A fair deal, please

By Jason Moore WHEN will the Balearics resolve the age old problem of financing from the central administration in Madrid? It appears that for at least the last two decades these islands have been getting a raw deal from the central administration in Madrid with the islands paying far more in taxes than they receive in return. I get the impression that Madrid believes that these islands are exceptionally wealthy and should be able to stand on their own two feet. The money we pay to Madrid is destinated for the poorer areas of Spain which do not have the necessary resources. Perhaps, we should feel good that our money is helping other regions but our local government and the previous administration do not feel so. Infact they are demanding better funding. It was the Catalans who first got the ball rolling when they refused to subsidise the rest of the country claiming that Catalan money should not leave the region. There was a long drawn about debate about financing and in the end it was settled; plenty of Madrid cash for Cataluña and little for the rest of us. Balearic leader Francesc Antich used his speech at the recent Constitution Day celebrations to call for more cash from Madrid. I don´t understand why the Zapatero government hasn´t been kinder to the Balearics. Afterall Zapatero and Antich belong to the same party and criticising Madrid over funding is rather a political own-goal. Unfortunately at the moment funding is very much needed to pay for repairs to the metro and also the new hospital which is controversially being built on the outskirts of the city. So yes Antich does have a point but whether Madrid are going to listen is a different matter completely.