TWO TONNE DRUGS BUST
An undercover police investigation which began several months ago, ended on Saturday with the arrest of two local men, both from San Antonio, after nearly two tonnes of hashish were found aboard a boat destined for the island. Although the two men, one a 47 year old farmer, the other a 42 year old fisherman, do not have any previous convictions, investigating officers believe this is not the first time they have made such a trip.
Customs officers revealed a boat had been located off the coast of Morocco by their aerial unit at around 3p.m. on Friday. They kept their distance, but continued to observe the vessel. Around 20 miles off the coast of the island, and in international waters, the boat transferred its contents to a smaller vessel which then set off for Ibiza. At approximately 8.30p.m. and eleven miles off the coast of Ibiza and now in Spanish waters, officers finally decided to board the vessel which was now carrying the cargo. They said the apprehension was made easier by the fact that the boat was going extremely slowly, due to the weight of the cargo.
The 9-metre boat, Ludemar, was taken to the port in Ibiza at around 2.30a.m. where they waited for a court order before off-loading all of the contents. In total 70 packages, all around 30 kilos in weight were collected. The men were taken in for questioning, with police claiming they were certain others were involved in the attempted operation.
Investigating officers later revealed they believed that the final destination of the haul was to have been either Cala d´Hort or Cala Conta, where the drugs would have been off-loaded and then stored, ready to sell in San Antonio during the busy summer season. They did not rule out further arrests and said they were convinced many more people were involved.
To make matters even worse for the pair, the Inland Revenue confirmed on Monday they would also be launching an investigation into the two men.

AROUND THE ISLAND
Supreme Court Ruling
The Balearic Supreme Court has nullified the expropriation of land on the Ibiza-San Antonio road used for the new roads. The judge claimed the entire process undertaken by the Balearic Government was inefficient, and lacked some of the basic procedures necessary to comply with the law of forced repossession. He said the process was therefore illegal, and the land would have to be returned. However, due to the fact that the road is now built and returning it would now prove impossible, the judge ordered the Balearic Government to pay an extra 25 per cent in compensation to the co-owners of the land.
The judge in his summing up claimed the Autonomous Government failed to correctly notify one of the owners of a 10,218 m2 piece of land that they would be expropriating 6,774 m2 of it. The registered letter he was sent was returned to sender after it remained undelivered. The judge claimed officials should have tried to re-deliver the letter, or at least put a public notice in the Town Hall advising of the order. None of this was done, a basic failure in the administrative process, according to the judge.
The two affected, Antoni Ros Marí and Ana Maria Fornés Sabater, said they were both delighted by the judgement, which proved they had been right all along. Officials of the Administration had banded their complaints as ludicrous at the time, as well as calling the two, delinquents.
The ruling now sets the stage for a flood of similar cases, which will stretch the already tight budget at the Balearic Government.

Matutes Loses Fight
The judge in the case brought by Fiesta Hotels involving the earth dumped on their land in Playa den Bossa by the constructors of the road, has ruled there was a verbal agreement between the two sides to leave the soil on the land. The decision is not final, and can be appealed against by the company owned by the powerful businessman and former Foreign Minister, Abel Matutes.
The judge said there were obvious signs of an agreement between the two parties, which, as the owner of the construction company admitted, would have benefited both sides greatly. The earth was dumped on the land during the building in 2005 and 2006. An agreement had been reached that the soil could be left on the land, which saved the construction company expensive trips to the quarry to dispose of the soil in the correct way, and ensured the Matutes-run business would not have to buy in soil for the proposed 18-hole course, which looked a certainty in the area until the PP-run Island Council was ousted in the 2007 elections.
Fiesta Hotels took the constructors to court claiming they were illegally occupying their land, and demanded 125,000 per month in rent. They denied there had ever been an agreement and said they had offered that the earth be dumped on their property to avoid the many thousands of lorry trips the company would have had to make in the height of summer across the island. They claimed they did it with the best interests of the island in mind.
However, the judge did not believe their version of events and ruled against them, ordering the construction company to dispose of the soil in the normal way. Fiesta Hotels have been instructed to pay all of the costs of the legal process for both parties.

Beach Action
A total of over 15,000 sun-beds will be available across the island from this week, to mark the start of the tourist season. With both San Jose and San Antonio carrying out the auction process far later this year, the beds and parasols were only recently available on most of the islands beaches. However all are now in place, and residents and tourists alike will now be able to enjoy the beautiful beaches on the island from the comfort of a hamaca, except of course in Cala Moli which the Town Hall of San Jose has decided to leave virgin. The beach will be shorn of its normal 70 beds, in a trial by the authorities which has not been ruled out in other areas, if successful.
San Jose will again be the municipality with the most sun-beds and parasols with a total of 6,118 and 3,006 available respectively. They will be followed by Santa Eulalia (3,744 and 1,719), with Formentera in third place (2,520 and 1,230).
A source at Pimeef (the association for small and medium-sized businesses) claimed regulation was now much stricter, and that concessions would have to stick to specific areas to ensure they did not take up all of the space on the beach. He added that the Town Halls had all agreed that they would clamp down on those who abused the number of sun-beds permitted, and they were keen to leave vast areas for bathers who wanted to use just their towel.
As always the price of a sun-bed on any beach will vary according to the area, with 6 set as the maximum this year.
The Town Hall of Santa Eulalia signed an agreement with the Red Cross last week which will ensure eight of the municipalitys beaches will have lifeguards. The beaches will be covered from 17th May until 30th September, at a total cost of 200,583, a budget which will ensure a total of 17 lifeguards, three more than in 2007.
Likewise, the Town Hall of San Antonio also signed a new contract with the Red Cross which will see ten lifeguards patrolling the beaches, eight on land and two by sea. The service, which began on Saturday, will run until 14th October.

New Prescriptions
The paper prescription will become a thing of the past in Ibiza and Formentera by the end of the year, according to the Health Department. It claimed trials had been a complete success and the remaining health centres and hospitals would be fitted with the system within the coming months. The technique involves the doctor recording the necessary medicine onto the patients health card. All they then need to do is go to a pharmacy where their card will be read and the medicine dispensed.
The system is also extremely beneficial for the elderly or those with a chronic illness, as it means they do not have to visit the doctor to renew their prescription as the pharmacist will be able to observe the patients history via the card.
There are currently 1,066,572 medical cards in the Balearics at present, all of which will be able to use the new system by the end of the year.

Air Nostrum Strike
The strike threatened by Air Nostrum pilots will not affect the Balearics, according to a spokesman for the company. Despite the pilots rejecting the minimum services suggested by the company, sources revealed it was now up to Civil Aviation to programme the routes which are to be affected. However, these are unlikely to include Mallorca, Ibiza or Menorca, due to the lack of alternatives for travellers wishing to leave the island.

Teachers Strike
Last week 85 per cent of teachers at the six state-assisted educational facilities in Ibiza and Formentera took part in a two day strike. The protest was carried out by around 150 teachers, with the management teams in all six elementary schools covering the minimum services which allowed parents to take their children to the colleges in Ibiza Town (two), San Antonio (two), San Jordi and Formentera.
The problem arose after the Balearic Government backed out of a deal they had made last February, which would have seen teachers receive a 120 per month pay rise starting in January 2009. In April 2008, they were forced to admit they would be unable to meet the new demands, and promised to pay an increased 140 from 2010. However, the teachers association rejected this alternative and after a vote last month, 97.4 per cent agreed strike action was the appropriate next step.
The Minister for Education, Barbara Galmes, informed parents they would be able to take their children to school as normal and assured worried parents that the minimum services provided would be more than capable of looking after the almost 1,500 pupils affected. However, most chose to ignore her advice and the classrooms remained practically empty during the two day strike, with just ten pupils attending class on the first day, and seven on the second.
If an agreement is not reached over the next ten days the teachers will strike again on 5th and 11th June.

Land Purchased
The Health Minister announced on Wednesday that an agreement had finally been reached with the owners of the land behind the current hospital Can Misses, which is to be the location of the new hospital due to get underway early next year. Vicenc Thomas was on the island for the official opening of the new Health Centre in paseo Vuit d´Agost, which received its first patients last month.
After the ceremony, the minister spoke to representatives of the press, and surprised them all by revealing that an accord had been drawn up and technicians from the Balearic Government were already undertaking a series of studies to ensure the land was suitable before the final purchase was signed. He responded to criticism from the opposition party that the Government had been dragging its feet by saying that when his administration came into power last year they found plans for a new hospital which the old Government had drawn up in 2005, which had then been left to gather dust in a drawer. He claimed they had done more in the one year they had been in office than the previous PP Government in four years.
He reminded his critics that as well as starting the new hospital next year, he had not forgotten about the current installations. Last month saw two new operating rooms completed at Can Misses, as well as a 33 per cent increase to the A&E department, which will mean an additional twelve beds to cope with the higher demand during the tourist season.

Sculpture Controversy
The Balearic Government is refusing to pay the bill for the metal sculptures located in three of the roundabouts on the new roads. The director general for Highways, Antoni Armengol, said the price of the three pieces was exorbitant. He claimed they were not projected for in the original plans, and were part of the 1% of the costs the constructors said they would spend on cultural projects. However, he said the reduction in the final costs of the roads, due in some part to the unfinished San Rafael tunnel, had meant the structures now had to be paid for. He confirmed once again his department would not be doing so, and finished by saying that as far as he was concerned the sculptures could be taken away.
Santiago Picatoste, the artist responsible for two of the pieces on the San Antonio-Ibiza road, one of which is to be found at the Montecristo roundabout, the other at the Can Tomas roundabout, said that together both had taken him two and a half years to complete and that he had been commissioned to carry out the works, knowing their final destination. The other sculpture can be found on the Ibiza-Airport road at Can Sifre.
It seems all three have been paid for, presumably by the constructor, who is now trying to pass the bill on to the Government, which, it appears, has no intention of paying for something it clearly feels is unnecessary.

New Maps
The Balearic Government is to offer a revolutionary cartographic map which will be available to use by all of the Town Halls and members of the general public. The map, which is currently in its final stages, will be available on the websites www.sitibsa.com and www.ideib.cat. The 3D image, which has been made to a scale of 1:1,500, will be constantly updated and used by administrations for various different jobs, including the classification of certain areas and the control of others.
Representations of the earth on a flat surface have always proved tricky due to the necessity of drawing it in two dimensions. This ensures some degree of distortion, which, with the use of computers, can now be eliminated.
Cartographic representation involves the use of symbols and lines to illustrate geographic phenomena. This can aid in visualizing space in an abstract and portable format. The cartographic process rests on the premise that the world is measurable, and that we can make reliable representations or models of that reality.

Adopt a Monument
The Island Council has come up with a novel idea to introduce the population to the many historical landmarks and hidden treasures scattered across the island. It is, at the moment, coming up with a list of the lesser known features which both companies and individuals will have the opportunity to sponsor. However, the initiative will go further and will involve hands-on work in, firstly, protecting and then promoting the landmark.
A spokesman for the Council said most of the historical pieces chosen would almost certainly need restoration, and then both the Council and the new sponsor would be able to begin the process of registering it as a feature of cultural interest (BIC) which would ensure its protection in the years to come. More news when the list has been finalised.

Ibiza Film Festival
The Second Edition of the IbizaIff will welcome Sir Alan Parker as Patron. Other exciting names that will assist this year are Michael Radford, Michael Nyman, Mike Figgis, Jacqueline Bisset, Mira Sorvino and Kate Ashfield.
Friday May 23rd sees the kick off of the second edition of the IbizaIff with a great new jury line up and new digital section together with a star studded guest list including Spanish diva Elsa Pataky.
The IbizaIff tagline celebrating the independent Spirit continues to be the backbone of the festival with a host of indie films lined up both in and out of competition.
The festival will run from Friday May 23 through to 31 May with the awards ceremony taking place at the fabulous new Palacio de Congreso.

Speed Increase
The Island Council has asked that the speed limit on the Ibiza-San Antonio road be increased to 100km/h, from the current limit of 80km/h. In response the director general of the Highways Commission, Antoni Armengol, said that once the work on the road had been completed a study would be carried out to assess the most appropriate speed limit for the road.
The call followed a statement from the Balearic Government the previous day, which confirmed they would not be building an access roundabout at the entrance to ses Paises. The population of 3,000 from the villages of Can Bonet, Sol y Descanso and ses Paises had complained to the Govern that they were now obliged, when travelling from Ibiza Town or San Rafael, to drive until the roundabout link close to Avenida San Agustin before coming back on themselves to enter the area. Armengol said the modification could not be justified and they would not be making the change.

Blood Donations
For those interested in giving blood this week, a special mobile bus will be in the Parque de la Paz in Ibiza Town from Monday-Thursday, 10a.m.-2p.m. and then again from 5p.m.-9p.m. On Friday it will move on to the square in front of the Town Hall in Santa Eulaia, and finally it will be in San Antonio on Saturday in Paseig de ses Fonts.

IBIZA TOWN
Political Bribery Scandal
Roque Lopez, the man at the centre of the Eivissa Centre scandals, confessed in a television interview last week that his number two, Jose Maria Costa, had been the brains behind the idea of recording conversations between party members. The CD, currently in the hands of the judge investigating the case, allegedly involves senior party members, including the current mayor of San Jose, Josep Mari Ribas Agustinet, explaining exactly how and what commissions were to be paid.
The scandal broke last year when the CD of the recordings was sent to the El Mundo newspaper, just before the elections. A series of accusations followed, most of which were uncovered by Lopez, who had lost his place within the party just months before. He claims the owner of the construction company in charge of the multi-million euro project which was to transform the capital, dubbed Eivissa Centre, paid bribes to both of the main political parties on the island to secure the contract. The accusations have been denied by all involved, and at an initial hearing those who testified said it was merely a case of sour grapes from the former leader after he was forced out of the party.
However, a CD still exists which some witnesses who have heard it claim is undeniable proof bribes in the region of 600,000 were paid by the owner of Brues SA, Antonio Pinal.
In yet another twist during the week, the lawyer representing the mayor of San Jose, Agustinet, produced a report from a technical expert at the University of Madrid which claimed the original recordings, which are now unavailable, could have been manipulated before they were recorded on to the CD.
Whatever the truth, it seems that all will soon be revealed, as Lopez confirmed during the interview, he was ready to see the case through to the end despite the cost to his health and wallet.

Cruising in to the Capital
The Japanese cruise ship, Nippon Maru, sailed into Ibiza Town last week, bringing a total of 450 Japanese and Chinese visitors to the capital. The vessel belongs to Mitsui, one of the largest companies in Japan, with a varied activity ranging from banking to transport. Although the ship is vastly smaller than those normally seen docking in the capital, its exotic passengers still managed to cause quite a stir as they passed through the town. One of the guides who showed a number of the passengers around the capital, said they had liked it very much and, of course, had taken many photos!

SAN ANTONIO
Ferry Passenger Increase
During the first three months of the year the port in San Antonio received a total of nearly 10,000 passengers, a spectacular 711 per cent more than the same period last year. The increase is due to the addition of an extra route with Denia, which was previously not run during the winter season, on top of the existing Barcelona route.
A delegate for the Ports Authority, however, said there was still the possibility of more destinations being added, but this would be chiefly up to the ferry companies. He added the port was still too small for cruise ships to dock and that they were pushing the Town Hall to make the necessary changes.

New Health Centre
Jose Sala visited the site of the new health centre in San Antonio this week and revealed it would be in operation by the beginning of next year. The building, which is close to the new bus station, will be built on three floors and have a total of 3,462 m2. The ground floor will contain the main entrance and reception area, as well as the A&E department, storerooms, consultancy and observation rooms. The first floor will house the paediatric department, as well as general practitioners and dentistry. More administrative offices and GPs will be located on the second floor.
The facility, which is being built by the same company responsible for the new centre in Ibiza Town, will cost a total of 6.4 million, most of which is being paid for by the Balearic Government.

SAN JOSE
Cruyff Plans
According to the latest Official State Bulletin, (BOIB), Jordi Cruyff, the ex-Manchester United player, and son of the legendary Johann, is preparing to build a house on the island. The papers are currently being processed for a family house in the es Cubells area. As yet it is not certain if the new construction is being built as part of a business venture or as a holiday getaway for the former star.

Czech Contracts
The controversial Catalan businessman, Fernando Ferré, owner of the hotel chain Grupo Playa Sol, has been reported to the Workers Union after employees complained they were forced to sign contracts in Czech for measly salaries. Although a group of five made the original complaint, they claim up to 30 people are affected, most of whom are working at the Costa Sur hotel in the bay of San Antonio. They claim the other employees have kept quiet because they are scared of reprisals from the owner of the group.
The employees, mostly from Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic, were made to sign contracts in Czech, which many could not understand, promising 8,000 Czech Crona a month for a 40 hour week. This works out to around 320 per month.
There is also no company information on the contract, except the stamp of Mundi Global Corporation, a Czech-registered company owned by Ferré. They say other workers in the company have signed normal contracts and they do not understand why they have been made to sign these special Czech contracts. However, they claim they are desperate for the work and have no other option. Ferré was unavailable for comment.
The Union, UGT, complained that this was not the first time they had heard about these particular abuses, and said they were mystified as to why the appropriate officials on the island were not taking any action.

SANTA EULALIA
Youths Detained
Two Bulgarian youths were arrested inside a luxury yacht on Thursday in the port of Santa Eulalia. Police were called after workers cleaning the boat noticed the main entrance had been forced open. When they arrived they were shocked to find the thieves still inside the boat, unaware they had been discovered. The two were both arrested and handed over to the Guardia Civil. Neither has any previous criminal record on the island.

FORMENTERA
Salt Production
Salinera Espanola, the company responsible for the production of salt in ses Salinas, has presented a proposal to the Consell of Formentera to recover part of the former slat flats on the island to produce a luxury salt. The plan involves using just two of the ponds to manufacture the specialised salt which would later be sold in delicatessens across the country.
The plan is to produce around 30-40 tonnes of salt a year using a completely different process to that currently employed in Ibiza. The new technique would use machines, one metre in diameter, to crystalize the salt.
The salt produced would be a completely natural product without artificial additives, retaining valuable sea water trace-elements, such as magnesium and calcium, very much like the famous Maldon salt produced in Essex. Experts say the difference is vast with common salt sitting uncomfortably on the tongue and leaving an underlying bitterness. Maldon Salt, however, is milder, with the flavour of sea spray and it is free from the chemical tang of common salt.
The company also wishes to cultivate a salt alga in the area which would be used in spa treatments across Europe.
The proposal was greeted with cautious optimism by the Island Councils president, Jaume Ferrer, who claimed that while he would like to see the area re-used, the environmental effects would have to be studied before permission was granted. He added that he was keen to see the area up and running again, and would support the project if it was environmentally sound.

Travel Discount
Around 200 residents took part in a mass demonstration on the island last weekend in protest at the non-inclusion for travel discounts of residents from outside the EU. The gathering was originally called to protest both the current legislation concerning residents from outside the EU, as well as the chaos caused by the ferry companies who refused to accept the old photo resident card as proof of identity. It was feared EU residents would not show up after the latter issue was resolved just two days earlier. However, that did not turn out to be the case and 200 people eventually expressed their support for the non-EU residents, who currently have to pay full price for their journeys to and from Ibiza. EU residents currently receive an 89 per cent discount on travel, although the Association is asking for a 39 per cent reduction for non-EU residents, the amount subsidised by the Balearic Government.
The president of the new association, Valentina Westcott, said the eleven-mile route was currently the second most expensive in Spain. She continued that the Balearic Government should make it a public interest route, as a lack of some municipal and state facilities on the island made the journey unavoidable for all residents.
The transport minister, Josep Mayans, offered his full support to the association and was amongst the protesters on Sunday. He said the issue was more social than economic and was important to ensure unity for all on the island.
The police said the protest was a good humoured affair and they reported no incidents.

CRIME & INCIDENTS
Tourist Death
A 37-year old British tourist, who was found dead last weekend at a hotel in the centre of San Antonio, died after choking on his own vomit. The body of the man was discovered by a cleaner at the Hotel Brisa just after midday. The police were immediately called, and the body was taken for an autopsy. It is unsure at the moment if the deceased was on holiday with family and friends or alone.

Identity Discovered
Officers have eventually managed to identify the body of a man found dead in an apartment in ses Figuertes. The man was discovered by police in the apartment after a neighbour alerted them after finding the front door to the apartment open. It appears the man was no relation to the owner of the property, and police are still unsure why he was in the property.
The identity of the man remained a mystery after police failed to find any leads. However, after further investigation it turned out that the man was a local vagrant, originally from the Andalusian town of Linares. The autopsy also ruled out any violent death, although the official verdict has yet to be given.

Forged Documents
A total of ten arrests were made last week as police on the island broke a falsification ring in the capital. All of those arrested were Brazilian, and stand accused of falsifying official Portuguese documents so that fellow Brazilians could pass for EU members and gain resident permits.
The police became aware of the problem last month after they identified an unusually high number of Portuguese permits at the foreign police station where residents permits are acquired. Further investigation showed all of these had been forged. This led officers to a man in Palma, who, after being arrested and interviewed, informed police of the illegal ring being run on the island. Officers initially made a total of five arrests, but after statements from all of the men, four more were made including that of the suspected head of the gang.

Two Brits Arrested
Two British youths were arrested last week for attacking a Dutch man who refused to sell drugs for them. The victim told officers that he had originally told both the men that he would sell drugs for the pair. He received a large bag of ecstasy tablets, and a wad of forged 50 notes. However, he later called them and said he had changed his mind. When he later met the accused and tried to hand back the drugs and the notes, they said he could not go back on his word and punched him, breaking the victims nose. Both were arrested by police and during a search of their apartment, small quantities of cocaine and ecstasy were found, along with several empty bags used to sell the drugs.
Both men claim they are here on holiday and deny the victims story, saying the cause of the fight was over an incident involving a woman.

Hand Bag Snatcher
A Moroccan man was arrested last week accused of snatching the handbag from a British couple close to the West End of San Antonio. The incident occurred at 6a.m. on Wednesday morning. It has not been made clear how police came to arrest the man.

Defendants Drug Claims
A man who crashed his vehicle into the gardens of the Pacha hotel claims he was drugged by two women after entering a bar. Speaking in front of the judge on Thursday, the man declared he had walked into a bar and that two women had come up to him and offered him a drink. The next thing he remembers was waking up inside his car after crashing it into the garden of the hotel. He returned a breath test of 0.88 and 0.84, three times over the legal limit. The defendant also claims all of his money was taken.
If found guilty the man faces a four month jail sentence, as well as a two year ban from driving.

NEWS FROM THE MAINLAND
ETA Strike
The terrorist group, ETA, struck again last week killing an officer of the Guardia Civil in Legutiano, close to Alava, in the Basque region of northern Spain. The attack took place at 2.58a.m. on Wednesday morning outside a Guardia Civil barracks. There were a total of 29 people inside the building at the time of the attack, including five children.
The ensuing investigation revealed the terrorists arrived at the scene in two cars and left one, a Citroen Berlingo, packed with around 300 kilos of explosives which they detonated moments later before escaping in a Peugeot 306, which they had stolen the previous month in France. There was no warning given, and the Home Secretary, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, claimed their intention was to cause carnage.
Juan Manuel Pinuel, the officer killed in the attack, was on the phone warning of the presence of a van outside the barracks when the bomb went off. Four other people were injured in the blast, three fellow officers and a passer-by. All were taken to hospital, one in a serious condition. However, after emergency surgery the officer was said to be making a good recovery and his life was not said to be in any danger. Miraculously all of the other occupants inside the barracks escaped unhurt.
Pinuel, 41, had been in the barracks just two months after voluntarily agreeing to be stationed in the area. He leaves a wife and young child.
The funeral of the officer took place on Thursday with a huge political presence, as well as members of the Royal Family including the Prince of Asturias and his wife.
ETA has killed more than 820 people in its fight for an independent Basque country over the past four decades.
The latest murder makes it the 6th since Socialist Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's attempt at a peace process collapsed with a car bombing at Madrid airport in December 2006. The government has adopted a tough line against ETA since then, arresting dozens of its suspected members or collaborators.
Zapatero called the attack cowardly, despicable and criminal, and promised to fight even harder to end the groups 40 year reign of terror.

FINANCIAL NEWS
Tax Evasion
Nine of the fourteen countries which currently provide the largest investment within the Balearics are based in tax-free areas. According to figures from the Ministry for Industry and Commerce, there was a total investment of 132 million last year, an increase compared to 2006, of 14.65 per cent.
Similarly three of the largest receivers of exported goods were tax-havens. A total of 1,521 million was exported last year from the islands, with the biggest recipient being the United States, followed by the Cayman Islands.
The Tax Department said they were currently investigating a number of specific deals with tax-free countries, suspecting certain residents on the islands were using businesses registered in these places to buy boats, in the hope of minimising their tax implications.

Economic Growth
A report by the Employment Ministry at the Balearic Government claimed that the potential economic growth in Ibiza was huge, if the island could just fix the problem of a shortening season. The details of the study were revealed by the head of the department, Margarita Najera, during a conference into the employment market in the Balearics during 2007.
The difference in the employment rate in July and December was 57.6 per cent in Ibiza and 131.1 per cent in Formentera, way above both the average on the islands (24.40 per cent) and the country as a whole (0.6 per cent). Both also had the highest unemployment levels in the Balearics.
She repeated that the main obstacle to increased growth on the island remained the length of the season, to which she could see no short or medium-term solution.
The study came on the back of comments by the Minister for the Economy, Carlos Manera, who suggested economic growth on the island would be very similar to last year, at around 2.7 per cent. He said the figure was based on the first four months of the year, and would very much depend on the success of the tourist season. He added that the feared collapse of the construction industry had not materialised and the loss of jobs had been absorbed by the service sector. He also claimed the increase in the amount of electricity used on the island over the first four months (up 9 per cent) was a positive sign.

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