News
The people’s paper ISSUE NO. 1852
31 Dec 2020 - 6 Jan 2021
MALLORCA • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
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WELCOME FINANCIAL NEWS
CONSIDERING how badly the economy of the Balearics has been hit by the latest out breaks of pandemic across the islands, there was an element of celebration on December 28 when the Government discov ered the initial amount it is to receive from EU funds. The Spanish Ministry of Fi nance announced the distribu tion in a series of video confer ences with representatives of the autonomous communities and the Balearics will receive €300 million in support from the initial €10 billion being re leased from the REACTEU mechanism. This is more per capita than almost any other part of Spain and the figure represents 3 per cent of the total resources to be
Minister Rosario Sánchez Grau announced the news. distributed among the au tonomous communities with the Balearics receiving €260.99 per person against the national average of €212.65. The money will be paid in stages intended to strengthen basic public services (health, ed
ucation and social services) and the recovery of the economy and employment to cope with the effects of the Covid19 pan demic. Local Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, Rosario Sánchez Grau explained that this was the
largest amount of support ever received and was effectively 163 per cent more than the to tal amount received between 2014 and 2020. She said that this is a “funda mental step to deal with the consequences, social and eco nomic aspects of the Covid19 pandemic and to contribute to the reactivation of the economy and employment in the Balearic Islands and to the strengthening of essential public services.”
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The Minister added that the resources of the REACTEU will allow the community to finance new investments in basic public service infrastructures (health, education, social services) and strengthen employment poli cies. The funds from the REACT EU programme will be distrib uted through the ERDF (Euro pean Regional Development Fund) and ESF (European Social Fund) funds.
When one considers the ma jor financial difficulties that all areas of business in Mallorca in particular are facing due to the closing of bars, cafes and restaurants as well as the bans on opening shopping centres in this festive period, this an nouncement will be welcomed by those in difficulty. The onus now however is on the Balearic Government to dis tribute the funds quickly and on a fair and equitable basis.