Palma.The Socialists (PSOE) now in opposition in the Balearic Islands were on the attack yesterday through their spokesperson, Francina Armengol who demanded that the new Partido Popular (PP) government show its hand and make some political decisions.
Armengol said of the new ruling party that since it came to power, it has done little else other than publicity stunts, capture newspaper headlines and gradually start backing away from its election promises.
Period of grace
Armengol said that her party had considered granting a period of 100 days grace to the new government to get its house in order but said that since the Partido Popular came to power, the Socialists have become increasingly worried by the lack of action.
Armengol claimed that the only act of political significance that had come to light was the decision of the new President Jose Ramon Bauza to slash the number of ministries and top government jobs. But for the Socialists, said Armengol, all this means is that the PP is continuing with the austerity measures that the Socialists had already put in place. All that this government job cutting has done is save 0.2 percent of the budget, said Armengol, and that isn't going to solve the problems of the people of the Balearic Islands. She found it more worrying though that the PP is allegedly backtracking on important election promises. The new government, she said, had agreed to transfer control of tourist policy to the individual island councils but now, Armengol said, such power is going to remain centralised with the Ministry for Tourism. People were going to be able to choose the schools that their children went to, but now the Education ministry is saying that it is not going to be as easy as that.