It was to have been expected. The Balearic Government's decree law for tourism containment measures, approved by the cabinet on Friday, has drawn harsh criticism from the left opposition. At the heart of this is a fundamental difference between the Partido Popular (backed by Vox) and the main opposition party, PSOE, plus others on the left. It boils down to no growth in the supply of accommodation places (beds) versus a decrease.
On Friday, Francina Armengol, speaker of Congress and the general secretary of PSOE in the Balearics, accused the Prohens administration of "deceiving" the public because the decree will lead to the creation of "more tourist accommodation" and generate "more saturation and urban speculation".
"She (Prohens) staged a sham pact for sustainability, a farce. It's the same old PP with the same old policies. The decree ignores the fact that there was a broad social and political agreement on the very clear need for a decrease in tourist accommodation to make possible the right to housing. There should be no apartments available for holiday rentals. Apartments are needed so that workers can access decent housing."
The decree, in Armengol's view, will only benefit "two very specific groups that do not represent the social majority" in the Balearics - the hotel and holiday rental sectors.
The PP have argued, not without justification, that it was the Armengol government when Biel Barceló of Més was tourism minister (in 2017), who brought about a large growth in the number of accommodation places. Principally for the holiday rental sector, it is these that are at the centre of the row. It should be pointed out that Barceló didn't invent these places, as there was provision for them under existing legislation.
Nevertheless, Armengol says that by removing the moratorium on accommodation places, introduced by her government in 2022, there will be a "perpetuation" of 145,000 more places on the market - 96,000 were temporarily regularised by Barceló but were on the verge of disappearing, and the rest that were still active but affected by the moratorium.
Ferran Rosa of Més explains that Barceló measures included a "two-for-one" mechanism for the exchange of accommodation places - obtain one and two must go - as well as an "amortisation" of places not acquired through the exchange system. By eliminating these, there will be a "consolidation" of the number of places.
He adds that urban planning exemption for hotels envisaged by the decree amounts to a continuation of the "plundering of territory" and does not imply "growth in quality". "While the government is engaged in an exercise of smoke and mirrors, the people of Mallorca are the ones who suffer the collapse day after day, year after year, on the streets, roads, beaches, and everywhere else."
The general secretary of the CCOO union in the Balearics, José Luís García, does at least recognise the government's intention. "It is good to try not to grow, but it is not enough. There is a more than obvious problem with overcrowding, so we must begin to regulate this issue differently." In his opinion the supply of accommodation places must be reduced.
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There will be no more rental places for locals until the law changes in favour of the owners. Until then it's a pie in the sky.