More money for Balearics but no concrete figure

PALMA
THE Secretary of State of Tax and Budgets, Carlos Ocaña has announced that “the State will comply scrupulously with the Balearic Statute”.
He added, “we want to give it substance, and so it is our intention to show maximum sensitivity to the needs of the Balearic citizens”.
The Secretary of State was speaking after a meeting of the Mixed Commission for Economy and Tax.
But what was actually agreed at this meeting? Will there be more money for the Balearics?
From what can be gleaned from statements by various people, there will be more money, which will be shown in the General Budgets. However, nobody wants to give a concrete figure.

With regard to investments in Balearic industry, these will be announced in three weeks. This was confirmed by the Balearic Ministry for Economy, Tax and Innovation, Carles Manera. This time scale must be strictly adhered to as during the second week in October the procedures start for the presentation of the General Budgets for 2008, and between October 23 and 25 Parliament will meet to debate these Budgets.

Manera described the meeting as cordial with a mood of total collaboration. “We have received an assurance that the Balearic Statute will be put into action, and all the provisions contained in it will be complied with”, he said.

Asked about the 2'500 million euros agreed by the Partido Popular (PP), which formed the previous Balearic Government, and the PSOE (Spanish Socialists), which control the current Spanish Government, before the local elections, Manera denied the existence of any document which mentions this amount and advocated “rigorous negotiation”.

The Balearic Tax Agency was also the object of questions, to which the Minister responded that although this is not strictly within the scope of the Mixed Commission, “yes, we did talk about an advanced project. In fact the Balearic Ministry has been working on this for several weeks”, although he did add that, “in this Commission we prefer to talk about more immediate things, such as investments, as the whole financial system will surely change after the general elections in 2008”.

The Spanish Government will present its Budgets project in approximately three weeks time.
Manera highlighted the “cooperative mood” of the Spanish Government and insisted that all the matters in the Balearic Statute had been covered. Manera attended the meeting together with two other Balearic Ministers, Biel Vicens, the Minister for Mobility, and the Minister for the President's Office, Albert Moragues. This was first meeting.

Among the objectives of the Mixed Commission are: to analyse the continuation of investments, to exchange information about the relative aspects of the islands' finances, and to deal with the needs of the population and the fact that the Balearics are islands.