The Citizen Defender of Palma, on the paralysis of the 2026 subsidies: "Some entities may disappear"

PalmaThe Ombudsman of Palma, Anna Moilanen, has issued a warning about the paralysis of municipal subsidies: if the situation is not resolved quickly, "it could mean the disappearance of a part of the associative fabric" of the City. The suspension, which is already extending towards the fifth month without a clear resolution timeline, affects "a wide range of activities – educational, sports, cultural, social, and neighborhood – and puts services at risk" which, in some cases, compensate for "shortcomings of the Administration itself", she explained.

Moilanen has placed special emphasis on the impact on the elderly, one of the most vulnerable groups in this context. As she pointed out, many organizations that work with the elderly do not have the capacity or their own resources to withstand months without funding. As she said, this, added to the difficulties of "generational change", could lead to the disappearance of key associations. "They will not be able to survive; only those who can compensate for the lack of subsidies will survive," she warned.

The Ombudsman also recalled that, although the global amount –around 1.5 million euros– may seem small for the City Council, for the entities it is "a fortune" that allows them to sustain projects with a direct impact on thousands of people. In this regard, she has called on Cort to find "a balance" between the strict compliance with the observations of the Court of Auditors and the need to guarantee the continuity of the social fabric. "We must reconcile legal certainty with the reality of the entities, because right now the beneficiaries are the ones who are most harmed," she stated.

Furthermore, Moilanen has criticized the lack of information and transparency in the management of the crisis. As he has denounced, both entities and political parties formally became aware of the situation through the media, and not through institutional channels. Therefore, he has urged the City Council to offer more concrete information on how efforts are being made to unblock aid and to create "regular and structured" dialogue spaces with citizens. "The City Council and the associative fabric should not confront each other, they should go hand in hand," he concluded.

City Council: "We want it as soon as possible"

The Palma City Council have explained that their commitment is to complete the review "as soon as possible". As explained, "it has been forced to initiate a process of review and updating of the regulatory bases" of various lines of municipal subsidies after the requirements formulated by the Court of Accounts in relation to calls granted in 2022, approved during the previous legislature.

The City Council has detailed that the requirements affect various lines of aid, including sports subsidies, the call for neighborhood associations in Palma and their federations, as well as subsidies for carrying out educational activities.

Given this situation, they explain that the municipal intervention services "have considered it appropriate to temporarily suspend the processing of these lines of aid" while a complete review of the regulatory bases is carried out.

Sports subsidies

In the case of sports grants managed by the Municipal Sports Institute (IME), this review will affect the call planned for the 2024–2025 season, currently in progress. Cort assures that although it will cause a temporary delay in the final publication, it will not affect the planned economic allocation, which remains intact.

Likewise, Cort explains that the request for information made by the Court of Accounts also affects the call for grants for neighborhood associations in Palma and their federations, in addition to the line of aid for carrying out educational activities in municipal centers for the 2025–2026 academic year.

In these last two cases, although the aid corresponding to the 2025 fiscal year has already been paid, as they are calls with advance payment, the amounts planned for 2026 will be temporarily suspended while the auditing process continues.

The PSOE: "This blockade kills the associative fabric"

For their part, the socialists denounce the blockade of subsidies. The spokesperson for the PSOE in Palma, Xisco Ducrós, assures that this "blockade hides an evident lack of management on issues that do not interest Martínez". "If the situation continues, there will be associations that will cease to exist due to lack of aid," he remarked. According to him, "this blockade kills the associative fabric and it will be very difficult to reverse its consequences".

For Ducrós, "the most serious thing is that the mayor does have resources for what interests him". Thus, "120 million euros have been allocated to buy Gesa and more than 30 million euros for a fairground that no one has asked for," he said. "And, on the other hand, he cannot help neighborhood associations, which offer activities and do a great job for Palma," criticized the socialist.

Podem: "Absolutely disastrous management"

For the spokesperson of Podem Palma, Lucía Muñoz, the PP's management "is absolutely disastrous" because not only neighborhood subsidies have been affected, but also educational and sports ones. According to her, "if there were political will, they would do better, but they pay no attention to it because it is not a priority and they have found an excuse to paralyze absolutely everything".

MÉS: "The PP is literally suffocating neighborhood associations"

For their part, the councilor of MÉS per Palma, Miquel Àngel Contreras, said that "the blocking of subsidies by the Popular Party is literally suffocating the neighborhood associations of Palma". "Its paralysis is generating absolute uncertainty that prevents the planning of any activity or service, he lamented.

According to him, without these resources, associations cannot guarantee "basic activities such as workshops for the elderly or educational proposals for children", which are often "the only affordable option for many families". "This situation is not accidental: the PP wants a weak associative fabric that does not confront it," he remarked.