While a few ideas by the new left wing coalition administration have not gone down all that well such as the tourist tax and tinkering with terraces in Palma, the government’s crusade to ensure a fairer financial package from Madrid is one which has unanimous backing and the government is showing no signs of letting it drop, despite continual rebuttals from Madrid.
For the past four years, with the PP in power in both Madrid and Palma, the local government just rolled over and did as it was told. Towing the party line is sacrilege in the Partido Popular (closely followed by corruption) that no one in the former Balearic government, was prepared to walk the walk despite talking the talk.
However, the new administration is on a mission to get Madrid to pay back to the Balearics the proper returns it deserves on the taxes paid in to central government coffers and also draw up a far more adequate budget for the region.
Should the PP fail at the general elections in November, then the financial road ahead should be much easier for the Balearics, but the local government wants to have the problem resolved long before the end of the year so that it can start planning and deciding how to invest state funding for 2016.
If the new government can pull this off, it will be a serious statement of intent and silence many of its critics.