Consell de Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer met with Vicenç Vidal today at local government offices, thanking the Balearic senator for the chance to meet and taking the opportunity to impress on the senator the island’s principal appeals in the hope Vidal convey them to the government in Madrid.
Among the issues raised was the “Special Balearic Regime” (Règim Especial de les Balears, or REB) to unlock extra funding for islands like Formentera in a situation of triple insularity. Ferrer placed rubbish transport costs among other financial costs deserving of consideration. She also appealed to the senator to seek Madrid’s help for the autonomous regions and individual municipalities in efforts to reach 2030 Agenda goals, fight climate change and assist in the energy transition.
The Balearic senator pledged “particular care for Formentera, particularly because the island lacks its own senator”, and noted the latter point featured in discussion as well. He insisted the island deserved “special sensitivity on issues related to our national coasts”, calling for “a more careful handling in view of their acute impact on the island”.
Migrants
President Ferrer described “a new challenge that requires new solutions”: foreign unaccompanied minors. If, as Ferrer insisted, Madrid’s involvement is crucial to the autonomous regions and island councils obtaining needed measures and resources, “they also need to be working to solve this problem at its source”. The senator agreed on the need for unity around the issue of migrants, calling it “a new challenge, and one we need to move forward on”, while also asserting that “guarantees will be necessary”.
The officials also spoke about the importance of investment in the next 12 months in mature tourism areas, as well as reductions in air and maritime travel costs and, according to President Ferrer, “the very specific needs of Formentera residents, as a people—including enjoying the same ability of movement as our fellow islanders and countrywomen and men”.
14 November 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera
Vanessa Parellada, consellera of Formentera’s equality department, was joined this morning by staffer Azucena Carrasco and the head of local women’s group Espai Dones, Dolores Fernández Tamargo, in unveiling the activities programme lined up in celebration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Two pupils from local primary schools —CEIP Sant Ferran de ses Salines's Pablo Wenham Martínez and Ana Burches, of CEIP Mestre Lluís Andreu— have been named finalists in seventeenth Concurs Digital Infantil (Digital Kids Contest). The contest is put on by Aqualia, which implements Formentera's municipal water service. The two children’s drawings were picked from a pool of over 7,200 submissions from Spanish cities where Aqualia provides service. All told, 250 children were celebrated for their work.
The island services department of the Consell de Formentera reports that work has already begun on a month-long, €36,390 effort to remove hurdles to mobility, often referred to as “architectural barriers”, from eight pedestrian walkways in Sant Francesc.
The tourism office and inspection service of the Consell de Formentera report that from 1 December the administration will begin trawling online listings of vacation rentals to check if they note an ET number (for estada turística, i.e. "tourist stay"), or failing that, the code verifying inclusion on the Responsible Declaration of New Activity (Driat).