Council of Majorca faces further cuts, says Bauzá

The Balearic President José Ramón Bauzá and his Finance Minister Josep Ignasi Aguiló had called the meeting several days ago with the aim of allowing Salom, and the other island presidents to flag up what their budget priorities are going to be over the next year.

Government sources said that no specific proposals were put forward at the meeting and that both Bauzá and Aguiló had avoided any commitment.
The representatives of the individual island councils made no comment at the end of the meeting. Acting as a government spokesman, Aguiló later held a press conference at which he thanked the Presidents of the Island Councils for the “effort” they were making to try and make their books balance. He said that paying off debt and cutting spending were key steps to economic recovery. “This work has to be done jointly by all public administration authorities in the Balearics,” said Aguiló who is also Balearic Vice President. The Minister said that the different public administration had to stay on the same tack of reining in spending into the next year.

The same sources said that the regional government doesn't know exactly what changes are going to be made in favour of the Balearic Islands in next year's national budget, and neither does itknow how much of the State funding will go to the island councils. Meanwhile, Aguiló confirmed that at yesterday's meeting, Maria Salom had not handed back any of the responsibilities of the Council of Majorca to the regional government, even though the possibility hasn't been discounted.