"As long as I am the President of the Government, there will be no oil exploration if there is the slightest indication that it could generate the slightest problem in terms of the environment." That is what the head of the national Executive, Mariano Rajoy, stated when asked in Palma de Mallorca about the explorations that are intended to be carried out near the Balearic archipelago.
Unlike what is happening in the Canary Islands, in the Balearic Islands the Popular Party has been the first to reject the soundings, participating in demonstrations and even breaking the PP's voting discipline in the Senate, by supporting a motion by the PSOE against the explorations.
In addition, while in the Canary Islands the Government is one step away from authorizing the start of the soundings, Rajoy has stated that in the Balearic Islands the oil explorations "are going to take a while". In his speech, the president also stressed that this process was initiated by the previous Government, presided over by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
In the Canary archipelago, however, it has been Rajoy's government, with a Canary minister, José Manuel Soria, at the head of Industry, who has reactivated the permits to Repsol, authorized for the first time under the mandate of José María Aznar. Currently, only the last authorization is missing for the soundings to begin and Soria announced that it would be granted this August.
Rajoy made these statements, collected by various national media, after meeting with King Felipe VI, who is spending his holidays in the Balearic Islands. Regarding the opposition of the PP in that community to the explorations, Mariano Rajoy has stated that he is "in permanent contact" with the president of the Balearic Government, José Ramón Bauzá, and with his autonomous Executive.
