Galmés vindicates the limitation of vehicles in Mallorca at the Parliament: "Let us recover the trust of the citizens"

PalmaThe president of the Council of Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, appeared this Tuesday at the Parliament plenary session to defend the law to limit the entry of vehicles to Mallorca. "We are recovering the trust of citizens, tired of years of unfulfilled promises," he claimed from the rostrum. This regulation, which begins its processing in Parliament today, starts without any party against it. All parties except Vox, which abstained, have voted in favor of its consideration. But for it to reach the Chamber, Galmés had to overcome some obstacles. In the final year of the legislature, the approval of this initiative is now his main electoral card. Therefore, he has asked for it to be approved "as quickly as possible" so that it comes into force "next season".

Galmés has defended the regulation, which will establish a maximum for the entry of vehicles registered outside the Islands. "It is time to put the residents of this island first, the people from here, the Majorcans," he claimed, and argued that "no one ever" had dared to regulate the entry of vehicles into Majorca. "I said it at the beginning of the term: our hand will not tremble," he assured.

The main obstacle that the PP encountered in pushing the initiative forward in the Council was Vox, its governing partner. The far-right rejected limiting Spaniards from outside the Islands from entering with their vehicle. This proposal clashes with one of the essential elements of this party's discourse, which is centralism and equality between territories. That is why the party blocked the initiative in the Council of Majorca for months, until finally, the PP moved it forward with the support of the left. But despite the opposition of Manuela Cañadas's party to the regulation, the party has finally opted for abstention and, therefore, at this moment no party is against its approval.

Galmés entered Parliament accompanied by his island councilors, but not those from Vox, who did not attend the plenary session. The Vox spokesperson in Parliament, Manuela Cañadas, explained that they "frontally reject the tax-collecting and restrictive urge towards citizens." However, she also admitted that "Majorcans are fed up, tired, of going out on the road at 7 in the morning and enduring an hour of traffic jams to take the children to school or get to work." "Precisely because the problem is real and very serious, Vox will not vote against this law, it will abstain," she said, in addition to arguing that the processing of the law is an opportunity to debate it, even though the party does not share its solutions.

The left as a bloc has announced its vote in favor of the initiative, but has not spared criticism towards the PP. The deputy and PSIB candidate for the Council, Amanda Fernández, reproached the popular bench that the limitation of vehicles in Menorca has been left "in a drawer," in addition to insisting that the previous government had already prepared it. Regarding Mallorca, she considered that the law "arrives late, because it has been used for strategy": "It is an electoral calculation to make it look like they are doing something when they have done nothing." For his part, the MÉS per Mallorca deputy Ferran Rosa also questioned that the PP has "taken three years" to approve the regulations. "They want a law so that it is not applied and to be able to pin a medal on themselves," he retorted.

The PP expects the law to limit the entry of vehicles into Mallorca to be definitively approved in Parliament between October and November and to come into force during the next tourist season. In his speech, Galmés recalled the data from the first load study prepared during this mandate: "In 2023, nearly 400,000 vehicles entered through our ports, which represents 108% more compared to the year 2017".

The bill establishes that the Council of Mallorca may set, on an annual or biennial basis, the maximum ceiling of vehicles with authorization for entry and stay in Mallorca. A maximum number of rental vehicles in circulation will also be established, in addition to a tax with deterrent effects for vehicles that do not pay taxes in Mallorca. The president of the Council has also championed the limitation that was approved in Ibiza in November 2024. "During the first year of the regulation's application, the number of vehicles entering the island was reduced by 35,000," he said.