President Armengol told parliament on Tuesday that Balearic government economic measures to deal with the pandemic have been "appropriate" and "are having an effect".
The president said that at the start of the pandemic the government had warned that the situation in the Balearics would be "difficult" because of the dependence on tourism. Without measures taken by the government, the situation "would have been infinitely worse". She highlighted the focus on protecting businesses and workers and the employment emergency plan to which 72 million euros are being allocated.
For the self-employed, Armengol observed that the government has provided 15 million euros of aid. She compared this with the 20 million euros in Catalonia, a far bigger region than the Balearics. The 2021 budget, she stressed, will allocate 100 million euros more through loans to small to medium-sized businesses and the self-employed on top of the 200 million that have been made available this year.
The leader of the opposition, Biel Company of the Partido Popular, accused the president of "bluffing her way" through the crisis. Stronger measures had been needed, he insisted, as the Balearics are facing the worst scenario that the government had predicted. This proves that "the measures have been disastrous". The president, he suggested, "has never been a businesswoman".
Company wanted more loans to be made available and stricter controls at ports and airports.
For Ciudadanos, Patricia Guasp argued that there should be a rescue plan for businesses and the self-employed, with direct aid, fiscal relief and liquidity measures. These are required to guarantee the "sustainability of our productive fabric" and to "cushion current and future difficulties".