Bolaños accepts that the co-management of airports be debated: who has convinced him?

PalmaOver the weekend, "highest-level" calls were made to defend the bill for the airport co-management of the Islands. Conversations that, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, have succeeded in getting the Spanish government to withdraw its veto on the regulation being debated in the Congress of Deputies. But who picked up the phone? The sovereignists of MÉS or Francina Armengol? On this, there are contradictory versions.

On one hand, MÉS per Mallorca, the party promoting the law, has attributed to itself the change in criteria by the Minister of the Presidency, Fèlix Bolaños, who has gone from blocking the initiative to allowing its processing. "We have demonstrated the weight we have in the Spanish state," defended their only deputy, Vicenç Vidal. According to sources from the eco-sovereigntists, the person who finally convinced Bolaños during the Council of Ministers meeting was the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, at the express request of Vidal.

However, on the other hand, the PSIB asserts that it is the President of the Congress, Francina Armengol, who stood her ground before the Moncloa. "She told the Spanish government that it had to lift this veto, and the government committed to it yesterday," claimed sources from her team. This has infuriated the general coordinator of MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, who complained on X: "That they now want to make people believe that the Spanish government has lifted the veto (...) due to the pressures of a party that harshly criticized the law (...) is an insult to intelligence".

The Ministry decided to block the debate on the law, among other issues, due to the economic impact it predicts it would have on Aena if it were approved. In a report, it explained the scenario it considers most likely: that, if they could decide on their airports, the parties of the Islands would choose to limit the number of flights and ticket prices, in a context of public protests against overcrowding. This, it calculated, would cause a drop in "Aena's aeronautical revenues" ofbetween 32.5 and 32.9 million euros.

And the PSIB? When the regulation was voted on in Parliament –a prior step to reaching Congress– it abstained. Furthermore, the deputy spokesperson of the parliamentary group, Marc Pons, aligned himself this very Monday with the position of the Spanish government, and asserted that the regulation had technical and legal flaws. He also showed himself in favor of exploring other formulas for the participation of territories in the management of airports, such as those being negotiated in the Basque Country and Catalonia.

But less than 24 hours later, sources from the same party have assured that Armengol defended in Madrid that the rule had to be admitted for processing regardless. According to Article 134.6 of the Constitution, only the Congressional Bureau can lift a government veto on a law. In this body, there are four representatives from the PP, three from the PSOE, and two from Sumar. MÉS assured that the latter two would vote to render the veto ineffective. The socialists justified the position of Pedro Sánchez's government. But on the other hand, the statements by President Marga Prohens suggested that the PP could end up joining forces with Sumar and lifting the blockade. "The PP wants the processing to continue," she assured after the party's parliamentary sessions.

Finally, Armengol has decided to withdraw this item from the agenda, and the Spanish government has yielded and backed down on the report. Shortly after, both the socialists and the eco-sovereigntists reopened their agendas, but now to communicate the decision to the media, with slightly different versions.