<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - insularity]]> 10 <![CDATA[Alícia Homs demands an insularity clause for the Balearic Islands in the European Parliament]]>

The Balearic MEP Alícia Homs (PSOE) has demanded in the European Parliament that the European Union incorporate an insularity clause and systematically review its policies to take into account the needs of island territories. Homs has warned that the European strategy for islands runs the risk of remaining a simple diagnosis if it is not translated into concrete measures.

]]> <![CDATA[To evaluate, counter-intuit. The purposes of the subsidies]]> It is well known that in the Islands we have heavily subsidized mobility. Is this the way to supposedly compensate for the costs of insularity? I am not sure that it is. Does the fact that the intercity bus is free for users help make goods cheaper? I would rather say no, to the extent that it inflates demand. Perhaps transport does not have to cover costs in full with its fares, but it is good that we all know the cost of things and what the objective of the reduction is. And, as we have learned with the elimination of tolls, zero cost does not exist: someone else is paying for it. I also do not see the current operation of discounts on ship and plane transport for island residents as being at all clear, when we should instead focus on freight rates if anything. Certainly, transport discounts are on the backs of all Spaniards, in the same way that the deficits of peninsular trains that we islanders do not have are also partly at our expense. But this second justification does not make the first one good. It also makes no sense that, given the subsidies, the taxi transfer from the airport ends up being more expensive than the plane ticket. I do not see in all assumptions sufficient evaluated evidence of positive externalities for such subsidized mobility, nor a sufficient argument for equity, in view of who its greatest beneficiaries are. And the fact is that I verify that there are many false residents who register in the Islands without effectively living there. They are processes of almost free choice, with little cost to those who exercise them, and which benefit the most clever, who are usually the most well-off. Recently this effect has also been verified with the free choice of doctor in the Spanish healthcare system. The richest and most educated know how to take better advantage of it. The lack of effective control otherwise incentivizes the abuse of subsidies. It would be better to have a subsidy system that establishes blackout dates; for example, at the point of origin, entries to the Islands on peninsular long weekends or weekends, and the equivalent at the destination for the same residents traveling to the Peninsula, or setting a lower percentage of subsidy in these mentioned cases. And to prevent companies from taking advantage of it by selectively increasing the prices to which the discount is applied. A fake resident suffers, currently only, as a cost of their fraudulent choice, the fact of not having a primary care physician in the place of effective residence. But the fact that this does not matter already tells us that it is about fairly wealthy people who probably have private insurance and do not use public primary care. With the upcoming limitation of vehicle entries in the summer, it is also necessary to analyze the measure with a magnifying glass regarding the cars of fake residents who pay circulation taxes outside the Islands. And, of course, the large car rental multinationals that seasonally bring in huge fleets of vehicles that have paid taxes outside of our home.However, I do not think some penalties are bad, such as the fact that the fees for some services, such as waste collection, for example, do not distinguish based on the lower use of holiday homes, since the fixed part of the cost and maintenance, more or less, depends on the peaks in demand for which those non-residents are equally decisive. I do believe that volume should have a significant influence on businesses, especially those that are highly seasonal, as they are the ones that set the maximum installed capacity to meet peak demand. Certainly, the regulation of fees, unlike public prices, cannot have net collection effects, but only cost recovery. But if this applies to the full cost of the service, it is necessary to check how this amount is reached, since important issues of efficiency and equitable distribution are at stake. Everything mentioned implies the need to evaluate the measures, particularly the populist ones, as they often have effects different from those postulated. The latest one from the current Spanish government, which extends to 52 years the age of exit from the market for those already considered non-relocatable, with a guaranteed income and a pre-established pension, is an unequivocal case. This measure harms many of those who still strive to work and provide for their own pension by paying contributions that ensure minimum periods, paid out of pocket as the self-employed that they are, even during periods without income. It would be better for them to quit given what they earn and that theirs will be a lower pension than those who have stopped working and live on subsidies and what they can collect from activities without an invoice.

]]> <![CDATA[The PSIB demands compensating for insularity in financing]]>

The PSIB proposes that the new regional financing system take into account the insularity and the impact of mass tourism on the Balearic Islands. The socialists want to introduce amendments to compensate for the pressure exerted by the floating population and the effects on prices and the housing market. The reform is expected to be processed this autumn.

]]> <![CDATA[The perfect storm over the Balearic Islands: The double plunder that leads us to self-hatred]]> Living in the Balearic Islands has become, for the majority of their historical citizens, an almost impossible exercise in resistance. Beneath a layer of blue sky and idyllic postcards for tourists, a dramatic reality beats: the Archipelago suffers from an economic and social pincer designed from the outside that hollows us out from within. On one hand, a Spanish state that keeps our hands and feet tied (with the ‘you more than me’ of generalized corruption); on the other, a European Union that uses us as the playground and luxury residence of its elites (in exchange for European funds directed at national and European strategic points).The result of this formula is the systematic impoverishment of the local population. The double trap: wages from emptied Spain, prices from wealthy Europe.The Balearic plunder cannot be explained without understanding a bloody paradox. The Spanish state maintains a salary structure in the Islands that does not differ from that of the so-called ‘emptied Spain’. It is expected that a teacher, a police officer, or an administrative worker lives in Palma and Ibiza with the same salary they would have in Teruel or Zamora.This lack of real compensation for insularity has caused an administrative and social collapse: State civil servants no longer want to come to the Balearic Islands, because coming means, directly, losing purchasing power and brushing against the threshold of precariousness.While Madrid keeps us tied to wage poverty, Europe presses the accelerator on the cost of living. The legal avalanche of new wealthy residents—coming from northern Europe and half the world—has sent housing and basic service prices soaring to prohibitive levels. We find ourselves trapped in an invisible mousetrap: we earn like in inland Spain, but we pay like in the most opulent Bavaria.Faced with this scenario of asphyxiation, many Balearic families have been forced into a sad reality to survive and emigrate again, or to maintain a minimum standard of living: parting with the family heritage. Selling the grandparents' house, the lifelong land, and the small local business have gone from being an option to being a matter of strict necessity.It is here that the most perverse mechanism of the colonizing machinery is activated. Instead of pointing out the structural causes, the official narrative points to us."You are Phoenicians who would sell your own mother", they throw at us with the condescension of the unintegrated outsider.It is one of the oldest psychological manipulation maneuvers in history: blaming the victim for their own exploitation. The miracle of installing self-hatred in the hearts of the Balearic people has been achieved, making us believe that we are the only ones responsible for this consented plunder.But if there is one element that borders on collective masochism, it is the political behavior in the Islands. As a society, we have not only bought into the narrative of guilt, but we continue to reward at the polls the parties that perpetuate this situation.Political forces of state obedience —especially fueled by the vote of newcomers from the peninsula who often look at the local identity with suspicion— continue to monopolize power. The PP, Vox, the PSIB-PSOE, and Podemos systematically act as branches of Madrid.Even those who presented themselves as the "saviors of the people", like Podemos, have ended up turning their backs on the Balearic people. The latest sign of this betrayal has been the party's rejection (joining other right-wing state blocs) of the bill proposed by MÉS to establish a specific interprofessional minimum wage for the Balearic Islands that is adapted to the actual cost of living here.While the Balearic social fabric is unraveling, the Parliament of the Islands prefers to look the other way and obey the dictates of the offices in Madrid. How long will we apologize for having to sell to survive? How long will we feed with our votes the same parties that condemn us to be second-class citizens in our own land?The first step to stop the looting is, without a doubt, to banish self-hatred and begin to point out, once and for all, the true culprits.

]]> <![CDATA[The Congress moves to adapt the insularity supplement to the high cost of living in the Balearic Islands]]>

The plenary session of the Congress of Deputies validated this Thursday the Royal Decree-Law that obliges the Spanish government to review, within a maximum of six months, the amounts of the residence indemnity received by personnel of the General State Administration assigned to the Balearic Islands. The objective is to adapt the complement to the current cost of living in the Archipelago and facilitate the coverage of positions in public services.

]]> <![CDATA[The Minister of Finance, to Prohens: "You cannot boast about giving gifts to large fortunes and then complain about not having resources"]]>

The Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, has lashed out at the regional government's requests for improved funding: "I am tired of hearing many regional presidents boast about giving gifts to the wealthy and then complaining about a lack of resources." He states that they have received a "permanent no" to negotiation from the Government regarding the allocation of an additional 412 million euros annually.

]]> <![CDATA[State officials assigned to the Balearic Islands will receive up to 700 euros more for residence]]>

State officials assigned to the Balearic Islands will receive up to 700 euros more per month as a residence allowance starting this month. The Spanish government has approved the compensation agreement for insularity, proposed by the UGT, which updates amounts that have not been revised for 20 years. The increase compensates for the high cost of living and will be particularly significant in Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera, while in Mallorca the amounts will be aligned with those already received by public employees assigned to the Canary Islands.The new monthly compensation ranges between 214.61 euros for staff in group A1 assigned to Mallorca and 697.67 euros for the same workers if they are based in Menorca, Ibiza, or Formentera. In the case of administrative staff in group C1, the supplement will be 144.61 euros per month in Mallorca and 405.10 euros in the rest of the Archipelago.

]]> <![CDATA[Prices in Menorca, doubly affected by the war]]>

Until a few years ago, it was very common for Menorcan families to take the plane or boat to go to Palma or Barcelona to buy clothes. The large chains and franchises had not yet landed on the island and it was more economical to travel to buy clothes on the Peninsula or on the neighboring island than to buy them directly from small shops in Menorca.

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