The government parties, PSOE and Més, have reached agreement on the legislative schedule for 2018. There will be less legislation, while reforms commenced last year have still to be fully approved.
There are eleven items of legislation still outstanding from 2017. These include the housing bill, the law that governs the relationship between the government and the island councils, and further reform of the tourism law that is to include a definitive regulation of all-inclusive hotels. One measure for all-inclusives will be restrictions on alcohol. The Partido Popular's 2012 tourism law alluded to quality standards but these weren't defined. The PP did make an amendment to the law which introduced a register for all-inclusive places. The current government has used this as the basis for inspections. Only some hotels are totally all-inclusive. These and any other hotels which offer all-inclusive as an option have had to specify exactly the number of places. There have been penalties for non-registration or for not sticking to the numbers registered.
Once all the legislation is completed, the government will have finalised around 90% of the legislative agenda that was drafted in the 2015 agreements for government. There is an assumption that no major legislation will be on the cards in 2019, given that elections will be held in May.
There may well have to be a modification of a law approved at the end of last year - the budget for 2018. This will be unavoidable if the government is faced with a financing shortfall because Madrid is unable to agree a new state budget for the year.
The PP believes that the 2018 budget will be the last one that the Balearic government is able to agree. This is because, the party reckons, there will be pre-election jockeying for positions by PSOE, Més and Podemos.