PRESIDENT SAYS BALEARICS PULLING OUT OF RECESSION, OPPOSITION SAYS HE IS FINISHED.....

PALMA
DAY one of this week's debate on the state of the Balearics began like the first day back at school with members of opposing parties embracing and kissing each other like long lost friends they had not seen all summer. However, it was not long before the political bonhomie soon disappeared.

With the ruling Socialists slipping in the polls across the country (see page 7), the Balearic President, Francesc Antich, knew that he had to be as positive as possible with the local elections less than a year away.

But he came under fierce criticism from the opposition Partido Popular which is the party benefiting most from the Socialists' decline in popularity.
Antich opened the debate by making a number of pledges, such as extra funding to help young people find work and housing, but the 35 percent slash in public funding for 2011 is going to make it difficult for the Balearic government to introduce many of its plans over the coming year.

Nevertheless, Antich told members of the Balearic Parliament yesterday that the latest economic signs are extremely positive and suggest that the Balearics could be the first region of Spain to emerge from the recession early next year. “We've been able to weather the storm far better than most other parts of the country, hence why we will be the first to crawl out of the crisis,” he said.

Apparently, after two years of negative economic growth, -0.9 percent this year and -2.7 percent last year, the current forecasts points to Balearic economic growth of at least 0.6 percent in 2011. “The worst is over,” Antich said. “And things are beginning to pick up on the back of three quarters of growth,” he added.
Antich put the revival in the Balearics' economic fortunes down to a revival in tourism during the second half of this year on the back of economic stability and confidence returning to the two key markets in the United Kingdom and Germany.

As reports have shown over the past few months, airport passenger figures, hotel occupancy and tourism spending in the Balearics since July have risen significantly and Antich said yesterday that in June, the service sector enjoyed a near 12 percent increase in turnover in comparison with June 2009.

He went on to underline similar increases in the hostelry sector as well as the commercial sector, which he claimed has seen takings rise by 14 percent since the start of the summer season, well above the national average of 9.4 percent.

And, with regards to tourism spending, Antich claimed that, according to the Institute of Tourism Studies, it has gradually risen by 5.5 percent. “These late increases are enabling us to end the year with positive data,” the Balearic President proclaimed.
Just 24 hours after it was revealed that the Balearics suffered the second sharpest jump in the number of people out of work last month, Antich went on to claim that the rate of unemployment has in fact been steadily slowing down over the past nine months in comparison to last year, although he was forced to admit that unemployment remains one of his primary concerns.

However, Antich was not fooling the opposition Partido Popular (PP).
Its new leader, Jose Radon Bauza, accused the President of living in “Disney Land” after having listened to Antich's inaugural speech.
Bauza said that Antich's main problem is that he is out of touch with the reality of what is happening on the streets and therefore does not have a full grasp of the problems the public are having to face. “A politician who does not know what's happening on the streets can never be a good servant and, as politicians, we are supposed to be good servants to the people,” Bauza said. “We've had enough of rabbits being pulled out of hats, we are not living some kind of fairy tale,” he added. “They've been in government now for just over three years so its claims of introducing a new model of government pack no credibility.” The parliamentary spokesperson for the PP, Antoni Pastor went even further accusing Antich of having deceived parliament and the public and of having ignored the real needs of the people during the recession. “We've seen a President who is completely out of touch and is finished” he told parliament.