While the Balearic and Spanish tourist industry embarks on a major rethink with regards to where it goes from here and how it recovers from the pandemic, I also believe it is high time that a nationwide debate is held about the future of the costly political and administrational set up across the country.
So far, financially, politicians have not taken a hit from the crisis, some have refused to take pay cuts while civil servants here in the Balearics have had their wages frozen. With the big question as to where all the money to fund Spain’s recovery is going to come from gathers momentum with the cost of the pandemic rising by the day, perhaps it’s time for some of the layers of regional government to be stripped.
Here in the Balearics we have three layers of local administrations. We have the local councils, many of which could be merged, then we have the island councils and finally the Balearic government which of course, is overseen by central government in Madrid.
So, in fact that is four layers of extremely costly government and in many cases, the different departments are responsible for the same task. Take tourism. The councils have their tourism departments, as do the island councils and the local government, surely there is some wriggle room for them to save money and also devise a united road map.