Moreno destaca la importancia de la ética en la política, mencionando principios como la honestidad, transparencia y buen gobierno en la gestión pública.

The President of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juanma Moreno, has stated that discussing ethics in politics means talking about principles such as honesty, transparency, good governance in public administration, but also about agreements and being loyal to them.

During his intervention in the question time in the Andalusian Parliament, Moreno referred to the historic agreement reached with education unions that will have an impact in the upcoming 25/26 academic year. The agreement includes structural measures such as increasing the teaching staff by over 2,500 teachers, reducing class sizes to 22 in the second cycle of nursery, reinforcing staff for diversity in primary and secondary education in schools with higher ratios, reinforcing specialist staff in special education, measures for streamlining bureaucracy, and reinstating the Call for Chair Access in secondary education teaching staff.

He highlighted that this agreement entails the incorporation of over 6,000 professionals into the system, in addition to those already agreed upon in the Sectorial Table.

Therefore, he emphasized that this is a milestone because it redesigns the structure of the educational system for the decades to come and he thanked the union organizations for their dialogue and constructive spirit in seeking agreements.

On another note, he asserted that when the Regional Government detects any signs of corruption or fraud, it reports it to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as was the case with the alleged fraud in school transportation contracts in Cadiz. «The Public Agency initiated proceedings and dismissed the employee after conducting an investigation. The General Intervention was informed and it was referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. We also did this in 2022 with Covid tests, we went to the Prosecutor’s Office to report attempts of fraud with sanitary material.»

The Andalusian President stressed that the Regional Government handles the public funds of all Andalusians with great care, allocating them according to the budget and not elsewhere.

In this regard, he underlined that a budget is approved each year, which demonstrates transparency. Additionally, it is a consolidated budget with instrumental entities, including an appendix on personnel and another on provincialized investments.

He also highlighted the creation of a budget viewer to make information accessible to citizens so they can easily understand how public resources are utilized.

In this context, he mentioned that mechanisms of control over public funds have been established, such as creating specific bodies of senior and technical auditors and auditors (Law 7/2023) with the aim of having a group of highly qualified officials for better oversight; the General Directorate of Procurement and the implementation of electronic systems (SiREC) that provide greater controls and transparency in all public procurement, and the replacement of prior spending checks with permanent financial control.

In this regard, he explained that prior financial control is limited to compliance with economic-budgetary legality, with a very limited scope, while permanent financial control has a much broader scope and analyzes not only legality, but also the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending.

«With all these measures, we aim to prevent cases of corruption like those we have experienced in the past. The EREs or the Faffe are macro-cases that are still in court today, where there was a diversion of public funds for favoritism and friendly companies.»

Furthermore, in light of recent news, he lamented that essential infrastructure projects for Andalusia’s mobility are experiencing cost overruns and delays. He added that they have requested the Spanish Government to properly audit and oversee all projects under judicial investigation to analyze whether there have been cost overruns, budget deviations, and to hold the relevant parties accountable.

The Andalusian President, during a moment in the parliamentary question time.

Youth, the present and future of our society

Moreno referred to the youth as the present and future of our society and therefore urged all institutions to be aware and sensitive to their problems, needs, and aspirations.

«This Government listens to them and has policies to help them. We act in many areas, trying to create opportunities for them to develop a life project.»

Regarding training, he emphasized the boost to Vocational Training with 47,522 more places supported by public funds, totaling almost 170,000, nearly 3,000 more teachers, and the commitment to public universities with more financial resources, more infrastructure investments, and more student support.

In terms of employment and entrepreneurship, he mentioned the approval of a Youth Employment Plan with economic and social agents to mobilize almost 500 million euros between incentives for hiring, support for the most vulnerable, or assistance to municipalities, and highlighted the nearly eleven percentage points decrease in unemployment among those under 25.

Regarding housing, he cited the housing tax package with measures for those under 35, resulting in savings of over 90 million euros. Additionally, more than 1,500 young people have benefited from the guarantee program for first home purchases, extended to 40 years with a 20% guarantee, and over 30,000 young people benefit annually from the reduced Property Transfer Tax at 3.5%.

The President of the Regional Government reiterated the importance of continuing to work in areas such as mental health and added that Andalusia has Eating Disorder Units, short-term hospitalization for children and adolescents, separate rooms for adults and minors in almost all community units, more professionals, and a suicide prevention program.

In conclusion, he addressed the fight against gender-based violence among young people and stated that the Andalusian Government has implemented initiatives such as establishing a new specific group for psychological support for young victims aged 18-25 and continues to raise awareness through campaigns on pornography consumption, gender violence prevention, or cyber gender violence, among others.