offers for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 have accumulated, with a total of 600 places. These 600 are joined by the 1,000 of the Royal Decree of Ukraine, which speak of the adoption of measures to streamline the selection processes. This must also be related to previous selection processes. For example, the 2019 job offer, which was carried out last year, failed to cover 200 positions. In other words, if they call 1,600 now, they are going to have to lower the level, and there is already talk, for example, of replacing the oral exercise with a type test.

Q.- What do you want from the College?

R.- We want the College to become a meeting point where people come, where people have support in situations of harassment -which are common in our profession precisely because of our closeness to political power- with the figure of a defender of the collegiate and, ultimately, encourage participation and that people feel part of the College.

Q.- Do you have proof that someone else is going to show up?

R.- Elections have not yet been called. It is expected that they will be called if not in January in February, and we have no confirmation. But it would not be strange if someone, endorsed by the current president, could present himself.

In any case, we want to propose a project that is ours, and not looking at what has been done or not done by the current Board, but to propose an integrating project, of unity, and in which all members can fit from Madrid.

Q.- And hence your slogan: Cosital we are all.

R.- Yes. Anyone is welcome to work with us in advocacy for licensing.