The Balearic Islands reject the new financing system: "It does not contemplate 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 central Government, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands. The First Vice President and Regional 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" from the Balearic Islands has been considered.

Specifically, as the Regional Ministry pointed out in a press release, "insularity, the floating population, the increase in population, or the principle of ordinality" are not considered. "They did not want to negotiate anything," criticized Costa. Firstly, the regional minister criticized that the new financing system had been "imposed" by the Ministry of Finance. "They served us a plate of lentils," insisted Costa.

In his view, "the sole 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 in a consensual manner by all parliamentary groups in the Parliament and also by civil society. "We demand that insularity be taken into account more, but the system not only fails to do so, but reduces the weight of the variable," he maintained.

Secondly, the regional minister lamented that the new system does not take into account either the floating population or the increase in population, highlighting that the population of the Islands has increased by 50 percent in the last 20 years.

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

Costa recalled that the Balearic Islands have long been demanding the application of the principle of ordinality, a system that, he reproached, "is only fulfilled with 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.