EAPN warns that the improper payments from Resoga are the fault of management, not the beneficiaries.

PalmReports of improper payments under the Guaranteed Social Income (Resoga) program "have generated understandable public concern," acknowledged EAPN Illes Balears, which reiterates that "any public benefit must have the necessary control and efficiency mechanisms to guarantee its proper implementation." According to the organization, "transparency and sound management of public funds are non-negotiable conditions in a social and democratic state governed by the rule of law." However, EAPN Illes Balears warns that "we cannot allow Resoga beneficiaries to be blamed in a generalized way (when it is the Administration that has neglected its duties, stalling applications without resolution or failing to establish control mechanisms), nor can we allow these cases to serve as an excuse." The organization emphasizes that the benefit "is intended to protect the dignity and rights of the thousands of people who suffer high levels of vulnerability in the Balearic Islands."

EAPN emphasizes that "the Guaranteed Social Income (Resoga), unlike other benefits, does not require participation in job placement programs, making it more accessible to people with structural difficulties in accessing employment." This is "one of the points stipulated in the current law that the Government wants to modify to force beneficiaries to follow an integration pathway, along with expanding the residency requirement." The organization "denies the supposed pull factor of Resoga," and points out that "no one comes to the Balearic Islands seeking this or any other benefit: they come fleeing the danger of living in their country, to look for work, to integrate, to dream of a better future." Therefore, EAPN Illes Balears opposes "these changes and demands that the Government maintain the status of the Guaranteed Social Income as a subjective right."

It also highlights that these benefits "are fundamental, not so much to reduce impoverishment and inequality (unfortunately, the amounts and scope fall far short of this objective), but to alleviate the terrible effects of severe poverty, which affects more than 66,000 people in our communities4 who live"4. EAPN says that it "partly shares the words of Councilor Sandra Fernández when she assures that her priority is that the Resoga 'be managed with rigor, empathy and justice' and that it be 'a useful and fair tool for the families who need it most'", but adds that "we are not going to allow this to be reversed or used as a covert tax to minimize the number of recipients."

Criminalization of poverty

Furthermore, the organization "categorically rejects the position of those who exploit any loophole to criminalize people receiving social benefits, while curiously failing to demand the same level of scrutiny of public aid received by large corporations." It warns that "sowing widespread suspicion only fuels stigmatization, propagates anti-poor rhetoric, and hinders access to fundamental rights, instead of strengthening public policies with a rights-based approach to ensure that no one is left behind due to fear, misinformation, or mismanagement—intentional or not—by the government."

Finally, EAPN Illes Balears explains that its demand is "twofold": "on the one hand, transparency, control and efficiency in the management of all public money (and not only in relation to people in vulnerable situations)", and "on the other hand, a firm commitment to social justice and a rights-based perspective in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies so that those who really need it receive it, without errors or inequalities."