At AENB we work daily for your wellbeing. Up until December we have participated in136 events in total this year (meetings, working groups, boat shows etc.), a huge effort carried out with pleasure to make the Balearics a perfect place to do business with the least possible amount of administrative and fiscal obstables.
We have forwarded your proposals, worries and problems to those with power to do something about them. In one voice, as a result of joining our forces, we have persuaded the Administration to recognize our potential and to listen to our claims. But the machinery works slowly and even more so during the crisis that we are grounded with, although our efforts and perseverance are slowly bearing fruit.
We have achieved some good results this year, and none of that would have been possible without you putting your confidence in us. One of our biggest achievements together is the new Palma Boat Show. The proposals that you have passed on to us form the foundation of the project. A Boat Show planned by the entrepreneurs for the entrepreneurs, but bearing also in mind the public and the professionals, a colossal task rewarded by the Advisory Council by adopting our proposal for the 30th edition of the Show. On top of that an added bonus we can be proud of – the show will be able to finance itself. If we manage to do that with all the obstacles in the way, imagine what we would be able to do without them!
AENB has always been politically neutral, but we recognize that the actual government is listening to our issues. The Palma Boat Show is a good example; the government gave free hands to the Advisory Council to organize the event. However, there are considerable dualities in the relationship between the sector and the Public Administration, for example the new prohibition of boats over 12 m to anchor in depths less tan 35 m along the coast to protect the posidonia. Together with AEGY and FENIB we explained to the government that anchoring is far from being the biggest threat to this important plant. But sometimes it is easier to prohibit than to listen to reason, and all of us in the nautical sector end up suffering the consequences. Many bookings were canceled for fear of sanctions. It meant lost income for the whole community. These prejudices are damaging to all of us and at AENB we never stop to fight for truthful information.
According to another one of these prejudices the nautical companies are a “bottomless pit” of gold where to impose taxes. During the VII Future of the Superyacht Conference held in Palma last summer President Bauzá assured that he is aware of the problems of the sector and passed on to Madrid the proposal to eliminate the matriculation tax for the chárter yachts over 15 m. We are getting closer to the day when this damaging tax disappears. It will be important for all of us, whether we work with the superyachts or with the smaller sizes, whether we are spanish or foreigners. We all know and suffer from the administrative and fiscal obstacles that torment the sector. We keep the pressure on at all posible levels to be able to work in an environment with harmonized legislation and reasonable taxation. We believe that by working together we´ll get there.
AENB has chosen to integrate in various employers and institutional organizations relevant in the nautical sector. We continue in the board of ANEN for few more years after the elections this year, and we have also been able to represent you at the highest level of the business world – in the Sea Council of CEOE. There, together with ANEN, we fight for a better frame work for our business activities on our islands. This joint effort, through the different organizations we belong to, creates favorables synergies for the sector and gives us some clout when it comes to decisión making by the Public Administration. Without all of you behind us we would not have achieved this.
In the coming months we will celebrate one of the most important events of the association: the election of the new board of AENB. The current team with some changes, lead by Margarita Dahlberg, will stand for re-election for a last mandate.
Last but not least, we would like to express our most heartfelt farewell to a person who was our colleague and friend for many years: Joan Rosselló, who we all miss very much. Our regards also to his family and to his closest friends.
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