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Palma.—The Balearic government said yesterday that it wants to put a stop to the “war” which small to medium-sized businesses in the Balearics allege is being waged against them.

The two principal associations in the Balearics, Afedeco and Pimeco have recently been making severe criticism of the regional government's Commercial policy, claiming that small to medium-sized businesses are being sidelined in favour of hypermarkets and department stores.

The associations will be meeting with representatives of the Economy ministry next Monday. The government said that despite the criticism from the small business association, the ministry has given strong backing to the sector which considers itself to be an “underdog” in the Commerce sector.

But Afedeco and Pimeco presidents Servera and Coll have repeatedly called for the resignation of the government's Commerce director, César Pacheco “because he hasn't talked with us at all and he just seems to brush Commerce aside.” To quell the fears of the two associations, Economy Minister Josep Ignasi Aguiló has delegated Promotion and Employment Director Lourdes Cardona to represent the government at Monday's meeting. Aguiló said that there was no preference in the government's Commerce policy to back hypermarkets against small businesses, but that the ministry was committed to backing the law which included legal security for larger organisations.