The Minister of Territorial Policy and Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, stressed that the transfer of coastal management to this autonomous community “is preceded by the Spanish Government’s conviction to help a region of our country with unique circumstances due to its insularity”.

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Isabel Rodríguez, who has met with the President of the Balearic Government, Francina Armengol, and has chaired the Joint Commission for the Transfer of the General State Administration-Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands, highlighted, as part of the commitment to insularity, “the important advances in the special regime of the Balearic Islands”.

This government believes in the autonomous state
In her speech, the minister referred to the rule of law and democracy that we have established with a Constitution that will be 44 years old and the development of the autonomous state, “which today is being perfected with the transfer of coastal management to the Balearic Islands, which demonstrates the Spanish Government’s commitment to improving the lives of citizens, by making progress in self-government and the development of the statutes”.

Transfer of coastal planning and management
Isabel Rodríguez stressed the importance of completing this transfer, which will come into effect on 1 July, “because it brings coastal management closer to the citizens, to the regional administration, to the island administrations. More than 1,500 kilometres of coastline, fulfilling a historic demand from the autonomous region, which modified its Statute, to a large extent, to request this competence”.

The transfer is an important step in the consolidation of the new management model for the public maritime-terrestrial domain and represents the recognition of the unique nature of the Balearic Islands so that the regional administration can project its powers over the maritime space surrounding the islands, and thus guarantee levels of protection in accordance with the demands of the Balearic citizens and their productive sectors, particularly tourism.

Means to be transferred
The Balearic Islands assume the authorisation of seasonal use on beaches and in the territorial sea; authorisation of activities and occupation of the public-land domain; authorisation in areas of transit easements and access to the sea; and coastal concessions; works and actions that are not of general interest.

The General State Administration retains the issuing of mandatory reports on transferred functions; the setting of fees for the use of the maritime-terrestrial public domain; the redemption of concessions in the public domain when there is a reason of general interest; and the exercise of sanctioning powers derived from the State ownership of the maritime-terrestrial public domain whose management does not correspond to the Autonomous Community.

The State and the Autonomous Community will share coordination functions, especially in the use of the maritime-terrestrial public domain assigned for the construction of new ports; issuing reports on compliance with the general regime of the maritime-terrestrial public domain in territorial and urban planning; and investments in works of general interest.

Six vehicles and 6.24% of the total surface area of the headquarters of the Coastal Demarcation in the Balearic Islands in Palma are transferred. The Autonomous Community is also subrogated to the position held by the General State Administration in various contracts in progress.

Eighteen occupied and vacant posts are also transferred, 7 civil servants and 11 employees. The Agreement entails funding in 2022, which corresponds to the effective annual cost, in the amount of 1,306,704.88 euros, effective as of 1 July 2023.