An appeal has been lodged by the regional government for what is said to be the failure of national government to make available statutory investments in Playa de Palma. Vice-President Barceló is reiterating the Balearic demand for 78 million euros: 63 million of which remain outstanding plus the 15 million which have been promised but which have as yet “not arrived”.
Barceló insists that the government is not giving up on claiming these investments despite the agreement (a reference to the recent meeting of the joint finance commission), and the point was made during a Playa de Palma consortium videoconference between Palma and Madrid. “Representatives of the (tourism) ministry have been reminded that there are 63 million euros outstanding,” says Barceló, who is requesting that national government meets commitments, as “the regional government is not giving up on agreed investments”.
In this regard, a formal request was made on 4 October to the national secretary-of-state for tourism, Isabel Borrego, which required the revoking within a month of a resolution of national government of 1 October to not accept a prolonging of the request for implementing an agreement of 13 August, 2009 between Turespaña and the Balearic government to finance the remodelling of Playa de Palma with statutory investments.
Under this requirement, signed by President Armengol, national government would be obliged to implement the agreement and to call, as a matter of urgency, the joint commission monitoring the agreement in order to assess the viability of reprogramming proposals by the Balearic government as well as the desirability of modifying the agreement and maintaining the promised investments but varying, if necessary, the projects and their deadlines.
The objective of this requirement is to meet compliance with the Balearic Statute of Autonomy, which establishes the obligation of the state to undertake investments in the Balearics to compensate the islands for insularity and in a temporary fashion while a new special economic regime for the Balearics is pending.