The Balearic Islands reject the new financing system: "It does not take into account any of our claims"

PalmaThe Balearic Government has voted against the new financing system presented by the Ministry of Finance, which was approved this Friday at the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) held in Madrid thanks to the favorable votes of the state government, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands. The First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Finance and Innovation, Antoni Costa, justified the opposing vote "with total conviction," understanding that "not a single one of the unanimous claims" of the Balearic Islands has been taken into account.

Specifically, as the Ministry noted in a press release, "insularity, the floating population, the increase in population, and the principle of ordinality" are not taken into account. "They didn't want to negotiate anything," criticized Costa. Firstly, the minister criticized, the new financing system was "imposed" by the Ministry of Finance. "They have served us a plate of lentils," insisted Costa.

In his view, "the only objective of this system is to respond to the political needs of the President, Pedro Sánchez, and to pay his debts to the nationalists of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)".

Regarding the claims of the Islands, he considered that the new system does not take into account "not a single one" of the requests that were raised by consensus by all parliamentary groups in the Parliament and also by civil society. "We demand that insularity be taken more into account, but the system not only does not do so, but it reduces the weight of the variable," he maintained.

Secondly, the minister regretted that the new system does not take into account either the floating population or the increase in population, and stresses that the population of the Islands has increased by 50% in the last 20 years.

On the other hand, he highlighted that the Archipelago receives millions of tourists and temporary workers every year who also use public services.

Costa recalled that the Balearic Islands have long demanded that the principle of ordinality be applied, a system which, he reproached, "is only complied with in the case of Catalonia." "We are the second largest contributors to the financing system, but we are the tenth when it comes to receiving resources. We want to be the second to contribute, but also the second to receive," he said.