A legislature, maybe even a whole cycle, seems to be coming to an end, and the political scene is going through the classic movements: selecting candidates, update programs, warming up the pre-campaign. The polls look bad for Zapatero's Government, and although many things can happen in a year, the smart ones are beginning to look for a dignified exit. High-ranking officials of the Administration, of public companies or of the Security Corps are seen to cast off their posts and look for a place in the private sector or in other safer destinations (and, sometimes, better paid: a commissioner of the National Police, stationed in one of our embassies, earns more than 20,000 euros a month). Nobody in their right mind wants to stay still on a sinking ship.

In the ranks of the parties of civil service examination, which hope to accede to power, maneuvers of the opposite sign can be observed. The pools are being drawn up for the allocation of these positions to affiliates and sympathizers. There is excitement and nerves, as everyone wants to be well placed when the time comes to share the spoils. In corridors and offices the old 'What about mine' resounds.

I recently received the news of the birthday of the German journalist Dieter Vogel. As it is a round age, eighty, it has been celebrated in style. It is instructive to take a look at his professional career. After shining in the press, he made the leap into politics and worked as spokesman for various ministers in successive German governments, with one peculiarity: they belonged to all political parties - Christian Democrats, Socialists, Liberals. This second degree program culminated in his appointment as government spokesman during Kohl's term of office.

Such a trajectory would be unthinkable in our country. On the contrary, Vogel's case is not even an exception in Germany, where changes in the Executive do not affect the Administration, not even the top positions: general directors or even secretaries of state remain in their posts regardless of the electoral result . It is understood that the Administration is technical, not political, and can therefore work efficiently and smoothly.

In Spain we continue to confuse sovereignty with property, feudal style: public bodies as private estates or as private farms, very long mangers to feed relatives, friends, cronies and militants. The Civil Service Statute still imposes some respect, and the staffs are not flexible in an unlimited way, so that if there is no legal gap, hundreds or thousands of personal advisors are appointed. When the legislature ends and a change of government is in sight, they have to be turned into civil servants in a hurry, even if it is illegal.

Thus, the public sector is growing disproportionately, until it becomes a kind of cancer. Both the autonomous regime and the municipal system favor this dynamic by duplicating or even tripling some services. Bureaucratic complication becomes an added brake on our (already) very low productivity. It is urgent to put an end to this process. Perhaps one positive effect of this crisis could be the acceptance of surgery that would have been unimaginable in good times. Even so, it will require fortitude and far-sightedness on the part of the political class , and it remains to be seen whether our rulers will be able to apply these remedies, as necessary as they are unpopular.