When US Secretary of State George Marshall came up with his plan, Spain was the only Western European country that wasn’t a beneficiary. The Americans were to later lavish aid on Spain, but the Marshall Plan it was not, which may be a reason why Spanish politicians are now so keen to talk about economic reconstruction in terms of a Marshall Plan.
Pedro Sánchez has done so, and in Majorca the president of the Council, Catalina Cladera, has made regular references. The Council’s own Marshall Plan has now been unveiled: an initial 89 million euros for a “roadmap for the future of Majorca under triple sustainability”, says the president. Allude to a Marshall Plan and throw in doses of sustainability, and the Council’s president will doubtless feel that she has a positive (political) message to convey.
But if we look closely at this plan, how much of it is emergency spending, as in Marshall Plan style?
Take one example. Of 25 million euros to go on social care, some of this is for investing in care homes. Which is fine, but then the Council’s 2020 budget had already included an additional sum for care homes. Of certain other items, e.g. a centre for minors with behavioural problems brought about through addiction, is this not the type of thing the Council spends money on anyway? What, in truth, does it have to do with reconstruction?
Emergency funding of course. But a Marshall Plan?