The first meeting of the new council at Palma town hall, Mallorca

Parties voted en bloc against the PP proposals. | Jaume Morey

Andrew EdePalma28/06/2023 15:07
TW
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The first council session at Palma town hall following the election of the new administration should have been pretty straightforward. The agenda on Wednesday consisted of housekeeping matters, such as deciding on the make-up of committees and remuneration for councillors. As things turned out, the only agreement at this initial meeting was that future meetings should be held on Thursdays.

The Partido Popular are governing Palma with a minority. Vox had wanted to be part of the administration, but the mayor, Jaime Martínez, refused this. The Vox response to this was to say that they would act as a "responsible opposition". For the PP, the implication of this would have been that they could rely on at least some support.

However, Vox sided with the three parties that had made up the former administration - PSOE, Més and Podemos - in voting against all the Martínez proposals, except the one for the day of future meetings.

The atmosphere was such that when José Hila, the former mayor and leader of PSOE, asked for his turn to speak, Martínez closed the session. This was greeted with cries of shame.

Javier Bonet, the PP's first deputy mayor, said that the situation was unheard of. "There should be institutional loyalty. They (PSOE, Més, Podemos) have said that theirs will be radical opposition. As for Vox, they said that they will be a constructive opposition, but they are being destructive, as it will make the work of the secretariat difficult."

Rosario Sánchez, the former Balearic finance minister and now spokesperson for PSOE at the town hall, observed: "This is a plenary session for organisation that should be carried with consensus, as it always has been. But none of these proposals have obtained agreement with the opposition. Mayor Jaime Martínez said that he would reach out to other parties in order to gain agreement, but it has been the opposite. There has been arrogance and without taking the opposition into account."

The worry is that this first session has set the tone for future meetings and for the PP to be able to muster sufficient support.