The announced reform of the Island Territorial Plan (PTI) will mark the first months of the year in Menorca, which faces 2026 with a dozen very important challenges and investments.

More than one hundred prominent figures from across Spain, all involved in cultural heritage, archaeology, and landscape, have signed a letter warning the Menorca Island Council that completing the Rafal Rubí double-level roundabout would be "a grave error" and a "conflict" with UNESCO criteria. The project affects an area declared a World Heritage Site in September 2023, which, according to the signatories, would be severely damaged.

Menorca's monumental heritage hasn't been declared a World Heritage Site for two years, and its declaration is already being questioned. The expert who coordinated its nomination, Cipriano Marín; the director of the Menorca Talayotic Agency, Antoni Ferrer, and Mónica Luengo, the driving force behind the World Heritage declaration of Prado and El Retiro Park in Madrid, have resigned. Even the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has had to speak out and warn: international recognition is in danger. The change of government in the Island Council has once again modified the road model and, consequently, the order of priorities has also been altered. Road safety has been used as an argument over heritage protection, so the half-finished bridge that was supposed to be demolished around the prehistoric navetas of Rafal Rubí will now be built, thus ignoring UNESCO's recommendation. Nine organizations on the island have also contacted the government, but, despite the uproar, no response has been received.

"The Menorca Council will not throw the Rafal Rubí Bridge under the bridge." This was the statement made on Thursday by President Adolfo Vilafranca, who expressed his conviction that "UNESCO will make a decision based on technical criteria and without political interference," such as that exerted by the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun.

The State has put its foot down in the Menorca Council and, through a letter signed by the Minister of Culture himself, Ernest Urtasun, asks the president of the island institution, Adolfo Vilafranca, to halt the project with which he intends to resume construction work on the Rafal Rubí viaduct and thus "not jeopardize" the island's declaration of heritage.