La Savina POW camp declared cultural interest site

This morning, the Formentera Council held its October plenary. At nearly three hours long, it was an uncommonly lengthy session and one that boasted the participation of council president Jaume Ferrer, who had been on sick leave the two weeks prior to the meeting.

The plenary session was also noted for the consensus obtained on six agenda issues between the governing political parties – Gent per Formentera (GxF) and the PSOE – and the opposition parties – the PP and Grup Independent de Formentera (GUIF).  

The first such consensus was reached with respect to an accord with the Govern Balear's regional department of family affairs and social welfare to provide funding for the Formentera Day Centre. “The funding set out by the accord is wholly insufficient to finance the activity at the day centre,” explained Dolores Fernández Tamargo, “even if it is an improvement on the situation last year. Under the previous funding regime, the Council was responsible for meeting 50% of the centre's costs of operation; the present accord lowers that figure to 40%.” Despite the fact that those in attendance at the plenary eventually approved the measure, Councillor Tamargo lamented the fact that “the accord is still a far cry from the 100% funding provided in 2011 and 2012.”

Attendees were also unanimous in their decision to declare as 'cultural heritage sites' – or BIC (béns d'interés cultural) – the archaelogical sites of Es Cap de Barbaria and Sa Murada de sa Cala. They were, however, unable to reach consensus on the application of this same designation for the Es Campament former prisoner-of-war camp in La Savina. Both the PP and GUIF abstained from the Es Campament vote, PP spokesman José Manuel Alcaraz calling the territory affected by the proposal “excessive”. Making any direct comparison difficult, the floor was not opened for specific comments or objections in the case of the first two sites.

Councillor of culture Sònia Cardona affirmed that “in all three cases the criteria to determine the eligibility of the sites was identical and based purely on technical factors.”

Participants of the plenary voted unanimously to sign on to a country- and community-wide pledge for the rights of children. Dolores Fernández explained, “In joining this pledge – and I believe this is reflected in UNICEF's recent decision to grant Formentera 'Child-friendly City' status – we hope to make the Council's stance clear. This will be an invaluable opportunity to observe what is being done on this issue elsewhere and around us.”