All parties, except the PSOE, are demanding a 350 million euro road agreement in Mallorca

PalmThe Consell de Mallorca, together with representatives of MÉS por Mallorca, El Pi, Vox and the PP, have signed a joint initiative for to demand that the state government approve a new highway agreement which would allow investment of up to 350 million euros in the island's road infrastructure. The PSOE is the only group not participating in the request.

The initiative will be formalized through a motion signed by the four parties, which will be debated in the plenary session of the Consell Insular next Thursday. It will also be presented in the Congress of Deputies, the Senate, the Balearic Parliament, and the town halls of Mallorca.

With this agreement, the Consell de Mallorca is demanding that the central government release the outstanding funding from the road agreement signed in 2007 and settled in December 2021. According to the island institution, 230 million euros remain unpaid, which, after updating the planned projects, would now amount to 350 million.

The island president thanked the political parties supporting the initiative for putting the interests of Mallorca's citizens above political rivalries and argued that the island needs an agreement similar to the one the central government has with the Canary Islands to finance road infrastructure.

"Mallorca doesn't want to be better than anyone else."

Galmés recalled that the central government signed an agreement with the Canary Islands that includes state contributions of between 200 and 250 million euros annually until 2030. "Mallorca doesn't want to be more than anyone else, but neither does it want to be less in terms of funding," he added. According to the Popular Party leader, the requested resources would not be allocated to new major infrastructure projects, but rather to improving the existing road network, with actions aimed at reinforcing safety, modernizing roads, and facilitating traffic flow without increasing land use. Among the planned investments are improvements to the Ma-20 ring road, work on interchanges and bypasses for municipalities such as Inca, Artà, and Campanet, the construction of roundabouts, and the implementation of park-and-ride plans and civic roads.

The meeting was attended by members of parliament and senators José Vicente Marí, Martí Àngel Torres, Joan Mesquida, Maria Salom, Carlos Simarro, and Cristóbal Marqués (PP), as well as Vicenç Vidal (MÁS) and Jorge Campos (Vox). Also present were the spokespeople for the Consell (Island Council) Caterina Perelló (MÁS per Mallorca), Antoni Sales (El Pi), Toni Gili (Vox), and Núria Riera (PP), in addition to the island's head of Territory, Mobility, and Infrastructure, Fernando Rubio.

The PSIB accuses the Council of "partisanship"

For its part, the PSIB-PSOE has accused the president of the Council of Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, of playing politics and confronting the central government with the motion. The party criticized Galmés for, in its view, having done nothing in three years to secure infrastructure funding and for refusing to reach a consensus on the mobility proposals put forward by the Socialists.

The PSIB spokesperson in the Consell, Catalina Cladera, explained that her group did not participate in drafting the motion or in the round of meetings with members of parliament and senators, considering the initiative "incomplete and failing to address Mallorca's real mobility challenges." Cladera indicated that the Socialists are not opposed to demanding the outstanding funding from the road agreement that expired in 2022, but argued that the proposal should include measures related to public transport, such as strengthening the train service, the Balearic Islands Transport (TIB) service, and reviving projects like the section-by-section road improvement project.