Over 1.000 youngsters took part in Europe Day festivities in Palma

Balearic Chief Minister Francesc Antich joined over a thousand school children from 20 schools and educational centres across Majorca at the Son Moix sports centre yesterday to take part in the Europe Day celebrations. Antich was particularly please to see that so many students of all ages took part in the day's festivities stressing the need for youngsters to participate in the construction of the Union “because the future of Europe will be theirs.” But Antich, who took part in a video conference with students in Minorca and Ibiza, admitted that the Balearics has still to find its place in Europe, saying that the government will continue pressing Brussels to give a greater priority to the needs of the Balearics and compensate the region for its isolation and insularity. “We have to make Europe understand the need to invest in the Mediterranean and develop the region into a bridge between the north and the south,” Antich said, adding that the Balearics provide the ideal place for negotiations between the two divides to take place. With the Balearics destined for a substantial increase in European financial aid over the next six years, Antich said that he is happy about how far the region has come, but warned “we can't stop, we have to carry on working.”