After a tense debate in the Balearic Parliament around the autonomous administrative simplification law, adopted this Tuesday and which will legalize housing on rural land, the PP mistakenly validated more than 30 amendments from Vox which go beyond of its own measures and which brings Balearic regulations back to previous decades in environmental matters and the standardization of the Catalan language on the islands. Following this decision, the people demanded that the vote on the law approved on Tuesday be repeated, but the far-right party opposed it. It is for this reason that the Government has announced that, as soon as the regulations are published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB), it will approve a decree-law that will prevent the entry into force of the proposals incorporated in error.
Among the amendments introduced and proposed by those of Santiago Abascal are the removal of Catalan in public service and the authorization to build in areas of maximum protection, in addition to being able to build in areas of coastal easement, legalizing golf courses and return to the areas of equality and gender identity in education. After Vox refused to repeat the vote, the economic vice-president of the Executive, Antoni Costa, immediately announced the approval of a decree which invalidates the amendments, approved, he clarified several times, for “human error”.
On the other hand, the administrative simplification decree will legalize and build houses on rural lands, as proposed by the PP government, including those located built in areas at risk of flooding while awaiting the approval of another decree-law which prevents this and which will prohibit new constructions in these places – while authorizing the carrying out of works in those already built, including those aimed at avoiding overflows -. The measure was strongly criticized by the opposition, who see it as a “break in consensus” on urban planning discipline in the islands as well as a succession of policies of “perversion and territorial abuse” promoted by former popular presidents. Gabriel Canellas, Jaume Matas And Jose Ramon Bauzaof which, in the words of the deputy of Més per Mallorca Maria Ramon, the current leader of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, is “a worthy successor”.
During the tense debate held this Tuesday in the Balearic Parliament, the Minister of the Presidency and Public Administrations, Antònia Maria Estarellas, however asked the left “not to criminalize the PP for having put people’s lives in danger.” “I don’t think that’s the debate or the meaning of this decree that we want to advance,” he said.
In turn, the socialist deputy Mercedes Garrido criticized the fact that this law actually seeks to benefit private companies, which will be “favored” by the abolition of the Balearic Environment Commission, legalization “à la carte” of the industrial zone of the Majorcan municipality of Campos – whose irregular situation motivated an arduous investigation by the defunct Anti-Corruption Office, a complaint now in the hands of the Public Prosecutor’s Office – and the “legalization of businesses in the hands of speculators, Who see the prices of their housing increase.
“Curiously, government interests always lead to Campos,” Garrido slipped. And, among other episodes that affect this core, the Ministry of Justice put an end in 2013 to one of the territorial attacks that generated the most impact in Mallorca, linked to the construction of up to 68 apartments, d ‘a swimming pool and an illegal restaurant. to His. Covetes, at the end of the virgin beach of Es Trenc. The license was granted irregularly in April 1992.
The PSIB-PSOE: “The PP will go down in history for having broken the consensus”
At one point in his speech, Garrido recriminated that, this Tuesday, the PP bench “will go down in history” for having “broken the consensus” around the discipline of urban planning by allowing the construction of developments and ‘public facilities in risk areas, which the vice president of the government, Antoni Costa, and the popular spokesperson of the Parliament, Sebastià Sagreras, have disgraced him from their respective seats, the socialist addressed this last to reproach him for having yet another turn to intervene by challenging him: “Be courageous and come here!”
Immediately afterwards, he accused the people of “coming to talk about poor families who will be able to make renovations because of leaks, while they are going to legalize the chalets and Sagreras knows it well, because they are all in his town.” “, he said. Precisely, the PP spokesperson was mayor of Campos when the city hall promoted the reform of the subsidiary regulations of the municipality to declare the land of Ses Covetes developable, despite the successive judicial resolutions issued in favor of the demolition of the apartments in one of the longest legal proceedings. battles of memory in the islands (nearly two decades in the hands of the courts).
With the approval of the Administrative Simplification Law, Garrido complained that it would “disproportionately” increase urban pressure on the territory through the regularization of “houses with tropical gardens, swimming pools and tennis courts” and would increase tourist pressure on the natural landscape. the environment through “the construction of parking lots on beaches and excessive water consumption”. “Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, but this law looks backwards,” he stressed.
In this sense, the parliamentarian deplored that, “without the misfortune” that occurred in the Valencian Community following the DANA which devastated several municipalities at the end of October and left more than 200 dead, “today , it would be completely normal to build in flood zones, legalize and reform illegal houses. And despite this, they will allow work to be carried out in flood-prone areas.” “Today, the PP is saying to citizens who have done things well: ‘you are stupid’.”
Podemos: “The decree will favor the usual thanks to tailor-made urban planning”
For her part, Unidas Podemos MP Cristina Gómez Cristina Gómez criticized the fact that with this measure, “urban planning is favored” and “the usual are favored through à la carte urban planning.” “And this is no way of speaking: everyone who has houses that should be reserved for farmers is suddenly a big asshole. “They abolished the Environment Commission, considering it a political body and replaced it with a single political position.”
Likewise, the parliamentarian of Més for Mallorca, Maria Ramon, criticized the fact that the decree will be “the open bar for the massive destruction of the territory”, while Josep Castells, of Més for Menorca, deplored that this Tuesday will be ” » a very sad day. for ecological balance and the fight against climate change[e Balears“, acusando además al PP de estar ”en manos de negacionistas climáticos [en alusión a Vox]. Instead of moving forward, we are going backwards,” he stressed.
In fact, the deputy spokesperson for the PSIB-PSOE, Marc Pons, spoke about it at another point in the debate: “Who does the PP need? To the deputies who fled, let us pursue this policy with them. Thanks to the vote of the defector deputies, and it is already a democratic setback. They missed an extraordinary opportunity. “They disguise it as administrative simplification, when it is legislative deregulation.”
The Government: “The situation of helplessness is not caused by the PP”
On the government side, the Vice President and Minister of Economy, Finance and Innovation, Antoni Costa, assured that “no house that cannot guarantee its safety in the event of a meteorological emergency will be legalized in a risk zone”, as he declared during his speech. » asked Mercedes Garrido and Marc Pons, who criticized the “hidden interests” of the decree-law.
For her part, Councilor Estarellas assured that she understands “the concern of all, but the situation of helplessness towards our citizens is not caused by the PP but by all those who have had responsibilities in the government, especially in municipalities. “It hurts me, but the brand that preceded Més per Mallorca, the PSM, in Santa Maria, was for many years at the top of the ranking of permits for illegal works on rural land,” he said , “so I think the Santamarians” “They will be happy, at some point, to be able to try to legalize something.” “We’re a little bit lost in this debate about what the political acronyms are,” he said.
In this sense, he concluded that faced with this type of buildings “we cannot do anything or try to do anything to improve and that everything that involves improving, legalizing and protecting people is responsibility of all.
