The budget bill for 2025 anticipates an 85.3% increase, up to 35.2 million euros, in the allocation for innovation policies. This announcement was made by the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy, Finance, and Innovation, Antoni Costa, during his appearance in the Finance Committee of the Parliament to present the main budget lines of the Ministry.
Costa began his speech in the Autonomous Chamber by pointing out that, overall, the Ministry will have a budget of 88.1 million euros, representing an increase of 12.3 million euros (+16.3%) compared to the 2024 budget. One of the main increases is in personnel expenses, which will increase from 24.5 million euros to 27.6 million euros, largely due to the application of a court ruling of over 100 million euros due to the salary freeze for officials during the years 2020 and 2021.
Regarding the budget allocated to innovation policies, the minister mentioned that it amounts to 35.2 million euros this year, combining the budget of the Directorate General of Innovation and Digital Transformation and that of the Bit Foundation. This represents an increase of 19 million compared to 2024, an 85.3% rise.
Among the main projects detailed by Costa are the first phase of the construction of the Digital Twin of the Balearic Islands, with an investment of 4.6 million euros, which will help monitor the state of the territory in different areas and allow for simulations, prediction of events, and optimization of decision-making.
Additionally, 4.8 million euros will be allocated to reduce the digital divide with free training for over 22,000 citizens of the Balearic Islands, mostly over 55 years old; 1.12 million euros to the supercomputing center of the Balearic Islands; 899,000 euros to innovation grants for SMEs – which have not been granted since 2018; over two million euros to the recovery of plots in ParcBit in Palma to expand space for businesses; and 750,000 euros to start the execution of the CentreBit Menorca Boost Plan.
In terms of the Directorate General of Digital Strategy, the Vice President and Minister explained that the two main projects to be launched in 2025 are the Digitization Plan, with a budget of 16 million euros – including measures such as a new contracting platform, improvements in the electronic headquarters, or the implementation of collaborative tools for all public workers – and the Cybersecurity Plan, with 10 million euros.
IBDigital will have a budget of 14.5 million euros, an increase of 2.5 million. In this case, the most prominent projects include the continuation of the sensorization project of the beaches of the Balearic Islands with 2.4 million euros from the insularity factor, as well as the start of pilot projects for sensorization, such as the flow of supply wells in Ibiza, the Serra de Tramuntana, or the salinization of the sanitation network in Formentera.
Within the Directorate General of the Treasury, Financial Policy, and Heritage, the main line of action will be aid calls for SMEs with the interests and the cost of the ISBA, SGR guarantee. In 2025, 10.7 million euros will be allocated to this issue.
Meanwhile, in the case of the Directorate General of Economy and Statistics, the novelty for 2025 is the Balearic Opinion Surveys (EOIB), which, with its own budget and the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS), will represent an investment of one million euros, starting in September.
According to Costa, surveys will be conducted on residents of the Balearic Islands to gather opinions on current and structural issues. Additionally, a study will be conducted to quantify a new limit of the minimis regulation, which will help increase the competitiveness of companies in the Balearic Islands compared to those on the mainland.
Furthermore, the Vice President and Minister highlighted that the Balearic Tax Agency has already implemented a new simplification measure for citizens in this fiscal year. This measure allows all taxes paid through receipts – the ITS and local taxes managed by the ATIB – to be paid with as many payments as desired and in any amount throughout the year. Additionally, the Single Declaration for Property Transfers simplifies tax payments in property transactions by making a single declaration for the four corresponding taxes.
ACCELERATOR UNIT FOR STRATEGIC PROJECTS
Finally, the minister also explained that the decree creating the Accelerator Unit for Strategic Projects will soon be approved, framed within the Directorate General of Strategic Projects, European Funds, and Administrative Simplification. The unit will be endowed with 250,000 euros, in addition to 200,000 euros to supply the new Administrative Simplification Unit.
Strategic projects will be part of the new Strategic Investment Framework for the Balearic Islands (MEIIB) 2030, presented on January 28 of this year, which foresees an impact of investments of over 5.4 billion euros in the coming years.
PSIB AND MÉS CRITICIZE THE BUDGET BILL
After listening to the Vice President of the Government and Minister, Socialist deputy Carles Bona criticized the Government for presenting budgets "dictated by Vox" and "without a single updated item despite the economic change recognized by the Government itself."
The parliamentary spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, questioned the potential fulfillment of these budgets, given the "double discourse" surrounding them. Apesteguia noted that while Vox speaks of agreements with a strong commitment to compliance, what the PP preaches to those who want to listen is that there will be no embarrassment, as these agreements will not be fully implemented.
THE PP DEFENDS THAT "THINGS ARE BEING DONE RIGHT"
Meanwhile, the PP deputy Lourdes Cardona defended that "things are being done right" by the ‘popular’ party, as reflected in the budgets presented for 2025, the second under the current Government. These budgets "reaffirm the change in political and economic strategy expressed by the citizens two years ago" and "contain the main hallmarks of the PP."
Vox’s spokesperson in the Parliament, Manuela Cañadas, only intervened in the Committee to refer to what has been said in recent days and support the budget bill for 2025.