The Balearic government is spending almost 100% more than it did ten years ago

In arguing the case for this allocation at a meeting of the parliamentary finance and budget committee, Vox spokesperson Manuela Cañadas defended the “fundamental right” to study in the mother tongue. She studiously avoided mentioning Catalan, referring instead to Spanish or Balearic. Petty that was, and also inaccurate, but she suggested that this choice of language would in fact address a concern of the educational community. The budget allocation would mean the recruitment of more teachers and less overcrowding in the classrooms.

It was a neat way of putting it, but from a budget perspective - as was pointed out by an opposition spokesperson - the text of the budget bill didn’t contain a specific item in respect of equipping schools. Where will the extra classrooms come from, for example?

The politics of language thus intruded into the budget-setting process - the PP hadn’t wanted this free choice - and required an adjustment to the education component. Setting aside the fact that there is no investment provision for more school facilities, the Vox requirement for an additional twenty million did in an odd way address what might be seen as a deficiency in the Balearic education budget.

The national ministry of finance carries out an annual analysis of regional governments’ budgets. For 2024, according to its latest analysis that was presented earlier this week, the percentage of the whole budget to be dedicated to spending on education in the Balearics is the second lowest in Spain. A figure of 1,322 million euros does in fact represent a 6.3% increase compared with the 2023 budget, but this spending still leaves the Balearics languishing at the bottom of the national class when it comes to education; second to last, as the Balearics were in 2023. The percentage is 18.07%. In Asturias, which has the lowest percentage, it is 16.59%.

The two main areas of spending are education and health. The health budget, which is rising by five per cent, is almost 1,000 million more than education - 2,354 million euros. At 32% of the whole budget, this is the fourth lowest allocation in the country. Together, these two areas account for 50%, yet the combination leaves the Balearics way down the list.

The whole budget for 2024 is 7,321 million euros, of which 955 million are for financial items - debt repayments. This total has increased by getting on for 100% over the past ten years. In 2014 it was 3,875 million euros. That was a year when the financial crisis still had a lingering impact. Even so, the increase is astonishing.

It becomes even more astonishing when one hears the complaints that it is not enough. With the health service, more doctors and nurses are needed for the primary care health centres and for hospitals. At times of particularly high demand, such as right now because of the flu, the health centres in particular are swamped. It has seemed rather odd that the regional health ministry has announced walk-in vaccinations at health centres without appointments when unions are saying that nurses (as well as doctors) have to be redirected to deal with emergencies and away from their regular duties. At least with appointments the health centres can get an idea of what to expect.

The percentages for education and health have altered since 2014 in that health is now 32%, whereas it was 31% ten years ago, and that education has slipped from 20.6%. The two areas in combination were therefore higher than now. Not by a huge amount, but higher nevertheless. In the meantime, the Balearic population has risen by 7.5% to 1.2 million.

On the face of it, a 65% increase in the education budget (from 798 million) and a 97% increase in the health budget (from 1,194 million) seems a colossal leap for a 7.5% population increase. But you can’t really relate these percentages because of factors such as pay, which was frozen for a time during the financial crisis, and recruitment (despite what is complained about) in order to provide better attention. There has to also be, now at any rate, an allowance for inflation. Where the health service is concerned, there is, moreover, the floating population to be aware of. There were 13.6 million tourists in 2014; this number has now risen by four million.

It is the growth in population that forms the basis for Balearic demands for a better deal when it comes to regional financing. On the revenue side of the budget, direct and indirect taxes amount to 5,454 million, according to the government’s forecast. Of this total, 3,981 million euros are provided through the regional financing system. The figures for income tax and IVA (VAT) are very similar - 1,777 million and 1,798 million respectively.

For 2024 this is increasing by 400 million, but it has been a consistent gripe of governments in the Balearics, regardless of political colour, that the islands are disadvantaged by the financing system, reform of which is ten years overdue. There are only ever three net contributor regions to this system. Catalonia isn’t always one of them, but the Balearics and Madrid are.

The current government argues that the principle of ordinality should apply. In other words, if the Balearics rank second in terms of the most per capita tax revenue for the Spanish government, the Balearics should not then rank ninth or tenth in terms of what the islands receive from the Spanish government. If there were to also be a debt pardon for the Balearics, this could potentially wipe out 1,000 million euros of debt owed to the Spanish government, which was amassed during the financial crisis.

This wouldn’t eliminate all the debt by any means, but it would allow the government to add a very decent sum to the annual spending budget. Who knows, maybe this could beef up education and health spending because, despite the massive increase in the budget over ten years, both lag behind most of the country.