24/06/2015 00:00
TW
0

And so it all drags on. The investiture of Francina Armengol (PSOE) as president of the Balearic Government had originally been planned for tomorrow, but when Més (Majorcan socialists-nationalists) raised certain conditions regarding its support for a coalition the investiture was put on hold.
It is said that it may take place on Tuesday next week, but Més is saying that it will announce whether or not its support will be forthcoming tomorrow.
Of the various sticking points in the negotiations, one - the presidency of the Council of Majorca - has been dealt with to Més’ satisfaction: its candidate, Miquel Ensenyat, is the new president.
 A further one, the presidency of the Council of Minorca, is still to be resolved.
Biel Barceló, the leader of Més, says that the Minorcan situation is independent to negotiations regarding the regional government and so Armengol’s investiture.
However, it had been previously said by Més that the two matters were not independent.

Podemos
Barceló is insisting that the issue of greatest concern is to extract a commitment from both PSOE and Podemos, the third party in the coalition discussions, to “agreements for change”, a key one being to press their national bodies to themselves commit to a change in how the Balearic region is financed. It wants the national leaders of both PSOE and Podemos - Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias - to sign a commitment if the two parties find themselves in national government.
The Més proposal on financing, which also includes the co-management of airports, would, says Barceló, release more than a thousand million euros of state investment funds for the Balearics.  
On the presidency of the Council of Minorca, the discussions are complicated not just by political considerations but because of the Sant Joan fiestas on the island.
A final decision there may not arrive until Thursday, but a general view is that Més will get its way and that Maite Salord will become the island council’s president.
Yesterday, Més did not - as was its right - put forward a name to the new Speaker of the Balearic parliament, Xelo Huertas, to be voted on during the investiture.  By not doing so, the implication is that the way is left clear for the party to support Armengol.