The Balearic Islands' auditor, Joan Rosselló, presented the institution's latest report to Parliament this Friday, analyzing the autonomous community's accounts for 2023. This year saw the coexistence of the governments of Francina Armengol and Marga Prohens, who won the elections in July, although, he said, this made no difference to the accounts. As he explained, the year closed with a surplus of 0.35% of GDP and a reduction in public debt of approximately 290 million euros. The main expenditure was personnel costs, which accounted for 29% of the total (and 50% of the expenditure by IB-Salut, the Balearic Islands Health Service). As Rosselló explained, personnel costs are one of the items that "increase the most each year," due, among other things, to the salary increases approved by the central government, which are then "applied to the regional government." However, the ombudsman, who met with the Speaker of Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne, explained that "since 2020 the financial situation has been very positive." Nevertheless, he warned that spending increased more in 2023 than the economy grew: 10.5%, while GDP growth was 3%. He emphasized that if the current spending rule had been applied at that time, the Balearic Islands' spending should have been around 2.9% or 3%, meaning it would have been in breach. But in 2023, with the territory still emerging from the Covid-19 crisis, the rule was not in effect.

The Consell de Mallorca has approved the 2026 budget with the support of the PP and Vox parties and the opposition of MÁS per Mallorca, El Pi, and the PSIB. The budget approved this Tuesday does not include the 50 million euros (5 million euros spread over 10 years) that the Balearic Government must provide to the Consell de Mallorca to compensate for the additional costs of transferring waste from Ibiza. Upon initial approval of the budgetsSources from the island institution explained to ARA Baleares that this figure had not been included in the accounts because the import of manure "did not have legal cover" to be carried out. Since the beginning of December, the import of waste from Ibiza has enjoyed legal cover, since The Executive approved the decree that allows it.But this has not led the island council to include that item in the final approved budget. However, the council president celebrated that the budget "was approved on time and in the proper manner," which, in his opinion, is proof of a "stable and efficient" government. Along the same lines, he celebrated that it is "the highest in the history of the island council" and emphasized that six out of every ten euros are allocated to social policies. The council's accounts total 761.7 million euros, 66.2 million euros more than in 2015. The councilor for Finance, Innovation, and Public Service, Rafel Bosch, highlighted the 132.7 million euros earmarked for achieving safer and more sustainable mobility, the 70 million euros allocated to other projects, and other items.

The spokesperson for the PSIB (Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands) in the Consell de Mallorca (Island Council of Mallorca), Catalina Cladera, denounced this Monday that the institution's budget, which is scheduled to be approved this Tuesday, "is short at least 45 million euros," and therefore she believes the accounts present "a risk of non-compliance and blocked budget items." Along the same lines, the Socialist spokesperson opined that the Consell de Mallorca's budget "is tinged with xenophobia," that it "attacks the local language," and that it "does not solve the problems of the people of Mallorca."

The Palma City Council definitively approved the municipal budget for 2026 this Monday in an extraordinary plenary session, with votes in favor from the PP and Vox parties and opposition from the other groups. The Councilor for Finance, Public Service, and Internal Affairs, Mercedes Celeste, defended the budget, stating that it "consolidates a political project initiated in 2024 for the transformation of the city" and fulfills both electoral commitments and the programmatic agreement signed with Vox at the beginning of the term. Celeste described the budget as "realistic, balanced, and responsible" and assured that it "guarantees the economic stability of the City Council," while continuing "the path of reducing the tax burden on families, the self-employed, and businesses." She highlighted that the budget includes the highest allocation ever earmarked for human resources, at 215 million euros.

"Absolute calm." This has been the message from the First Vice President and spokesperson for the Balearic Government, Antoni Costa, regarding the extension of the 2026 budget. Negotiations with Vox have reached a standstill. The Government maintains that it is not giving up on trying to reach an agreement later, but has also assured that it will stay the course even if it has to move forward with the 2025 budget. Marc Pons, a member of parliament, warned that the extension will entail cuts, even at a time of economic growth. "No matter how much financial engineering they do, they will transfer the management problems to the boards," the parliamentarian pointed out. Along the same lines, he emphasized that "the worst cuts in the history" of the Balearic Islands were implemented by the Popular Party president, José Ramón Bauzá, when Costa was Director General of Finance. "The same person who wanted to close hospitals and schools, who laid off the professionals of this Government, now has the nerve to lecture us?" he asked. Costa has denied these claims, asserting that the Balearic Government has only "cut taxes because it is fair." "Citizens have saved 900 million euros this legislative term, and we are deeply proud," he maintained. "We operated with an extended budget for more than six months this year, and absolutely nothing happened," Costa said in response to a second question along the same lines posed by Socialist MP Llorenç Pou, whom he accused of "wanting cuts in the Balearic Islands so he can defend his rhetoric."

Maite de Medrano, the climate change denier and anti-Catalan Countries councilor for the current Vox party, has sold her defecting but decisive vote to the People's Party (PP) to allow the Menorca Council's budget for next year to be approved again, despite being in the minority. Stripped of her fixed salary from the institution since her party expelled her in May for aligning itself with the dissenting faction, the architect, who boasted of being Vox's 505th member at the national level, has pledged her allegiance to the PP to implement some of the initiatives she says she has been proposing for two years. She now feels "free" to negotiate without being beholden to anyone and knows she holds the key to governability. So, without needing to present amendments or debate it in plenary session, the maverick councilor has guaranteed the budget's approval in exchange for the Popular Party's commitment to promote the use of Castilian Spanish, eliminate websites with the '.cat' domain, and schedule a Hispanic Heritage Week each year to promote Spanish nationalism around October 12th. She also pledges to strengthen the Menorcan language, which, she makes perfectly clear, "is not a historical, cultural, or political appendage of Catalan. The Catalan Countries do not exist. We are simply Menorcans, Balearic Islanders, and Spaniards." Quite a success for a councilor who, in 37 months in office, has barely presented four proposed agreements and who, moreover, was already expelled from the coalition government with the Popular Party with which she began her term. The president dismissed her in October 2023 after she had a falling out with her island director and was accused of harassment. But Adolfo Vilafranca is making a virtue of necessity and, after pretending he could negotiate a stability agreement with the left, has gone straight for De Medrano's support. At stake is the absolute majority, which the polls still deny him and which he needs at the end of each year to pass the budget. This same majority is also essential to promote significant changes to Menorca's model, such as the reform of the Island Territorial Plan (PTI), which is expected to be imminent. In this way, he broadens his support and opens himself up to an ideological sector closer to Vox, the same sector with which current councilor Joan Pons Torres aligned himself, who in 2023 declined to run on lists with other far-right parties in order to join the PP. A strategy that, according to some sources, the conservative party will follow in the 2027 elections.

Although the reduction of the spending cap and the extension of the government's budget do not affect citizens' daily lives, political consequences do arise. At this point, Marga Prohens' minority government finds itself more isolated than ever: without the support of Vox, its preferred partner (as PP representatives have stated on numerous occasions), and without the possibility of negotiating with left-wing parties. The repercussions of the situation in the Canary Islands are being felt in Madrid, weeks before the snap elections in Extremadura (December 21), which the PP's María Guardiola called precisely because of the impossibility of passing the budget in her region.

The plenary session of the Catalan Parliament ended without surprises and rejected the government's spending cap, despite recent attempts to reach an agreement with Vox and despite the so-called in extremis The Minister of Economy, Antoni Costa, appealed to the "responsibility" of the members of parliament from all parties, ultimately accusing them of failing to help ensure that citizens "have the budget they deserve." With this setback from all groups in the Parliament, including the investiture partner, the Executive will be forced to extend the 2025 budget, a situation the PSIB (Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands) has described as a "blockade." In fact, the Socialist spokesperson, Iago Negueruela, demanded during the question period that President Marga Prohens call early elections. The plenary session served to once again stage the utter chaos between the PP (People's Party) and Vox, with constant recriminations and cross-accusations of "liars," to the point that at the end of the session, Manuel Cañadas displayed an image of Pinocchio during the speech by the PP's parliamentary spokesperson, Sebastià Sagre.

The lack of a spending cap and budget was one of the main topics of discussion during Tuesday's parliamentary question time. The PSIB (Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands) criticized the government's deadlock, arguing that it will not pass the budget, despite Pedro Sánchez's administration not having approved a single budget this term and instead extending the previous one due to a lack of support from its coalition partners in Congress. The Socialist spokesperson, Iago Negueruela, called on the President of the Balearic Government, Marga Prohens, to call early elections given this situation, while the President reminded the Parliament that Sánchez has no intention of doing so in Madrid. "The legislature will be blocked from today onward," Negueruela emphasized, adding that "social dialogue is stalled, 640 million euros [from the 2025 budget] remain unspent, announcements are being made to cover up the incompetence of the Housing Minister, and there will be no more budgets." The Socialist spokesperson criticized the fact that "major reforms" will enter into "an institutional deadlock" without the budget being passed, and reproached Prohens for "no longer having the will to negotiate" and for attending a Unified Police Union congress in Toledo just when the spending cap is due to be voted on in Parliament. "She has no ambition to govern, call elections, Ms. Prohens," he concluded.

The Inca City Council has presented its 2026 budget, totaling €42.6 million, a 2.02% decrease compared to this year's budget. City Hall sources emphasized that this consolidates public finances as a fundamental instrument for continuing to "drive progress, well-being, and modernization of the city." Inca's mayor, Virgilio Moreno, stated that the budget is "realistic, responsible, and committed to the people," reinforcing "what works and promoting projects that will define the city's future." The budget allocation is as follows: 44.79% for essential services—including cleaning, security, water, and street lighting—10.66% for social services, 14.36% for education, culture, and sports, 19% for general services and technical support, and almost €6 million for economic development.

The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, has proposed an amendment to the Capital City Law that would double the minimum contribution from other levels of government to the Balearic capital to 60 million euros. This is one of the aspects the mayor intends to change in a law dating back to 2006. This amendment is primarily motivated by Palma's population growth (27% more in the last two decades), the transient population, and the influx of tourists arriving through the Balearic Islands' main infrastructure, also located in Palma. Martínez explained that these 60 million euros would be divided between approximately 50 million invested by the Balearic Government and another 10 million by the Council of Mallorca, although he clarified that this would not prevent other levels of government from contributing to fund services that, he emphasized, are used by citizens throughout Mallorca and the Balearic Islands. This proposal will be one of the topics to be debated at the next municipal plenary session in November, after which it will be forwarded to the Parliament and the Government. When asked if this initiative had been discussed with the institutions that will have to deal with this budget increase, he assured that it is his own initiative and that of the local government team, but that there is a "predisposition" from the Consell de Mallorca and the Government for it to move forward. The amendment also includes other improvements, such as strengthening security and support for victims of gender violence, implementing video surveillance, and requesting that the Government allow the City Council to propose quotas for subsidized housing, price limits, or market prices in each urban development projected under regional laws, among other things.

The Palma City Council has given initial approval to the 2026 budget, totaling nearly €624 million (2.25% more than this year), incorporating only the amendments proposed by the People's Party (PP) due to errors or technical issues. The full council meeting on Tuesday rejected the amendments to the entire budget and the more than 150 partial amendments submitted by Unides Podem, MÁS per Palma, and the Socialist Party (PSOE). The budget passed thanks to the votes of the PP and Vox. Municipal spokesperson Mercedes Celeste highlighted that, with this budget, the second phase of the reduction in the municipal capital gains tax will come into effect on January 1, 2026, bringing the rate down to 18%. The reduction in the construction tax, which began in November and allows for a 50% deduction of fees paid for building permits, will also be consolidated. The Infrastructure budget will increase by 52.2%, with investments in projects such as the Palma fairgrounds and the rehabilitation of the Gesa building, among others. In Education, the City Council plans to purchase two nurseries in the Bishopric and fulfill commitments made to workers in indirectly managed centers to improve their working conditions. In Mobility, some actions will include the reinstatement of EMT bus routes and service disruptions and the purchase of electric buses.

During the processing of the 2025 budget for the island council, Vox had already stated its objective was to eliminate all funding for organizations that fight for the protection and promotion of the Catalan language. And it has succeeded. The Consell de Mallorca has eliminated the earmarked (direct) funding for the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB) and Jóvenes por la Llengua (Youth for the Language) for the first time in its history. This was a demand that Vox had repeatedly made to its governing partners since the beginning of the legislative term. In the first budget, the far-right party managed to get the People's Party to reduce... 25% of these grants benefit both entitiesIt's worth remembering that, after agreeing to this reduction, Vox voted against these subsidies, and the left, despite disagreeing with the cuts, saved the funding for both organizations that defend the Catalan language on two occasions. Thus, Jóvenes por la Llengua (Youth for the Language) went from receiving €60,000 and the OCB (Catalan Cultural Organization) €50,000 in 2023, to receiving €45,000 and €35,000, respectively, in 2024. The far-right spokesperson criticized the Council of Mallorca for both organizations and also for this type of subsidy. In fact, he accused his government partners of allowing...a linguistic apartheid"Seeing that the Popular Party was supporting these entities, I said, 'It's just as immoral for the PSOE to spend money on prostitutes and cocaine as it is for you to vote in favor of these subsidies,'" he said in a plenary session of the island institution that took place in July of this year.

The Calvià Town Council, governed by the People's Party and Vox, has finalized its agreement for the 2026 municipal budget, which totals €121.57 million – €152 million if the consolidated budget including public companies and organizations is included – figures similar to the previous year. The Council maintains that the budget consolidates financial stability and allows for planning for the next fiscal year. The municipal government states that the budget continues the improvement of public services, with a particular focus on citizen security, and strengthens social, cultural, and educational policies. One of the key points is investment in infrastructure: €43 million is earmarked over the course of this term, the highest figure ever recorded in the municipality. Among the highlighted projects are the second phase of the Gabriel Escarrer seafront promenade renovation (Magaluf), the refurbishment of Jaime I Avenue in Santa Ponça and the Peguera Boulevard, as well as the modernization of the houses on the Galatzó public estate and the Torrenova development. In the education sector, investments stemming from the agreement between IMEB and the Ministry of Education will continue, with €5.94 million allocated to improvements in 11 public preschool and primary schools. Free tuition for children aged 0-3 in municipal nurseries will also continue, along with year-round operation. The budget also includes the agreement with IB-Salut to build two new primary healthcare units in Son Ferrer and Peguera, and to relocate the existing one in Capdellà, with a planned investment of approximately €6 million. The City Council attributes the budget's approval to the support of the Balearic Government and the Council of Mallorca. The document is expected to be approved at an extraordinary plenary session, where the specific budget items and implementation schedule for 2026 will be detailed.

Vox's internal instability has once again strained the PP on the eve of the budget approval. The far right erupted into its umpteenth internal crisis on the second day of the budget debate. The argument that took place this Monday between the spokesperson, Manuela Cañadas, and the deputy Idoia RibaThis has resulted, for now, in the latter's departure from the parliamentary group. She is the third MP to leave the group: in two years, Vox has gone from having eight MPs to only five. Meanwhile, the Catalan government's ministers defended the pact signed with the far right against attacks from the left, whom they accused of distorting and exaggerating its effects.

The first session of the Parliamentary budget debate was opened by the Minister for the Presidency and Public Administration, Antònia Estarellas, and the Minister for Tourism, Jaume Bauzá, who defended the resources allocated to their departments. Estarellas, who met with several 112 Emergency Service workers demanding better working conditions, defended the cuts to the democratic memory budget, which he denounced on the left.