Bel Busquets, joint parliamentary spokesperson for Més and general secretary of the PSM Majorca Socalists, has been confirmed as the Balearic government's new vice-president and minister for innovation, research and tourism.
Discussions yesterday between the two government parties, PSOE and Més, resulted in agreement in principle on the appointment of Busquets. President Armengol met Busquets this morning (Sunday), and the appointment was then confirmed. Busquets will formally be appointed tomorrow.
Iago Negueruela, the PSOE chief spokesperson who was involved in the negotiations with Més, said yesterday that a rejection of Busquets had not been on the table. However, it was known that PSOE had their doubts about her appointment.
President Armengol herself stressed that she had not been going to veto the appointment of Busquets. Nor, she added, had there been an intention to separate the roles of vice-presidency and tourism minister. The president insisted that she had wanted stability and that the decision had been taken through a "great deal of dialogue". She looked forward to there being "guarantees" that there will not be any repeat of issues that led to the resignation of Biel Barceló.
Armengol denied that she had consulted tourism industry business leaders over the appointment of a new tourism minister, but she did say that she had spoken with people "about tourism". The president added that she wants the new minister to maintain "constant dialogue" with both employers and unions in the tourism sector.
The PSOE messages cannot disguise the fact they were reluctant to accept Busquets. Armengol had herself suggested that the tourism minister should be someone with a more "technical" background. The Partido Popular opposition had urged the president to appoint someone from her own party, as this would be "the least worst option".
It was also clear that a factor in the discussions was a threat by Més to withdraw support for the government's 2018 budget if Busquets were not to be appointed.
Meanwhile, Biel Barceló in his first interview since resigning, has said that it would have been "unacceptable" for PSOE to have questioned the appointment of Busquets.