Balearic Parliament holds its final meeting before the elections

The laws which are still in the pipeline are the reform of the Balearic Civil Rights law, the proposal from the Council of Majorca to protect the countryside, the land law and the creation of the college of journalists, public relations and protocol.

The land law was withdrawn by the Government to avoid a controversy only months before the elections.
The first two laws, the Balearic Civil Rights and the Council of Majorca's proposal, were unable to be approved because of lack of time. In the case of the creation of the College of Journalists, it was the Government which withdrew it due to the controversy created in this sector.

This was the last meeting of Parliament for this period of office.
The elections are on May 27 and on April 2 the electoral campaigns begin in earnest.
Compared with the previous government, during the last four years only one less law has been approved. Between 1999 and 2003 Parliament approved a total of 56 laws. Undoubtedly the reform of the Statute has been the most important law approved this term. Its passage was a long one and there was always a risk of a serious rift between the Partido Popular (PP) and the rest of the political parties. At the end of June the reform was approved with the support of the PP, PSOE (Spanish Socialists) and the UM (Majorcan Nationalists). The law then successfully went through the Spanish Senate.

The law started with the creation of a Parliamentary committee which proposed various changes to the Statute. After this these proposed changes were put forward by the PP and the PSOE for approval. The UM added their weight to the proposals, but the United Left/Greens Alliance and the PSM (Majorcan Socialists) abstained.

The repeal of the tourist tax was one of the first matters which was dealt with by this Parliament. Just before the end of 2003 the Government presented a proposal to Parliament to scrap this controversial tax imposed by the previous Government.