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Palma.—The new Balearic President elect, Jose Ramon Bauza got straight to work yesterday, and that is how the leader of the Partido Popular intends to continue, said the British-born acting Calvia Councillor for Foreign Affairs, Kate Mentink yesterday.

After a long night celebrating at PP party headquarters in Palma, Mentink was back in Calvia, where she remains an acting councillor until June 11, when all the new councillors are sworn in.

In Calvia it is going to be 14 after the party won 7'289 of the votes compared to the Socialists' 5'610. “Obviously we were all pleased, thrilled as I said late on Sunday night, but Bauza has his feet firmly on the ground and urged his party and supporters to hold the celebrations until jobs start being created, the economy returns to life and small businesses and the self employed have regained a sense of security. “Bauza and his team, which he will begin to reveal over the coming days, have started work from day one. Bauza is a workaholic and will expect the members of his team to function the same way, there's going to be no slacking and Bauza will be looking to lead by example. “He knows it's going to be tough, we were all talking about it on Sunday night. “But, he has made it clear from the start of the campaign that he will be introducing a series of austerity measures as he sets about cutting back on government spending and reorganising the administrational set up. “There will no longer be any duplicity between the government and the island councils. “For example, he is going to make tourism the most important issue because it is the driving force of the region's economy and therefore will lead to job creation and business security. “However, there will be one central body in charge of tourism, responsibilities will no longer be split or shared between the government and the Council of Majorca. “Some ministries may be merged, as well as departments in the island councils and there will be a cut back on expenses such as travel, hotels, chauffeur driven cars etc. “And, he will also be reviewing the public/private companies hired by the relevant administrations. “He will be cutting things down to size while making the administrations much more transparent and he'll also be getting a grip on education and the small business sector, areas in which he considers the Socialists have failed badly.” He will also be banning any nepotism with regards to hiring or awarding public contracts.
As for Mentink, as the Director of the newly formed PP European Commission, which is a political post, she will have to wait to see where the new department will fit in with Bauza's new government set up. “But, as you can see from the manifesto we drew up for European residents in English and German, Bauza is aware of the problems, he's interested in those problems and is extremely serious about resolving them.”