Iago Negueruela: "Martínez is the architect of the latest Balearization"

PalmaThe general secretary of the Palma Socialist Group, Iago Negueruela, has been proclaimed the PSOE candidate for the mayoralty of Palma for the municipal elections of 2027. He has gone from being the right-hand man of the Government of Francina Armengol and head of the Parliamentary Group to leading the party – since March 2025 – in the capital of the Balearic Islands. He assures that he is taking the step towards municipal politics because he considers that "Palma is not well" and defends that a change of course is needed after three years of PP government with Vox.

Why are you taking the step and running for mayor of Palma?

— Palma is the city where I have lived the longest. I came from regional politics and wanted to change because, when you see that Palma is not doing well, it motivates you to try to contribute your bit. The policies of the PP with Vox have been especially hard on the city.

What party did you find when you took over the General Secretariat of the PSOE of Palma?

— We are a democratic party, of congresses and of debate. We have made a change that is now a reality and we have an absolutely united party. In the primaries, only I ran and I felt the whole party behind me. There are many people eager to row to change the City.

There were sectors that questioned this remodeling. Do you consider this process closed?

— Yes. Anyone could run in the primaries, as has happened in many other places. Here no one wanted to. I feel supported by the party and I often speak with the previous general secretaries. Disagreement does not worry me. The one who seems most worried about disagreement is the mayor Jaime Martínez. We have a mayor who censors parties, gets rid of initiatives like Flexas' and the Sopar a la Llesca, Canamunt and Canavall, and even organizes an alternative party to Pride because he doesn't like its organizers. In the end, he ends up becoming a public censor.

What mistake by José Hila's government would you not repeat?

— With hindsight, there are always things you could have done differently. I also think that about decisions I made as a councilor. But many things were done well. Now it's time to look to the future. José Hila and Toni Noguera were the first in Spain to prohibit tourist rentals in multi-family buildings, and that was a very powerful municipal government.

Do you think you will win back the disappointed electorate?

— When we go through the neighborhoods, people ask us above all for change. Citizen mobilizations are against the current governments, even if the PP wants to deny it. Citizen mobilization is against them, against their lies. We promoted the first tourist moratorium in Europe, we limited cruises, we approved the law against excess tourism and we created the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS). Afterwards we can assess if it was necessary to go deeper, which is where we would have gone, if we hadn't lost the elections. However, the PP has eliminated or deactivated a large part of these measures.

— It has also allowed the creation of a pool of 90,000 tourist rental places that would have disappeared with us. Now they can be commercialized and this favors speculation. With housing, they have also refused to apply the limitation of rental prices. When in 2023 the state regulations were modified to enable the limitation of prices, the PP said that it did not want to limit rental prices. People are tired of empty promises.

Can Palma continue to grow urbanistically with the water problems it has?

— Palma needs to build housing. The General Plan that Hila made with Truyol planned growth, but we need to see what kind of growth it is. The problem is what housing is being built. Promotions with protected housing have been replaced by more expensive promotions to increase developers' profits. Furthermore, facilities such as day centers and educational and sports spaces are being removed.

Should climate change be a municipal priority?

— For more than a month we have been living in a situation of extreme heat and this City Council has not taken measures so that residents have climate shelters. This is what happens when you govern hand in hand with Vox, which is a climate change denier. If you are with people who believe the Earth is flat, then of course, you have a problem. It is a real problem that has very serious consequences for health.

The PP accuses Armengol's Government of having created more than 100,000 tourist places. What is your response?

— Jaime Martínez is the architect of the latest Balearicization. When he was in government, as Minister of Tourism with José Ramón Bauzá, he designed a regulation that allowed hotels to grow in capacity. When we arrived in 2015, there were already thousands of registered files and they could not be stopped.

— He was also responsible for the explosion of vacation rentals between 2011 and 2015. He was the tourism architect who enabled the biggest explosion of places in our history, not only in Mallorca; also in Ibiza and Menorca. His firm, moreover, participated in many hotel renovations. It is totally legitimate, but it is also legitimate to recognize what role he played.

— During our term, we must have done something right when the Hotel Federation criticized us and Habtur almost declared me persona non grata because they said we were putting 90,000 places at risk. The PP has finally consolidated them and turned them into a speculative asset.

Are you going to the demonstration against mass tourism?

— I have no problem going to demonstrations. I've been doing it since I was five years old, when I went with my father to a protest against NATO. Everyone has the right to demonstrate and also to criticize.

How do you rate Rosario Sánchez as a candidate to preside over the Government?

— She has the Balearic Islands in mind, knows the needs of the autonomous community perfectly, believes in public services and is very prepared. I am convinced that she would make braver decisions than those Marga Prohens is making now.

And what role does Francina Armengol play?

— She is the general secretary of the party and one of the most important figures in the PSOE, both in the Balearic Islands and in Spain. There is no one better to represent the interests of the Islands.

Personal questions

How has your relationship with Catalan evolved?

— Many people think I am a Spanish speaker, but I was educated in Galician. For me, it was an obligation to learn Catalan because official languages must be protected, understood, and respected. I speak very fast and I would like to be able to speak Catalan at the same speed as I speak Spanish.

Do you also use it in private life?

— Yes. I have asked friends not to switch languages when they speak to me. Colloquial speech gives you other registers that political discourse does not. I also use it when I go shopping at the market because it is a way to learn vocabulary, in this case, vegetables and fruits. A language is the gateway to the rest of the culture.

What do you hear, what do you see, and what do you read?

— Since I was little, with my parents, I have always listened to singer-songwriters. I also listen to Extremoduro and Arde Bogotá. Now, at home, Bad Bunny also plays. The last movie I saw is Nuremberg; these days I have also followed the World Cup and the Tour. Of series, I have the last chapter of Secret Service left. And now I am reading Lessons, by Ian McEwan.

What do you do when you're not doing politics?

— I try to do a lot of sports, especially cycling and running. Last year I participated in a couple of competitions and today I did 68 kilometers by bike. I also like to cook. My specialty is Galician cooking, but I also have a couple of very good recipes with artichokes.

One last question: if you could pass a single law tomorrow, what would it be?

— The absolute priority is housing. We must evolve the regulations so that it is a real right. The Constitution says many things about the right to housing, but they are not being applied.