Denounce the impact of the Omnibus Law on Palma's protected buildings: they could be converted into hotels

PalmaThe old listed manor houses can be transformed into hotels, MÉS per Palma denounced this Monday. The party regrets that the reservation of 25% of tourist places from the Consell de Mallorca's stock for protected buildings, a direct consequence of the Omnibus Law approved with the votes of the PP and Vox, already allows for the change of use. "This decision consolidates a model that prioritizes the tourism business over the right to housing, the preservation of heritage, and life in the neighborhoods," lamented the councilor of MÉS per Palma, Kika Coll.

"The Omnibus Law is already showing its effects. The PP and Vox modified the regulations to create new opportunities for the tourism business and today we see how buildings that are part of a neighborhood's life can become part of the tourism industry," stated Coll.

According to the eco-sovereigntist party, "The PP and Vox are coordinately promoting the same tourism growth model from all institutions: Parliament modifies the laws, the Council distributes the places and, in Palma, Mayor Jaime Martínez blindly obeys while the people of Palma suffer the consequences".Coll has also censured the lack of commitment of the municipal government to the protection of heritage. The councilor recalls that the Palma City Council, governed by the PP, "refused to expand the cataloging to protect more than 200 historic buildings of great heritage value". Now, MÉS per Palma warns, these properties "are even more vulnerable" to speculative pressure derived from the possibility of transforming them into tourist accommodations."Double irresponsibility"

"It is a double irresponsibility: first, they refuse to protect the heritage, and then they create incentives for it to become a tourist business. This is how neighborhoods are disfigured and our collective legacy is put at risk," Coll pointed out.The party has also criticized that the PP, in their opinion, only takes an interest in heritage when it is linked to tourism. "They reserve tourist places in historic buildings while an entire generation cannot stay to live in Palma. The PP and Vox protect the tourist business, not the right to housing or the living heritage of the city," remarked Coll.

What is the Omnibus Law?

The Omnibus Law, approved in June this year in Parliament, modifies about fifty regional regulations and introduces changes in areas such as housing, taxation, and language, among many others. The norm includes measures such as reinstating pigeon shooting, reserving Local Police positions for ex-military personnel, eliminating the Catalan language requirement for certain teachers, excluding newcomers from some public aid such as the Guaranteed Social Income, and facilitating the transfer of tons of waste from Ibiza to Mallorca.Precisely, MÉS per Mallorca and Més per Menorca have challenged the law before the Constitutional Court (TC), because they consider that it was approved irregularly by incorporating issues unrelated to the initial object of the norm. In parallel, MÉS per Mallorca has filed a second unconstitutionality appeal against the points that it considers violate citizens' "rights".