The tram was a stellar project for the previous government.

TW
20

It was all smiles on Partido Popular benches in the Balearic parliament on Tuesday. The tensions with Vox had been overcome, and the government was able to secure approval for its spending ceiling in 2024 - some 6.3 billion euros plus almost a further billion to be borrowed in order to meet debt repayments owed in 2024.

The budget has yet to be finalised - it will be presented on Thursday for parliamentary processing and debate - but government sources indicate that it will not include investment for two projects that were dear to the hearts of the previous administration. No provision will be made for the Palma tram or for the Manacor-Arta railway.

Related news

The reason, it is said, is that there is no certainty that these projects can be carried out as Madrid has not guaranteed that its contributions will be forthcoming. However, where the tram is concerned, it has been well publicised that the PP mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, doesn't believe that it is the right project for now; he has called for state investment to be diverted to enhancing the Palma bus service instead.

Otherwise, there will be investment for a Vox initiative - 750,000 euros to establish the Language Office. In effect, this office will replace the Anti-Corruption Office, which is being scrapped.

With a further Vox requirement in mind, free choice of language in schools, the education investment budget will increase from 95.7 million euros to 154 million.