The European Commission sent two reasoned opinions to the Spanish Government this week over the abusive chaining of temporary contracts in public administrations. It demands higher compensations for affected interim workers and threatens to take Spain to court if the situation is not corrected within two months. Over one million of the three million public employees are temporary.
In Spain, public administrations employ over three million workers, with around one million on temporary contracts, per the July 2025 Statistical Bulletin. This equals 32% temporality, higher than the private sector's 12.4%.
Nieves Lao Giménez, a 42-year-old nurse at the Servicio Andaluz de Salud for 18 years, has chained short substitutions without vacation rights. "I am a civil servant, but I cannot apply for a mortgage", says Belén, a Madrid procedural clerk interim since 2004 with eight chained contracts. J. L., a La Rioja health worker, accumulated 205 contracts in 19 years, contributing only 11.
The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), in a April 14, 2026 ruling, reiterated that Spanish measures like fixed indemnities and stabilization processes—which fixed 419,000 positions in five years—are insufficient. The Commission thus reactivates the 2014 infringement procedure.
If Spain does not respond in two months, Brussels will sue. Lawyers like Javier Araúz estimate 40,000 live court cases, with recent rulings raising compensations, such as €52,000 to a CSIC researcher.
