Balearic government wants to handle money from Madrid

Joan Collins THE Balearic Government wants to take control of all the money which the central Government gives directly to the town councils and the councils for each island. This controversial proposal is included in the draft law which the Balearic Minister of the Interior, Jose Maria Rodriguez, presented publicly a few weeks ago. In its Article 200, the draft law says “all income and grants from the State to local bodies will be received through the Balearic Goverment which will distribute the funds in accordance with the legal criteria established by the State”. Rodriguez said that the Balearic Government wanted to take control of all funds received by local bodies on Majorca from Madrid. “The Government would act as a direct intermediary for the national Government so that the 63 towns on the islands would not have to negotiate on a one to one basis” he said. He added that the Balearic Government would commit itself to giving additional funds to the councils. In this way, the Balearic Government would take control of the management of 400 million euros which the town and island councils receive annually from central Government. The actual figure which these local bodies received in 2004 was 409 million euros, the last year for which figures have been published. The proposal put forward by Rodriguez is not exempt from criticism. The professor of Administrative Law at the Carlos III University, Luciano Parejo, one of the most reputable public law lawyers says that this proposal is unconstitutional as the relationship between the State and town councils should be without interference from the autonomous government.