TALKS are being set up between national and regional governments on the possibility of freezing airport taxes in the Balearic Islands, Pablo Martin, Socialist MP for the Balearic Islands in Central Government said yesterday.
Martin said he believed that the talks were likely to go ahead and that should they prove fruitful, the best way foreward would then be to propose an amendment to the 2011 state budget.
The move to freeze airport taxes in the Balearics comes in the wake of an agreement between Central Government and the Canary Islands for airport taxes there to be lowered. Reportedly, bringing down airport taxes in the Canary Islands has been in exchange for the regional government supporting the 2011 state budget.
Martin was anxious to make it clear that there was a distinct difference between freezing and lowering airport taxes. Central Government he said, has the power to freeze taxes at specific airports whilst lowering them has to have the approval of the European Union.
He explained that in the case of the Canary Islands, the lowering of airport taxes would have to bow to EU norms governing regions which were on the periphery of mainland territory.
With regard to the freezing of airport taxes in the Balearics which has been requested of the national government by Gabriel Vicens, the Balearic Minister for Transport, Martin said that consensus would have to be reached between Central Government and the Balearic authorities. It could take days or weeks for the result to be known, he warned.
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