The Balearic Islands defy Madrid with a law to limit flights

PalmThe Parliament has already spoken for the twenty-first time in favor of airport co-management. But this Tuesday it has done so for the first time in a legislative initiative by MÉS per Mallorca and Més per Menorca. The bill has been approved with the favorable vote of the PP and the non-attached deputies, while the PSIB and Unides Podem have abstained and Vox has been the only group to vote against it. Now, the ball is in the Congress of Deputies, which will have to decide whether to process it. The deputy of MÉS per Mallorca Ferran Rosa, who defended the initiative, has criticized the socialists' abstention. "The strategy of Maurici Lucena (president of Aena), Óscar Puente (Minister of Transport) and Pedro Sánchez is to bring more and more flights in high season, more and more international connections, and to do absolutely nothing to guarantee connectivity," he lamented. Thus, he vindicated the objective of the initiative: "That the airports are at the service of the general interest".

The text approved this Tuesday must be sent to Congress, as this is the chamber that has the powers to modify the operation of airports. It proposes to add an additional provision to Royal Decree-Law 13/2010 so that the Islands participate in the management of their airports, "define and manage" airport infrastructures and also air policy. The role of the autonomous communities in this area is currently scarce: they are informed of the decisions made in the airport coordination committees, which is why Baleares claims "more capacity for participation and influence." Thus, the bill proposes that the functions of this committee be expanded, that regional institutions have more representation than state ones, and that the decisions made be binding. Furthermore, it requests that it meet whenever any of its members so requests, and at least twice a year.

Thus, if this law were approved in Congress, the committee would be composed of two representatives from the Government, four from the councils, three from the town halls of Palma, Mahón and San José, and five from unions, employers and chambers of commerce, as well as two representatives from the Spanish government, two from Aena and one from the government delegation in the Balearic Islands. To be able to move forward with this law with the support of the PP, MÉS per Mallorca and Més per Menorca have agreed to withdraw numerous articles from the text, which initially provided for the transfer of ownership and powers of the Balearic airports to the Administration, and the creation of a Balearic Airport Authority. "It is a great virtue that we have been able to reach an agreement," defended the spokesperson for Més per Menorca, Josep Castells: "There is something called representative democracy, we have brought a proposal of maximums and we have tried to get the maximum".In his speech, the Menorcan defended that the management model of airport infrastructure cannot be the same in the Peninsula and in the Balearic Islands. "Now the same criteria are applied to us, when our reality is not the same," he said, in addition to insisting on the need to take islandhood into account. Rosa, for her part, justified the importance of the law to combat the growth in the number of passengers and facilities, as well as the increase in flight prices. "We have no place in Aena's expansionist, extractivist and colonial strategy," she criticized. Meanwhile, on behalf of the PP, Margalida Pocoví considered that the Balearic Islands "cannot afford not to have a voice in the management of airports and resign themselves to being mere spectators of decisions that affect their future". "Aena is moving towards unlimited growth," she continued: "Co-management is not an option, it is a necessity".

Pons (PSIB): "The proposal is difficult to fit"

Pons (PSIB): "The proposal has a difficult fit"