Debt crisis

THE local authorities have spent the last six months moaning that they don´t have any money. The Balearic local authorities are effectively bankrupt. But so far apart from some headline grabbing proposals I haven´t seen much evidence of the local authorities dealing with the enormous debt problem. There have been plenty of promises but little else. During the election campaign Balearic leader Jose Ramon Bauza said that he would be asking civil servants to work harder and longer.

This is nothing new for those involved in the private sector but so far the local authorities have failed to act on this proposal because they fear a backlash from the unions. Bauza has to make some important and harsh spending decisions. Budgets have been cut but perhaps the axe should have fallen even further. There is plenty of room for cuts in the public administration especially when we have three tiers of government; councils, the island councils and the Balearic government. There must be plenty of duplication within the various departments. You have to remember that the city council, Council of Majorca and the local government each have their own tourism department. For the last six months Bauza and his team have been blaming the previous administration for spending the islands into debt. But I would like to remind them of a rule which exists in the City of London; you can only blame the previous government for a year. The clock is ticking.