News

Govern to spend €13 million on Formentera in 2017

Thursday, 17 November 2016 18:18

foto presentacio pressupostos Catalina Cladera, minister of the tax office in Palma, together with the Govern balear's director general of budgets and finances, Joan Carrió, presented today the Balearic Islands' 2017 budget for Formentera. Also on hand for the gathering were Formentera Council (CiF) president Jaume Ferrer, economy councillor Bartomeu Escandell and the rest of the local councillors comprising the island's governing team.

According to Cladera, the draft law underpinning the region's general 2017 budget for Formentera sets out €13.1 million, or an 8.9% increase on the funding received by the CiF in 2016. Meanwhile, financing from the Govern and a consortium of public sector agencies (referred to as Sector Públic Instrumental) will grow 1.5% percent.

Of the total figure, €6.1m will be paid out in current transfers as per the regional law on funding for the island councils (€5.9m of which is an advance on the 2017 package and €0.2m is payment of an advance from 2015). The figure is up €0.5m, or 8.9%, from the amount received in 2016.

Capital investment on Formentera, both from the ministries of the regional government in Palma and public sector agencies, has climbed 1.5% to €5.6m. The lion's share of the upswing will be in water treatment and in education.

Councillor Escandell, of the tax office, hailed the €500,000 year-on-year budget ascension, a change he said would be reflected in priority actions at the Sant Ferran primary school (which has a line item of €1.5m) and environmental projects like water treatment plant maintenance and operationalising the new irrigation reservoir.

Escandell also alluded to plans by Silvia Tur, a representative in the Balearic parliament, to present amendments requesting Formentera's budgetary allocation be increased. Of the different amendments, the most noteworthy relates to a deal struck between the CiF and the Govern and entails more money to cover costs of rubbish transfer. It is hoped that the €550,000 initially set aside by the Palma administration can be raised so as to cover 100% of waster transfer costs —roughly €1m— by the end of the current legislative session.

Taking on precarious employment

Wednesday, 16 November 2016 20:15

foto presentacio pla de lluita Two officials of the Govern balear —labour minister Iago Negueruela and department chair Isabel Castro—, meeting in the plenary hall of the Formentera Council to share the results of a 2016 plan to tackle precarious employment, announced improved conditions this summer for 412 Formentera locals.

Also present at the gathering was Formentera's councillor of tourism, land and trade, Alejandra Ferrer, who highlighted 2016 as the second straight year of cooperation between Formentera and Palma on the plan. Calling the joint efforts “necessary to eliminating the precariousness that grips the Balearics”, Ferrer called on the Govern to remain firm in its engagement.

According to the councillor, this July and August, 361 local job contracts became permanent as a direct result of the efforts of two inspectors dispatched to the island. The plan of action is backed by the Palma ministry of labour, trade and industry and assisted by the provincial department of the labour inspectorate. Thanks to the summer push, more than four hundred Formentera residents saw their working conditions improve through changes to employment contracts, extended work hours or new job offers.

This year's encouraging results reflected improvements in the campaign, such as more time to coordinate and plan inspections, said Negueruela, who thanked the Formentera Council for supporting efforts by providing the inspectors lodging as well as other assistance.

In particular, the 2016 figures show a 178% year-on-year spike in individuals who benefitted from better employment conditions. Minister Negueruela pointed to 560 workers who had experienced improvements in the last two years thanks to the campaign.

Temporary contracts
As for revisions of temporary contracts, Formentera boasted more than any other island. Locally, the number of short-term contracts transformed into permanent ones jumped from 121 to 361, a 66.5% increase on last year's figures. A total of 9,256 job contracts were reviewed throughout the Balearics, of which, 3,381 were changed to “indefinite” arrangements, which means that more than one in three (36%) was previously in breach of the law. Last year contract transformations took place just 25% of the time.

Extended working hours
As for part-time versus full-time employment, Formentera is also the island that logged the most cases of illegal work schedule arrangements, which, according to the inspectors, were up 76%. In due form, working hours were legally extended in 37 cases, up from 21 similar cases in 2015.

It was also reported that 93 employees who should have been registered with social security were never registered. Corrections in those cases were made accordingly. On Formentera there were a total of 13 “transformed social security registrations”.

Punitive measures
On the heels of the inspection crew's efforts in July and August, penalties were pursued in 12 cases for a combined sum of €39,400. In the entire Illes Balears region, 89 such sanctions were brought for a total of €342,230.

Council drives push for land-use inspections

Tuesday, 15 November 2016 16:46

MIRADOR PREMSA The Formentera Council's Office of Land has announced the December start of a push to ensure compliance with urban and rural land-use regulations. At this morning's announcement, CiF land councillor Alejandra Ferrer pointed out that “inspections will focus on illegal construction projects, illegal storage units and construction material, waste and abandoned or stored vehicles on rural plots”.

Crews will highlight any and all activity “that contributes to environmental destruction or violates of land-use regulations”. The controls, explained Ferrer, are part of an effort to beautify the local rural landscape and thwart illegal activity on rural land.

The Council's land office will contact the chamber of commerce and the association of small and medium-sized businesses and request their help sharing information about the campaign.

A week of activities taking aim at gender violence

Tuesday, 15 November 2016 18:22

foto premsa dona Social welfare councillor Vanessa Parellada, together with Dolores Fernández Tamargo, chair of local women's organisation Espai Dones, and CiF social welfare office operating manager Azuzena Carrasco, unveiled the poster advertising the programme for the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women". The activities programme will start Friday and run through the following Saturday, November 26.

Activities
The women's association has scheduled a workshop aimed at strength building and personal improvement to be given by psychologist Pere Serra. The workshop is slated for Friday, 6.00 to 8.00pm, and Saturday, 10.00am to 12 noon, and will be held in classrooms of the Formentera adult learning centre, next to Mestre Lluís Andreu primary school. On Monday, November 21, there is a vernissage of Paz Die Dean's new exhibition, A corazón abierto, in the Council's exhibition hall (sala d'Exposicions). Wednesday, November 23, Formentera will receive a visit from Nadia Ghulam, a young Afghan on a mission to share her experience as a woman in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Her talk will begin at 7.00pm in the conference hall (sala d'Actes) of the Office of Culture.

The day of the celebration, Friday, November 25, will hold an afternoon replete with activities and events. At 5.00pm an informational stand will be set up at plaça de la Constitució in Sant Francesc, and at 5.30pm there will be a reading of a manifesto about eliminating gender violence. A 6.00pm workshop entitled Remodelarte will guide participants though the production of a collage at the Centre Antoni Tur “Gabrielet”.

Stand-up comedy and dinner
Saturday, November 26, stand-up comedian Patricia Sornosa will take the stage at the municipal cinema. Tickets for the show are priced at €8 or €5 for Espai Dones members. As ever, a communal dinner for all the women who wish to participate will be held at 9.30pm. Reservations can be made by calling 697 941 016.

Second year of Formentera Sports Photo contest

Monday, 14 November 2016 20:22

ja arribas 1er premi The Formentera Council Office of Sport has announced a November 25 deadline for submissions to Concurs de Fotografia Esportiva, a sports photo contest now in its second year. Submissions will be accepted in person at the Citizen Information Office (OAC), by certified post and online, by contacting fotografiaesportiva@conselldeformentera.cat. Sports councillor Jordi Vidal explained that email submissions —a first this year— “are intended to make it easier for photographers to share their work with us”.

In Vidal's words, the contest was created as a way to “show sport in a different way and encourage people, through photos, to get active”. Photos should be essentially sports-related or be somehow related to a facet of sport. Three prizes —first place, €300; second, €200 and third, €100— will be awarded.

Conditions of entry
Three photos maximum will be accepted per person. Photos must be original submissions and must not be entered in any other competitions. The image can be in colour or black and white. Physical prints must be on paper and unframed with a minimum width of 20 cm and a maximum height of 40 cm. Formats include square, digital, classic and panorama. Online submissions must meet the following requirements: photos must be saved as .jpg files no larger than 8 Mb. In the digital category photos can feature modified tone, saturation, light, contrast, levels and curves, but no other editing is permitted.

Submissions
Paper submissions will be accepted at the Citizen Information Office (OAC), carrer de Ramon Llull, 6, and must include an envelope with the photographer's full name, address, email and a telephone number.

Photos will also be accepted via certified post sent to Consell Insular de Formentera, plaça de la Constitució, 1, 07860 Sant Francesc Xavier, Formentera. Such submissions should include a similarly marked envelope and a pseudonym for identification purposes.

Online
Online submissions must be sent to fotografiaesportiva@conselldeformentera.cat with the following information: applicant's full name, email address, telephone number and town.

On all photos, contestants are asked to include a title as well as mention of the place and date it was taken. A jury of individuals with experience in visual arts will select the winning photos and awarded recipients will be announced in early December. The photos will be displayed at the Antoni Blanc sports centre.