The Parliament rejected this Tuesday the spending ceiling proposed by the Govern, a decision that leads the Comunitat to extend the autonomic budgets and that aggravates the political crisis between PP and Vox. The vote was 28 votes in favor and 30 against, confirming the blockage already anticipated by all the formations.
The Vice President and Minister of Economy, Finance and Innovation, Antoni Costa, directly accused the national leaderships of the PSOE and Vox of preventing the agreement. “Pedro Sánchez and Santiago Abascal prefer the Balearic Islands not to have budgets than to allow this Govern to do its work,” he said during the defense of the measure. Costa argued that it is “a partisan decision, unfair to the citizens and deeply wrong”.
Failed negotiations and cross accusations
Costa explained that, at the beginning of the round of contacts, only PSIB and Vox were willing to negotiate, although the talks did not advance. In the socialist case, he assured that the demands made crossed “red lines”, affected private property or resumed “failed” measures.
On Vox, the vice president lamented the total lack of proposals: “Sepulchral silence. Vox Baleares has not established any conditions”. He also reproached MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca and Unidas Podemos for their initial rejection, which he considered “legitimate but irresponsible”.
The PSIB accuses the Government of seeking an extension of time
The Socialist spokesman, Iago Negueruela, turned the argument around and argued that the Govern “has achieved its goal: not to have a spending ceiling“. He assured that their only conditions were to raise the Sustainable Tourism Tax and to create a tax on rental cars, and denied having received instructions from Ferraz.
Negueruela predicted that the current deadlock “will lead to elections”. Costa replied by inviting him to abstain in order to resume negotiations: “If they allow the spending ceiling to be approved, I will sit down tomorrow to agree on the 2026 Budget”.
Vox breaks with the PP: “We will no longer play their cheating game”.
Vox spokeswoman, Manuela Cañadas, staged the total rupture with the PP. “We will not allow them to use our group as an alibi for their mismanagement. Our position is immovable,” she said before rejecting the spending ceiling and any support for future budgets.
With sarcasm, he began his speech by congratulating Costa for his “Goya nomination”: “He has gone through all genres: drama, suspense, comedy”. For Vox, the Govern “lives in campaign” and sought the spending ceiling as a “float to arrive alive to 2027”.
Costa said he was willing to reopen talks if at some point Vox changes its position: “If one day they are willing to negotiate, the Govern will be”.
MÉS, Més per Menorca and Unidas Podemos talk about “theater” and “electoral calculation”.
The spokesman of MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, accused the Govern of renouncing key fiscal tools and of having no real intention of approving the spending limit. From MÉS per Menorca,
PP downplays importance of the extension and hits back at Vox
The popular spokesman, Sebastià Sagreras, admitted that he expected “a last minute surprise”, but assured that PSIB and Vox “were not serious”. He downplayed the seriousness of the extension: “With the current accounts we can easily get through the remainder of the legislature”.
Sagreras denounced a “PSOE-Vox pincer” and assured that the rejection of Vox responds to “orders from Bambú for the electoral cycle”. From his seat, Cañadas responded with gestures accusing him of lying and even showed an image of Pinocchio in the second intervention of the popular.
6,924 million in spending ceiling
The Govern had approved last October 17 an expenditure ceiling of 6,924.2 million euros, which was 361.3 million more than the previous year.
With the rejection of the Parliament, the autonomic accounts for 2024 will be extended, while doubts grow about the stability of the legislature.
