Earlier today, CiF president Jaume Ferrer received Palma's councillor of the presidential cabinet, Marc Pons, in what was his first official visit to Formentera. At half ten in the plenary hall of the Council, the two were met by Mr Pons’ opposite number in Formentera — and local councillor of the tax office and rural affairs — Bartomeu Escandell, together with councillor of land management and tourism Alejandra Ferrer, councillor of education and patrimony Susana Labrador and director general of administration and external affairs, Margalida Font.
At the gathering, Council president Ferrer voiced his request that either the Govern Balear or the central government in Madrid assume responsibility of the Formentera-to-Eivissa waste transfer costs, «and not the people of Formentera themselves». Councillor Pons said payment of the costs falls within the remit of Madrid, but declared that, awaiting action by central government, «[the Govern] has no intention of turning a blind eye to this problem». According to Mr Pons, part of the 2016 budget has already been allocated to meet the waste transfer cost. While indicating that its own budgetary restrictions will prevent the administration in Palma from bearing the entirety of 2016 transfer costs – estimated at nearly 1m euros annually – , Mr Pons assured that it would happen during the current legislative session.
La Llei de Consells
Mr Ferrer also spoke to Mr Pons about a law known as la Llei de Consells (the island council law), requesting «the law’s text include mention of the unique case Formentera, whose administration is at once a consell (island council) and ajuntament (town council)» and enjoining recognition of the island's «singularity in this particular sense». Councillor Escandell pointed out that the current version of the law dates back to the year 2000, before the Formentera Council came into existence, in and of itself justification for such an update, Mr Escandell asserts. A revision of the text, he reasons, would lay the groundwork for proper treatment of Formentera in view of this circumstance.
Sant Ferran school
Construction of the Sant Ferran school will begin in 2016, indicated Mr Pons, who cited Palma's inclusion of a line item for the project in the administration's budget next year. In his words, «at this point we are only waiting to clear up technical points in order to move ahead with the call for bids from potential firms».
The transfer of authority respecting tourism promotions was another issue that received discussion. Pons ensured that awaiting resolution of the measure, the Govern will form ad hoc agreements with the island councils to fund promotional costs. Finally, CiF president Ferrer raised the issue of the need to dissolve the Formentera development consortium (CFd) in 2016 and resolve current problems with the staff of the Formentera local police.