The Parliament rules on the draft modification of the Law of the Balearic Ports

The Parliament ruled today, during the celebration of the Tourism Commission, on the draft of the modification of the Law of the Balearic Ports. 

The text, according to the coordinator of the presentation, the Member of Parliament from the Popular Party, Carlos Veramendi "has been agreed upon with the nautical and maritime sector of our community" and "will contribute to the development of the nautical industry and provide solutions to various current problems".

On the other hand, Mr Veramendi commented that since the approval of the Law in 2005, "the circumstances have changed to call for a modification", such as the adaptation to the Statute of Autonomy or the need for an organizational restructuring in the ports in order to apply criteria for austerity, to avoid duplicities or to reduce the number of senior positions.

When it comes to the participation of the involved sectors, Veramendi pointed out that "they have been able to express their concerns and to propose improvements to the Draft of Law". As a result, Veramendi quoted the representatives of the sector themselves, who have expressed their "satisfaction" with the modification, and stated that "the solutions proposed in the law will make the management of the ports easier in the current economical climate".

ADDITIONS TO THE TEXT

Regarding the parliamentary process, he indicated that a total of 73 amendments were presented which were debated during the three sessions of the presentation, culminating in an inclusion in the text of various aspects like extension to four years of temporary authorizations, something that "would allow for more investment as there would be more time for it to pay off"; the declaration and procedure of abandonment of ports; an auction of an abandoned vessel or other goods and extension of measures against debtors, "putting an end to debt problems and abandoned vessels in port areas".

At the same time the parliament member wanted to clarify "once again the confusion some people insist in creating" over the indirect management of the ports, and reaffirmed that "this law modification is not about that, nor does it open the door for that".

Thus, he stressed that "the text in that regard is the same as in the original law, which the previous government applied during the past term". In other words, "if up until now a port was under indirect management, it will continue being that, and if it was under direct management, it will be run by the Ports".

To conclude, Veramendi stated that "so far in this term, more has been done for the nautical and airport sectors than during the two terms of the previous government".