The Council halts part of the 84 million aid due to technical errors and sparks opposition criticism

PalmaThe Consell de Mallorca has decided to halt, for the moment and for technical reasons, part of the aid package to confront the economic effects derived from the war in Iran. This involves 17.5 million euros that the government team had planned to incorporate into this year's budget through a credit modification charged to the surplus.

This item was to be debated in this Thursday's plenary session, but it has finally been withdrawn from the agenda. As reported by Última Hora and confirmed by Consell sources to Europa Press, the institution has opted to carry out a technical review of the document because there are "improvable" aspects.

The intention is to correct these issues to facilitate more agile access to the aid and approve the credit modification in an extraordinary plenary session as soon as possible.

This aid is part of the 84 million euro package announced last week by the president of the Consell, Llorenç Galmés, as part of the measures to address the economic impact of the conflict in the Middle East.

One part does go ahead

Despite the withdrawal of this item, the April plenary session will indeed debate another incorporation of remaining funds, in this case of 25.5 million euros. Of these, 13 million will be allocated entirely to the social shield to confront the warlike escalation.

Criticism for improvisation

The decision has generated misgivings among the main opposition parties, who accuse the governing team of having acted in haste. “It has been a surprise, because this morning we had an informative commission and they announced that they were withdrawing this item from the agenda because they had to finish a series of reports... the haste,” stated the spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Catalina Inés Perelló. The eco-sovereigntist warned that these 17.5 million will take longer to arrive because either “they were not well justified” or the governing team “has nothing done”.

Along the same lines, the spokesperson for the PSIB, Catalina Cladera, regretted the “improvised” withdrawal and attributed it to a “lack of planning and sensitivity”. The socialists have called for a new social shield proposal that is “real, complete, and inclusive”.

Furthermore, the PSIB has questioned the overall content of the package announced by Galmés. According to a statement, 60% of the 84 million corresponds to municipal investments that were already planned in the 2026 budgets.

Of the remainder, only the 17.5 million now withdrawn had been specified in specific measures, an amount they consider “totally insufficient to face the social situation”.

The three-year requirement, up in the air

One of the points included in the explanatory memorandum for the credit modification was the requirement for beneficiaries to prove three years of legal residence. For now, the Council has not clarified whether this requirement will be maintained or modified during the technical review.

The measure has been particularly criticized by the PSIB, which considers that it "reeks of racism" because it excludes part of the most vulnerable population. "There were aid worth nine million euros that excluded people for the mere fact of not meeting a minimum of three years of residence, a measure with a clear discriminatory undertone," denounced Cladera.

The socialists attribute this approach to the "influence" of Vox in the government team and point out that pressure from social entities could have been key in the withdrawal of the point.

Perelló also pointed in this direction and suggested that the decision to halt the credit modification could be linked to this requirement.