Marga Prohens: "If the slogan is 'El Trenc is not to be touched', I join in"

PalmaSummer once again puts Marga Prohens (Campos, 1982) before the main challenge of her term: tourist saturation. Two years after she promised "brave" containment measures, the street is mobilizing again. She speaks to ARA Balears in her office at the Consulate, where she defends the Executive's management.

Less than a year remains until the elections. What is more urgent to get done?

— Many things are urgent. In these three years, we have lowered all regional taxes that can be lowered, we have eliminated the one on Successions and Donations; we have made the entire 0-3 educational stage free, we have approved a Conciliation Law, historic investments for the improvement of transport, approved housing and administrative simplification laws. We have done exactly what we said we would do. There is still much to do.

A demonstration has been called at Trenc. Can you guarantee it won't be touched?

— If the demonstration is called under the slogan 'El Trenc must not be touched', I will join it. El Trenc must not be touched. I respect the mobilizations that are carried out peacefully. What happens is that precisely this one is not carried out about something that this Government has done or intends to do. I say it clearly: El Trenc must not be touched.

If it is not intended to be touched, for what purpose is the law being modified to make it easier to change its protection?

— With the same objective that the Left Pact modified this law for the rest of the 12 protected natural areas. What we are doing is that the regulation of Trenc is also modified by decree. It is not done behind anyone's back. It was understood in the last legislature, and we share it, that we must have more administrative agility for the modification of management plans. There is nothing to save, because Trenc is saved.

A new demonstration against overtourism will soon take place. Measures were promised, but they have not been noticed.

— I would like to go to the data, because they dismantle this narrative. The left's fear discourse has not been fulfilled. We have had demonstrations every summer. I respect them, but it is less respectable that those who caused this situation go. Eight years ago, no one talked about saturation: the PSIB only spoke of a "feeling" of saturation. I have been the first president who, sitting in the Government, which is the complicated part, has said that we had reached the limit. Not only have I said it, but we have put measures in place, and clearly they are noticeable. But the 115,000 places created by the Pact in the previous eight years are also noticeable.

Why don't you remove these squares?

— What have we done? Zero growth in tourist places. A Decree of tourist containment in which we prohibit new tourist apartments in all municipalities. Now, to add one place, you have to remove one. This is the ceiling. There is a decrease in tourist apartments, in illegal supply, and in tourist stays. There are 60,000 fewer places of illegal tourist rental apartments. Thanks to the decree, to completely coercive sanctions, and to agreements with the large platforms.

Tourism no longer only goes to hotels, but to luxury villas. They are known to be hidden tourist spots: why not limit their construction?

— If there are illegal tourist accommodations, there is a service for you to report them, with sanctions reaching up to 500,000 euros. No previous government had dared to implement them. Here, at a certain point, the decision was made to put an end to all-inclusive, and this led us to another model. That is why we have so much debate in the Pact for Sustainability: any decision has consequences. We must distance ourselves from the pressure and haste that certain sectors may have in order to think things through.

You have criticized the expansion of Aena, because it will bring more people. On the other hand, you are flexible and favor construction.

— This is false. What is a 'facto', as the young people would say, is that there is a pharaonic construction at Ibiza airport and we have found out about it through the media. Aena has not bothered to pick up the phone. The same is happening at Palma airport. As far as the territory is concerned, we have approved an extraordinary regularization of existing homes, against which no legal action can be taken, because the crime has expired. Then, we also need more housing. The uncontrolled demographic growth requires it, but not because more people are coming, but for those who already live here. There is no housing at a limited or protected price for people who cannot prove years of legal residence here. The purchase of housing by non-residents, although still a challenge, has decreased by 33% since the beginning of the legislature.

Why don't you limit the rent price?

— Because it doesn't work. We commissioned a report: it not only told us it didn't work, but it also warned of the rebound effect of applying the measure, which lasts two years. What will happen when this limitation ends? We see territories that have implemented it, like Catalonia. What is President Salvador Illa doing? He complies with the PSOE and limits prices, but, likewise, in general policy debates he talks about 'building, building and building'.

This report was highly questioned by other experts.

— If it worked, I would have limited it. We have limited it in another way. Any new housing built thanks to the Government's laws must be at a limited price. We have 5,000 new limited-price homes being built under the first Housing Decree Law. In Palma, thanks to the Law on Strategic Residential Projects, we have 5,000 new homes in the pipeline. All of them come with two premises: for the local people and 30% or 50% below market price.

Building in Palma has a problem: there is a lack of water, and the new desalination plant may not be enough.

— The key is the desalination plant. But I insist: it is not about construction for more population. When we put the limitation and the Balearic priority on access to housing, it is because we know that it is not for new people to come, but for the people who already live here.

You are against the regularization of many migrants who already live here.

— The Supreme Court said it conflicts with European law. The mantra that ‘however, they are already here’ is not true. Family regroupings will now begin. What I can guarantee is the pull effect of this policy in a territory like ours, limited. Demographic growth is completely out of control. Immigration also means a loss of our identity. I have always said: regular immigration linked to a work contract, with a commitment to integration, to respect our laws, our languages and traditions, and equality between men and women.

The "call effect" is not the economic model? People come because they have jobs.

— The objective of the Pact for Sustainability is the transformation of an labor-intensive economic model. Our Islands can no longer take any more. This does not transform overnight. The ParcBit improvement project, the administrative revolution of less taxes and bureaucracy, the Law for the acceleration of strategic projects, not designed for tourism, are moving in this direction.

The import of waste from Ibiza is imminent. What environmental sense does it make?

— And what do we do with Ca na Putxa? Do we make another landfill? We must aspire to Islands with zero landfills. What we cannot do is say that this is an Ibiza problem: I am the president of all the islands. Ibiza has a first-rate environmental problem. We see the fires that occur every year in the landfills of Menorca and Ca na Putxa. We have a treatment plant in Mallorca that can assume these residues. After so many years of progressive governments in Formentera, it has been my government that has closed the landfill. For these, is there no human chain?

When Menorca's landfill reaches its limit, will we also receive its waste?

— Menorca is in another situation. It has not been considered.

In this legislature, hundreds of public positions have been opened without the requirement of Catalan. If the language is not defended, how can it survive?

— No government has defended it more than mine. To defend our own language, spending ceilings and budgets have fallen, and laws have fallen. It is not only what has been done, but what has been avoided. I will always prioritize management over ideology: that there be five oncologists in Ibiza, that there be a sixth, and I will give them the tools so that they can learn Catalan when they are here. That the students of Formentera can have a Mathematics teacher and then, to consolidate the position, we will require Catalan from them.

Will Vox support the coastal and agrarian laws?

— We had a legislative agreement that Vox unilaterally broke in all communities. From here, we have been negotiating law by law. We have been talking about the coastal law. I trust in the support of Vox, but also of other parties. The State Coastal Law, drafted in an office on the M-30 in Madrid, is a direct attack on our coastline. For the first time, we have our own law. Regarding the agrarian law, it has been drafted with the sector and can have broad support.

You have equated the regulation of the xibius to the more lenient state Coastal Law.

— It was an anomaly not to do it, in this case. I want to deny that it is a modification made by the Trenc. For other parts of the territory, like Muro, it was unfair and detrimental. They have let us know.

Will access to the Serra de Tramuntana be closed for the eclipse on August 12th?

— We are not ruling anything out. These are technical decisions, but whatever is necessary will be made in each place. We have not treated the eclipse as a tourist attraction, but as the management of an emergency. We know that August 12th is a moment of maximum human pressure.

The latest electoral poll leaves you on the verge of an absolute majority.

— Four years ago I asked for a majority to be able to govern alone. We showed that it was possible. Now I ask for an absolute majority of stability, so as not to be in a blocking situation like the one we see in Andalusia, of noise or of decisions that are not always made here.

Francina Armengol will finally not run in the regional elections.

— It has taken them three years to accept the electoral results. Francina Armengol is not running, but she is not leaving, and she is dictating who her successors will be. They have not engaged in self-criticism. She is forced to leave by regional, general, and European results, and because she is surrounded by corruption cases. She has already said she wants to remain privileged in Congress. It is not a trivial matter.