New public works minister will take office today

Francesc Quetglas has been named Balearic minister of public works, housing and transport, replacing Josep Antoni Ferrer, whose sudden resignation was announced late on Thursday night. He will take possession of his office at 11am today, and immediately afterwards he and government leader Francesc Antich will face the media. During the last legislature, Quetglas was chairman of the Council of Majorca's planning committee, and until January he was the president of the Centro Baleares Europa. Since then he has been a civil servant. He was reportedly second choice for the key post, after Francesc Triay, president of the Port Authority, whose demands, namely complete freedom to draw up planning policy, could not be met. Antich has so far declined to comment on the reason's behind Ferrer's sudden resignation from the coalition government although rumours are rife that it is due to pressure from his party, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party) and lack of support from Antich, who has reportedly questioned his performance publicly and privately.