Honour your pledge Bauza

T HE 30th Palma Boat Show was opened by the Balearic President, Jose Ramon Bauza, yesterday while over 2'500 people marched through Palma calling for him to resign.

And, in his opening speech he championed the nautical industry and the importance it has in the Balearics as a creator of jobs and wealth.
Yes, we, and the nautical industry in particular is well aware of that, it has been for years considering the Palma's boatyards and its professional staff are considered some of the best in the Mediterranean.

What the local nautical industry wants, and Bauza knows having made great efforts to show a deep interest in the industry's problems, is more marinas, less legislation and the scrapping of the matriculation tax which has all but crippled the charter industry and costs the Balearics an estimated 600 million euros in lost business every year.

So, if Bauza is as proud of the local nautical industry as he claims to be, he knows what to do, honour his words.
There is no point in trying to appease the nautical industry because much of it is run by foreign professionals who have worked all over the world and have an international clientele.

With all due respect, Bauza may think he can kid the local closed shop business community in which everyone knows each other, but he would be best advised not to mess with the nautical world.