The Regional Ministry regrets that, in the meeting, it held today with the Ministry, the formula for its implementation was not clarified.
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The government deems the state’s food card programme insufficient and improvised
The Regional Ministry of Families and Social Affairs considers insufficient and improvised the implementation by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 of the Basic Material Assistance Programme, known as the wallet card. As the councillor for Families and Social Affairs, Catalina Cirer, denounced last January, this system will only benefit families with dependent minors, leaving out many other people in vulnerable situations such as the elderly or people with disabilities.
At the first meeting of the technical cooperation group for the implementation of this programme, held today between the central government’s Directorate General for Family Diversity and Social Services and the autonomous communities, the ministry was unable to clarify the formula for the implementation of this system.
The wallet card will be managed from 1 April until December 2024 by the Ministry and the Red Cross, with management passing to the autonomous communities from 2025. The director general of Social Affairs, José Falcó, expressed the Balearic Islands’ concern at the “disorganisation and improvisation that has been witnessed today” which, according to Falcó, “has made it clear that they do not know how to proceed, also ignoring the reality of the islands, which makes this management even more complicated, as we do not even know which establishments will participate and whether they are represented in all the islands or municipalities”.
The Balearic Islands will receive an amount of 2,351,683.88 €, which means that only an estimated 1,500 families with dependent minors will be able to receive assistance, obliging the autonomous communities to make an economic effort to provide assistance to all those groups that are currently beneficiaries. It is worth remembering that the Government will promote a mixed system where the purse card and food distribution coexist and that, for this reason, the Ministry of Families and Social Affairs has already launched a call for extraordinary aid of 1.6 million euros for the purchase of food aimed at both distribution entities and social canteens.