Islands request stop to drilling plans

THE Balearic Government has formally requested the central government and the EU to stop plans to drill for oil around the islands.

The regional government wants requests from companies which have already been presented to be rejected and any plans to drill around the Balearic Islands suspended.

The Councillor for the Presidency, Marc Pons, made the request, saying that the Balearic Islands want to remain at the head of the game in the tourism industry, meaning that they need to find clean sources of energy and efficient technologies.

This occurred during his speech at a conference regarding ‘Blue Growth’ held in Brussels.

Blue Growth is the long term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors as a whole. It is the maritime contribution to achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Pons said that “we can hardly speak of ‘blue growth’ when there is a threat to the environment, to society and to the Balearic economy in the shape of oil drilling.”