The Madrid City Council approved on October 29 the modification of the Municipal Markets Ordinance, thanks to the absolute majority of the Popular Party in plenary session. The government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida defended the changes to the standard approved in 2010 with three main arguments: flexibility, management autonomy and adaptation to new consumption habits. “There is space for recreational and social activities such as parades and concerts, as well as tastings and tastings, which can occupy up to 50% of the common space,” highlighted the Town Hall in a press release sent to the media.
The new legislation increases the maximum surface area for tasting or consuming food both in the premises (up to 25% of the surface area of the sales room or 30 square meters) and in common areas (50% of the total surface area of the premises ) . common areas, with a maximum of 25 square meters for each hospitality or business establishment with tasting on the market). Musical performances, presentations, parades and other recreational and educational activities can be organized, as well as product and responsible consumption promotions, tastings, vending machines and ATMs.
Hours are extended in the same way, “always adapted to the general interest of the market and the regulations in force” according to the Municipal Executive. The order now authorizes contracts for the transfer of the right to use premises, for a maximum duration of one year, in addition to facilitating entry into new concessions for traders who are developing their activity on the market. The transfer of the exercise of the activity without transfer of ownership of the premises is also prohibited. Finally, the installation of infrastructure for electric vehicle charging in the parking area and in the storage areas for bicycles and zero-emission urban mobility vehicles is facilitated.
Two major debates: direct or indirect management and tourism or proximity model
The municipal groups of Más Madrid and PSOE voted against, after their respective amendments were rejected in full and most of their partial amendments. “We are changing the model,” says the deputy spokesperson of the Municipal Socialist Group, Enma López. “What we want is for the Town Hall to get involved in municipal markets with support and investment, so that traders do not have to face unaffordable expenses that they are not responsible for covering “, he explains. He defends a management in which “the concessionaires are in constant coordination and involvement with the Town Hall”, even if the character remains indirect.
Más Madrid city councilor Sara Ladra, also spokesperson for training at the Economy, Innovation and Finance Commission, is just as contrary: “The changes go against the idea of municipal markets as an essential service to citizens , contrary to the nature of the order. . which was to protect small businesses, social cohesion and neighborhood life.” The danger, he says, is that they become “places for leisure and events, expanding tasting spaces and organizing parades or concerts unrelated to products or food.”
The changes go against the idea of municipal markets as an essential service to citizens, against the nature of the ordinance which was to protect small businesses, social cohesion and neighborhood life.
Ladra warns of the danger that “markets end up becoming bars, they are no longer grocery stores and it becomes less and less local.” López, with nuances, goes in the same direction: “I don’t think it’s bad that these spaces are energized by other activities, but food markets must be promoted and protected.” To this end, the PSOE of Madrid is committed to promoting trade schools (butchery, fishmongers or charcuterie) with the creation of a municipal school.
Another measure in an educational and training sense, in this case incorporated by the Town Hall after accepting the socialist amendment, is the creation of kitchen rooms in educational centers to learn how to cook and manage gender. “It’s a way of encouraging generational change in this type of profession, so that closed shutters are reopened, but also so that the audiences of these markets are renewed,” explains López. School excursions or promotion of municipal commitment to demonstration kitchens which serve as a neighborhood meeting point on weekends go in the same direction.
“If the hotel industry is the chosen model, we propose to tend to separate activities as is already the case in Chamberí, with a specific catering area”, explains Enma López as a solution to “certain coexistence problems that the Town hall cannot ignore. “hands.” This concerns, for example, the arrangement of tables and chairs in restaurants which obstruct corridors, loading and unloading areas or emergency exits. In this sense, Ladra maintains that “if there are empty premises in these markets, a good option would be to give them to neighborhood associations and other activities necessary in these environments, and not to install a store there . locker for tourists to drop off their suitcases.
Ladra explains that the loss of identity is also explained by the management model: “The ordinance allows, on the one hand, direct management, in which the Town Hall delegates to a professional manager but always with public service criteria . And on the other hand, indirect, through a third party (often merchant associations) who hire this manager to follow only profitability criteria.
Given the increase in tourism or the absence of generational change in the traditional professions of these companies, this exclusively economic objective leads, according to him, to the expansion of tasting spaces as opposed to local commerce: “This does not will only get worse now that 50% of markets are authorized to be dedicated to tasting and hours are extended for this parallel leisure activity, in the form of concerts or parades.
“The mayor, in announcing the changes to the ordinance, has already spoken about this demand for recreation and tourism. But we cannot put all public facilities at the service of performance and profitability, the one who loses is the citizen who is deprived of public service,” denounces Ladra. “But the fact is that, even from the economic profitability, we see that there are markets like that of barley that do not work with this bet either,” adds the mayor.
Barcelona: a bigger investment with more funds that has an impact on consumption
For López, the model to follow is that of Barcelona, where “the Municipal Institute of Markets has a person dedicated to each market, who works face-to-face with the manager and supports the traders”. And he adds: “What we want is for the Town Hall to exercise its responsibility on the markets. In a rental apartment, it is unthinkable that the tenant would have to pay to renovate a roof, but this is what many traders in municipal markets currently have to assume. “We do not want direct management, nor do we want to make a butcher a civil servant, as we have been told.”
In a rental apartment, it is unthinkable that the tenant would have to pay to renovate a roof, but this is what many traders in municipal markets currently have to assume.
“I would like the markets to be a city pact, that we build them together, but I see that this is not the case,” laments the socialist councilor. “In Barcelona, 30% of fresh produce purchases are made in municipal markets. In Madrid, this percentage is 7%,” he emphasizes to support his commitment to a management format similar to that of Barcelona.
Beyond the model, López calls for increased funding. Barcelona City Council has invested 100 million euros in four years in the city’s 39 municipal markets (more than 2.5 million on average), compared to 48 million in Madrid for its 45 markets (just over a million for each district).
For the councilor, it is a question of quantity, but also of financing methodology: “While in Barcelona direct aid prevails, in Madrid it is achieved through subsidies. And we already know that those who ask for it the most are usually those who need it the least, those who have more resources and knowledge. This gives rise to the establishment of first and second class markets based on the private concessionaire.
