Menorca modifies for the third time the Law of the reserve to be able to limit the entry of vehicles in 2027

PalmaThe Biosphere Reserve Law, which was supposed to compensate Menorca for the capital status recognized for Mallorca and Ibiza, will be modified again without having been practically applied in its first three years of validity. Reduced by the Urgent Measures Law of 2024 —first— and by the coastal law announced for this autumn —later—, now the Menorca Council itself will modify it.

Although at the last minute, the Popular Party government on the Menorcan Council has decided to apply from next summer the restriction on vehicle entry that is already in force or being processed on the other islands. Although it has had an autonomous law since 2023 that empowers it to set limits on cars entering Menorca, the Reserve Law has not taken advantage of it in the last three years. On the contrary, it claims that the measure is inapplicable and, for this reason, on the 31st it brings to plenary approval a modification of the law that will make it possible.

The proposal, which will be decided in an informative committee this Tuesday, justifies the need to modify the law to “incorporate aspects that, by their nature, must necessarily be regulated by a higher-ranking norm”. These are elements “that are not foreseen in the current regulation and that cannot be regulated by a purely regulatory norm”.

However, former legal advisor Mateu Martínez, the first civil servant in the Council's history and one of the technicians who participated in the drafting of the law, disagrees. “The law already empowered the Council, through regulations, to establish all the necessary aspects for its application. The only aspect that, in any case, required legal provision —he says— was the sanctioning regime”.

In any case, the modification now being promoted will prevent more than 120,000 vehicles from being on the island at the same time. The load study delivered to the Council a year ago counted 122,170 vehicles, of which 86,023 were residents and 36,147 were foreigners. According to the report, the island has gone from having 75,000 cars to 86,023 in seven years, and in July and August it supports an average of 9,000 rental vehicles, while at the end and beginning of the year there are only between 1,500 and 2,000. So the conclusion is that “the ceiling of vehicles recommended for the island to curb saturation on the roads is 120,000 vehicles”. That is to say, access for just over 2,000 must be prevented on peak summer days, a limit that the opposition has described as insufficient to avoid congestion on the island network, but which the PP government has politically assumed to follow in the footsteps of Formentera, which in 2023 was the first island to establish limitations. “Subsequently —the proposal emphasizes— a similar measure has been implemented in Ibiza and, recently, the Consell de Mallorca has approved a bill” in the same vein.

In Menorca, vehicles of residents, owners of a dwelling, those who prove the need to travel to the island for professional reasons, transporters, agricultural machinery, those driven by people with reduced mobility, and official and public service vehicles will be exempt from this control.

To decide which ones enter and which ones do not, the average volume of activity that each company has developed in Menorca in the last three years, the fact that they incorporate electric or non-polluting vehicles, and the number of applications accumulated by each company will be taken into account.

The proposal makes it very clear that restricting access does not violate the freedom of movement of goods or the principle of free competition for companies in the sector, as “it will occur in a similar way for all operators dedicated to the vehicle rental business”. Authorized vehicles will have to carry an accreditation or graphic badge that is clearly visible from the outside and, even, pay a fee.

Cooperation with shipping companies

The shipping companies will collaborate with the Council in its inspection task, as they will have to communicate monthly the registrations of all vehicles that embark or disembark on the island each day. In fact, cameras have already been installed in the ports of Ciutadella and Maó to facilitate this surveillance.

The sanctioning regime considers it a minor offense not to display the badge in a visible place, which could be fined up to 3,001 euros. Accessing and remaining on the island without authorization, manipulating or falsifying the accreditation, and failing to inform the Administration of the operational fleet will be treated as serious offenses, liable to fines of 25,000 euros. Very serious offenses, which could increase the amount up to 100,000 euros, are: failing to request authorization annually for each vehicle and carrying more than permitted.

For the measure to be applicable, the law must first be amended, then a regulation must be approved, and finally, the ceiling or maximum number of vehicles that can be authorized to enter the island must be set annually or biennially.

From the initial approval, next Monday, a public information period of no less than 20 days will be opened to formulate allegations, and a mandatory report will be requested from the town councils and administrations. Once received, in October, the Council will have a maximum of six months to submit the proposal for final approval. If the deadlines are met, finally, in the spring of 2027, the vehicle restriction could be effective.