THE Spanish regional authorities are suffering badly under a mountain of debt. Many have borrowed heavily, including the Balearics, only to find that their income has fallen dramatically as a result of the recession.
The situation is so serious that there is even talk that the regional Councils (the Council of Majorca in our case) could be dismantled as a money saving move. I think that is quite a good move because the Balearics has four different types of local authorities with all their civil servants; first you have the local councils, then the island councils, followed by the Balearic government and the central administration (Madrid government) which is responsible for some key departments. Five different types of governments each responsible for a population of one million people. In many cases there must be duplication. What is evident is that the good old days of plenty of money are over and the Spanish government is being forced to make big cuts.
Cutting the regional councils is just one of the proposals which is being studied at the moment. The new Balearic government of Jose Ramon Bauza has halted the transfer of powers from the Balearic government to each regional council. At one stage they were expected to gain control of their own tourism departments but this idea has been shelved. The Balearic ministry for tourism will continue to reign supreme. The regional councils are in the spotlight and millions of euros could be saved.
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