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Lack of finance hits Mallorca's festivals
The current financial crisis in Spain is spreading ever deeper into daily Mallorcan life. With central government in Madrid making massive cutbacks, local councils in Majorca are struggling to make ends meet, meaning that the traditional summer fiestas are being affected.
These festivals are very popular with both locals and visitors, but this year's celebrations have had to be run on a much smaller scale and in some cases, have been cancelled altogether. The councils say that any cash they do have needs to be allocated to the maintenance of public buildings and services.
In addition, the councils are also being asked to return money loaned to them by Madrid in 2009. At the time, it was thought that tax revenues over the subsequent years would be sufficient to repay these loans, but the economic situation has meant that these revenues are much lower than anticipated. Several councils have declared that they cannot repay and if they are forced to, they will render themselves bankrupt.
It seems unlikely that this situation will be resolved before the general election in November; however with the 53 councils of Mallorca owing €473 million to central government, it is not an issue that will simply disappear.
The President of the Balearics recently admitted that the islands have a debt of €4.5 billion. A new finance agreement between the regions and Madrid hopes to deliver savings of €380 million in 2012.
