The Government blocks the opposition's access to the proposals of the Pact for Sustainability

PalmWithout access to the list of 540 proposals currently being considered by the Pact for Sustainability. This is the situation the PSIB (Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands) found itself in after requesting information from the Government through a written question to the Parliament. The Ministry of Labor, Public Administration, and Social Dialogue, headed by Catalina Cabrer (pictured accompanying this text), informed Socialist MP Llorenç Pou that he would not receive the initiatives submitted in this process, which the Executive has always emphasized as participatory. One of the arguments the Government uses to deny the information is that the PSIB "has been invited at all times" to participate in the Pact, of which it is not a member, and also justifies blocking the proposals based on data protection law. However, Pou only requested access to the proposals themselves, not authorship – which he did request in a previous question, for which he also received no response from the Government. The website for the Pact for Sustainability also provides no information on the initiatives – this page hasn't been updated for months – and, according to ARA Baleares, the entities that are part of the Pact for Sustainability also have no concrete proposals. The only explanation the Government has given is that, out of 540, 102 had already been addressed, without further details.

"Answering a written question from a member of parliament in any old way is a lack of institutional respect. It's not normal to have 540 proposals and yet have no way for the public to know what they are. They keep talking about them, and it would be normal for them to be public. It's surprising that there's a public website and they're not accessible," criticizes Llorenç Pou. The Socialist MP asserts that the problem "isn't just the PSIB's issue in disagreeing with the methodology" and emphasizes that "no one, except the Government, has these 540 proposals." "One begins to doubt whether they even exist," he adds, also noting that "nothing has been heard about the committee of experts" that the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, announced on the day of the presentation of the Pact for Sustainability.

Faced with the Executive's refusal to provide the information, the Socialist parliamentary group has sought protection from the Parliament's Bureau. "The chamber must have information to legislate, and our feeling is that this process lacks substance," Pou continued. Furthermore, the PSIB also requested details of the 102 proposals that the Government claims to have discussed and also registered a request for the appearance of the head of the Pact, the Director General of Social Dialogue and Economic Transition, José Antonio Caldés. The Socialists are also demanding information on the agreement resulting from the general policy debate, which stipulated that before the end of 2025 the Pact should address the increase in the ITS (Tax on Real Estate Transfers) and the water levy for large consumers, as well as the tax on rental vehicles. "It was an agreement of the Parliament, and they haven't implemented it," said the PSIB deputy, convinced that the Government is using the Pact to "try to stall certain processes and to create a distraction." "It lacks transparency."

In addition to the issue of the Pact for Sustainability, the PSIB asserts that the Balearic Government has also prevented them from visiting projects being carried out with funds from the Sustainable Tourism Tax. "There is a significant lack of transparency. The project completion rate was only 25% in October, and the Government has frozen visits, to the point that the Minister of Tourism [Jaume Bauzá] admitted in plenary session that we can only visit them when he wants, when he's around," says Pou.