Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, asks the Government to modify the current legislation so that, when the president of the National Statistics Institute (INE) is dismissed, the reasons that have led to such a decision must be detailed. It is one of the requests included in the review report of the Spanish statistical system and the degree of compliance with the European Code of Good Practices, which the experts have published today, and which seeks to reinforce the position and force the causes that lead to the Government to be made explicit. on duty to replace the person in charge.
The recommendation comes after the then president of the INE, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Poo, resigned in June last year for "personal reasons", but coinciding with criticism from the Government of the statistics provided by the institute, especially for what refers to growth and inflation. Eurostat justifies the importance of justifying the reasons for a potential change in the person in charge of the institute "given that, in recent times, changes in government have been followed by the appointment of a new president of the INE".
Another recommendation included by the Eurostat experts is that the range of potential candidates to preside over the INE be broadened and that it is not restricted, as it is currently to civil servants, but that high-level academics from private universities and people from the commercial section. The report considers that this "is an unnecessary exception to the principle of free competition." With the current legislation, the president of the INE is appointed by the Government by decree at the proposal of the Ministry of Economy and his appointment leads to the assumption of the position of sub-secretary, a position that, in turn, must be selected among career officials of the upper scale. In addition, the law does not specify that candidates for the position must have an appropriate professional resume. For this reason, it is considered that introducing this requirement would underline the fact that the role of the president of the INE is unique in the administrative system, and would highlight that the position is of the utmost importance.
