Margalida Prohens, president of the Balearic Islands Government, was the protagonist of a colloquium at the Círculo Ecuestre on November 14th as part of the club's Regional Presidents cycle.
After the welcome from the president of the Círculo Ecuestre, Enrique Lacalle, the leader of the Partido Popular in the Balearic Islands held a dialogue with the journalist and lawyer Ricardo Fernández-Deu in which they spoke about immigration, housing and fiscal policies, also sharing their proposals and calls to the central government to address the urgent needs of the Balearic community.
At the beginning of her speech, Prohens assessed the ravages of the recent DANA that has affected the Valencian Community with the aim of expressing her solidarity. The politician highlighted the need to improve the response protocols to extreme weather phenomena. "None of us would want an extreme meteorological phenomenon of these characteristics in our autonomous community", she said. The president stressed that her administration, which “was just about to approve the budget”, had taken note: “We have made a significant increase in emergencies, in the cleaning of torrents, in giving aid also so that individuals can clean the torrents”.
The migration phenomenon was also the focus of part of Prohens' intervention at the Círculo Ecuestre. Prohens highlighted the exponential growth of irregular immigration in the region, mentioning that “this year more than 4,000 people have already arrived and last week 800 arrived in four days on the coasts of the Balearic Islands” and explaining that “the Consell de Formentera is allocating 25% of its total budget to the care of unaccompanied minors”, and then adding the following: “in the Balearic Islands we have an economic emergency and a social problem”. Within the framework of the presentation, Prohens warned that the reception resources are at their limit: “we have the resources at 850% overcrowding. We can no longer talk about reception with dignity”. Faced with this situation, the president appealed to the central government for support and new facilities to manage this crisis, explaining that they have already submitted requests to the different ministries with jurisdiction over immigration.
In the framework of the colloquium, Margalida Prohens proudly explained the benefits of her measure to eliminate inheritance tax in the Balearic Islands: “Right now in the Balearic Islands there is no tax. Not a single euro is paid”. As an example, she pointed out that “a 30-year-old without children who inherits 800,000 euros from his parents pays 0 euros in the Balearic Islands, in Catalonia, 44,569”. In this regard, the president defended this measure as a support for working families in the region: “This is not about rich and poor. The inheritances that have been saved from paying to the Balearic community last year are inheritances of less than a million euros. It is the tax on work, the tax on effort and the tax on renunciations”.
The president also addressed the serious housing situation in the Balearic Islands, admitting that “we are experiencing an unprecedented housing emergency in our autonomous community”. According to Prohens, the Balearic Islands need 20,000 homes, and there are currently thousands of people who cannot access decent housing. Prohens highlighted its Safe Rental Plan program, which ensures that owners pay their monthly rent and guarantees prices up to 30% below the market for tenants: “We have, according to many studies, some 60,000 empty homes in the Balearic Islands. With the Safe Rental Plan we have signed agreements with APIs, with real estate agents, and what they have done is to capture empty apartments. We guarantee them the payment of the monthly rent, even in advance. The owner can decide that the Government pays the seven years of rent in advance”, she explained.
Finally, Prohens assessed the relationship between the autonomous communities and the State, stressing the importance of multilateralism in decision-making: “I would ask Illa that, if he wants to normalise these relations with the other regional presidents and with my autonomous community, he should return to multilateralism”. The leader of the PP in the Balearic Islands concluded her speech by ensuring that respectful and open collaboration between communities is essential to defend common interests, especially on such sensitive issues as the regional financing system.