Non resident foreign home owners will only be allowed one vehicle as part of new legislation which is being planned by the Council of Mallorca to ease traffic gridlock on Mallorca roads. The vehicle must be registered at the Mallorca home with local road tax being paid.
The Council of Mallorca hope that the new legislation will be able to be introduced by next year once legislation has been approved. Their report states that there is a surplus of between 90,000 and 120,000 vehicles on local roads and the network is too small to support the excess traffic.
The council also say that the new legislation will also halt the massive increase in foreign plated cars being driven on local roads. Over the last few months the Guardia Civil has launched a major crackdown on foreign registered vehicles.
According to official figures 324,000 vehicles entered the Balearics in 2023 and the number is continuing to grow.
Critics of the legislation will state that this is yet another sign that non-resident foreigners are being blamed for many of Mallorca's ills.
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RickEasy solution Rick ! But before stating the obvious, the number of cars coming to the island needs restricted. Only a fool could not see that, whether from Northern Europe or a 7 years old doing a sustainability project. So............ treble the ferry price for non spanish registered vehicles ( they can discount residents without EU interference) or hefty fines and impound those leaving who have been on the island longer than the allocated time. In fact lets get that down to maximum one month.
TCYou are missing the point and your comment on cars with foreign plates “presumably not being insured” is plain stupid. Under EU law there is free movement of people and goods. People pay (road) taxes somewhere one must assume. And while we are at it, Spain has been subsidised by us Northern European tax payers for decades so please…
Dysfunctional populist politicians spewing out what locals want to hear. Hoping this will ease the problem, which any sensible person knows it won’t. The place is a mess, corrupt, slow, inefficient and driven by their own futile little interests. Good luck!
One more remark : the proposals violate the principle of equality, which follows directly from Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Europe appears to be slipping into populism. EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, article 45 provides freedom of movement and of residence: 1. Every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. 2. Freedom of movement and residence may be granted, in accordance with the Treaties, to nationals of third countries legally resident in the territory of a Member State. This is one of the basic principles and foundations of the European Union. I wonder how much the Balearic authorities will pay in compensation to Balearia or Corsica Ferries for not being able to run ferry services. These companies have invested a great deal of money in ferries .
Good luck enforcing this when the police can't even stop people cycling through pedestrianised areas with clear 'No Bikes' signage.
Everyone is missing the point. Its about getting forgien plated cars off the road. I know people who have had their cars here for years, no road tax, insurance not covered ( i presume) and import tax avoided. Whether there are too many cars on the roads or not, the mostly German plated cars are not on a level playing field in regards to social and local contributions.
Legislation discriminating EEA citizens and banning EEA registered cars will violate EU law and be struck down by the EU.
tranq tranquer@TT: Germans are probably the single biggest group of foreign home owners, and Germany is a days' drive and a 6 hour ferry trip from Mallorca. You expect them to own an additional car to use a few months of the year? Do English people take the train or fly to their holiday homes in Wales or Scotland, and have another car waiting there for them?
This will not do much to relieve congestion but we can all see the major rise in foreign plated cars on our roads and the number plates are certainly not British ! 17th Länder here we come.