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By Jason Moore

BALEARIC President, Francesc Antich, arrived back from Madrid on Monday night furious because central administration has refused to backtrack on plans to reduce or scrap the 50 percent flight and boat discount for Balearic residents. Now, Antich is in a very difficult position; he can´t offend his superiors in Madrid because they are also socialists but he must also be seen to be fighting the corner for the Balearics.

The Spanish government is desperately trying to save money and the flight and boat discount is seen as a luxury which could easily be scaled back or even abolished. But that is the view from Madrid. In the Balearics it could lose Antich the next election and hand victory to the centre right Partido Popular. In another blow for Antich it also appears that he has little power in Madrid and has so far been unable to persuade anyone to listen to his complaints. So, all in all not a very good state of affairs for the Balearic President.

The best thing he can do is to try and convince a highly sceptical Balearic population that central administration has little option but to withdraw the funding. Times are hard and action must be taken. If he continues to try and fight Madrid he could face even more serious problems.