Bauza wields the axe...

Bauza has warned of austerity and severe cuts ever since he hit the campaign trail in the Spring and yesterday he set about wielding the axe.
To begin with, he intends to reduce the number of public companies contracted by the government from 168 to 76.

Jobs to go
Flanked by the Director General of the Office for budgetary Control, Joaquin Garcia and the Minister for Finance and Employment, Josep Ignasi Aguilo, Bauza claimed that the cuts will save the government around 115 million euros per year. However, the downside is that it could lead to the loss of 800 jobs and Bauza was quick to stress the government will do all it can to reduce the number of jobs lost to a minimum.

The President admitted that it was not an easy decision to take but very much pointed the finger at the former Socialist-led coalition government for its “gross mismanagement” of the region's finances.

This week Bauza has come under fire from senior members of the former left-wing administration and the unions for his stringent cuts. Bauza has even been accused of massaging the figures to cause even greater public alarm.

But yesterday he hit back saying that no one can seriously ignore the fact that the Balearics “is in a crisis” which has got to be solved. “Everybody is having to respond and adapt, families are tightening their belts and companies are restructuring their set up, so we have to do the same,” he explained. Even yesterday, he was grilled over his electoral promise to crate jobs, not cut them.

Public sector shake up
Bauza explained that the public sector, which employs 3'500 people without including the Ib-Salut health service, has been in desperate need of a shake up for years and needs to be put in order as soon as possible if it wishes to enjoy a prosperous future.

He admitted that the measures while have “repercussions” but underlined that unless the scale of the Balearic government and its administration is not reduced “we'll never get out of this crisis.” Bauza is confident that slowly, jobs will begin to be created again in the private sector. “These have been difficulty decisions to make, b but we've only just come to power and we are complying with our electoral promises. “The only problem is that we've had to adapt to a situation that was worse than we thought when we came to power,” the President said in his defense.
The axe will begin to swing soon because the government wants to be in a position to begin operating as a more unified and transparent body from January 1.