The government will lose the money that Europe and Spain had given to Damm to maintain Agama.
The factory closure forces the brewery to return the subsidy, but regulations prevent these funds from being directly reinvested in the Balearic dairy sector.
PalmHe closure of the Agama factory, owned by DammThis represents a further economic loss for the primary sector of the Balearic Islands. The portion of the subsidy that the brewery received The funds allocated to European Union and Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will be returned to the European Union and Spanish government budgets, respectively. No investment will be made in other potential businesses in the sector that could have received the funds had Damm not requested them and subsequently closed the factory.
This is not a decision made by any of the public administrations involved in granting the subsidy (nor by the Government), but rather is determined by law. When the company receiving the subsidy, in this case Damm, fails to comply with the established terms, the funds revert to the public coffers, and each administration then decides how to allocate them without any obligation to reinvest them in the same project. sectorThe percentage of aid received from the Government will return to the coffers of the Autonomous Community, and its possible allocation within the current budgets will be determined later. The Ministry of Agriculture has not specified in the Balearic Islands Annual Report (ARA Baleares) what portion of the 1.1 million euros Damm received from each of the three administrations. They also explained that it is "impossible" to know when this budget item will be recovered, as it is all part of an administrative process and several external factors are involved. The repayment will be carried out through a regulated procedure: once the cessation of activity is formally verified, the revocation of the aid and the request for repayment of the amounts granted will begin. Damm expressed its willingness to return the funds, but has the right to appeal the decision, which could lengthen the payment process.
The Ministry of Agriculture has emphasized that, despite the closure of the Agama factoryThe dairy sector in Mallorca "is not dead" and they will continue working to support "new initiatives and strengthen the profitability and sustainability of farms." "The Ministry's commitment to the primary sector in the Balearic Islands is firm and ongoing. Therefore, we will continue to seek new opportunities that contribute to guaranteeing the future of dairy farming," sources from the Ministry emphasized.
Meeting with Agama workers
On March 19th, at 9 a.m., the Minister of Agriculture, Jaume Simonet, will meet with the workers ofAgama to explain to them the failure of the cooperative project that has led to the closure of Agama and dealt a fatal blow to the Mallorcan dairy sector. This meeting comes after the news published by this newspaper where the workers' spokesperson, Jesús Ávila, denounced that the Government had not received them for three months.
The workers They have complained that no one had informed them of the reasons for the cooperative's failure and the factory's closure, "despite to be part of the initial negotiating tableFurthermore, they added that the Regional Ministry excluded them from the discussions: "The factory has already closed, and we couldn't do anything to prevent it. We still have no answers and can't even talk to anyone." The Ministry of Agriculture maintains that it hadn't received any request to meet with the Agama workers until the 19th, they claim, because Simonet was on sick leave. However, they assert that they kept the workers informed of the progress of the negotiations.