The (political) power of the gandules and xibius of Formentera

PalmaA beach umbrella may seem like an insignificant object to destabilize a government. In Formentera, it is not. For more than 20 years, beach umbrellas and sun loungers have been capable of confronting technicians, businessmen, administrations, and parties, and even influencing electoral results on the island.

The first to have to face it directly was Margalida Rosselló, Minister of Environment of the Greens during the first "Pacte de Progrés" (Progress Pact). Two decades later, another minister, Juan Manuel Lafuente, with whom he has very little in common, finds himself in a similar situation. But the Minister of the Sea and Water Cycle of Marga Prohens' Government has been exposed, because he has gone from defending the technical criteria that justified the reduction in the number of beach umbrellas and loungers, at the proposal of the Director General of Coasts, Maria Joaquina Ferrer, to dismissing her and increasing the quantity that can be installed on the coast of Formentera.

Now it is Lafuente who is between the ropes. PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca, Més per Menorca and Unides Podem have requested an urgent appearance so that he explains Ferrer's dismissal and the alleged political interference in the Coastal files. There is a significant fact that has never happened in the Balearic Islands: 21 officials from the department signed a letter in defense of the dismissed director and the technical criteria applied during her tenure. And the deputy from Formentera who contributed with his vote to invest Prohens, Llorenç Córdoba, demands the censure of the counselor.

The first fire was in 2003

In the spring of 2003, towards the end of the first "Pacte de Progrés" (Progress Pact), the Department of Environment decided to remove 2,280 sunbeds and 1,157 parasols from the beaches of the Balearic Islands. According to Rosselló, the measure was in response to technical reports and the need to reduce pressure on the coastline and natural spaces.

Formentera was the most affected island. Despite being the smallest in the Archipelago, it was to lose 966 sunbeds and 513 parasols, more than 40% of the total reduction planned for the Balearic Islands. In Llevant, the intention was to remove them all. The reaction was furious. More than a hundred concessionaires protested against Rosselló. Even sectors of the "Pacte" in the Pitiüses questioned the minister. Rosselló did not back down.

The PP understood the political dimension of that conflict. They promised the concessionaires to reverse the situation and, after the May 2003 elections, the new popular president of the Formentera Council, Pere Palau, announced that he would ask the Matas Government to recover the concessions. Those elections had a symbolic consequence: Formentera's seat shifted from the left to the right.

23 years later, sunbeds and beach umbrellas have returned to the center of the political stage. But it had been brewing for some time. Along the way, there have been controversies such as the "partió" (the delimitation of public domain that the State made on the land by applying the Coastal Law) and other conflicts that can be simply summarized: the conflict between tourist exploitation of the coast of such a small island and combining it with the right of those who want enjoyment without commercialization and the preservation of the natural environment.

The same conflict

The Directorate General of Coasts reduced the temporary facilities requested by the Consell de Formentera for the period 2026-2029 this spring. The decision once again affected sunbeds and umbrellas and generated an immediate response from concessionaires and the island government. The debate was not exclusive to Formentera. In Ibiza and other places, business owners and citizens admit that there had been sunbeds and umbrellas “all their lives”, but now there are places where there was no space left “for a towel”. Behind this complaint lies a problem that the Balearic Islands are not solving: what percentage of a public beach can be occupied by an economic activity?

Concessionaires defend services consolidated over decades and linked to the tourist model. Conservationists recall that it is public domain, that the beaches bear a much higher pressure than decades ago, and that free space must also be protected. Initially, Lafuente did not hesitate. In May, he defended the reduction. But the pressure from business owners and representatives of the Consell de Formentera continued.

And the Consulate has not been idle. It has promoted – as ARA Balears advanced – that the Omnibus Law liberalizes regional restrictions on seasonal facilities on the coast. Among other things, it affects the dimensions and distances of temporary structures. The political paradox is that the most stringent regulation was approved by the PP in 2013, when Gabriel Company was Minister of Agriculture and Environment.

According to informed sources, the regulatory change promoted by Prohens was mainly intended for the ‘xibius’ of Formentera. In this context, the Government has completed a coastal law that attempts to liberalize state regulations and treats coastal buildings as unique and heritage elements. A maneuver that the PP has already attempted in the Valencian Community and which has resulted in a significant failure, because the State has won the first round of the judicial battle and does not allow the coastal law and its derived regulations to be diluted.

The Government dismissed Maria Joaquina Ferrer and did not dissociate this decision from the situation in Formentera. Vice President Antoni Costa summarized the problem by explaining that whoever went to a beach on the island and wanted to rent a sunbed could not find one.

Ferrer's replacement, the former mayor of Llucmajor Joan Jaume Mulet, arrived with a profile that the Government described as dialogic and municipalist. Only 11 days after his debut in office, there was already a new resolution expanding the authorized facilities. "It's what we had asked for," said the Formentera Minister of Mobility and Environment, Verónica Castelló, who had had tough confrontations with the former director general.

Faced with Ferrer's dismissal, the opposition has demanded the files and Llorenç Córdoba demands a comparison of the two resolutions and the reports that support them to know what changed between one decision and the other. The question from the Formentera deputy is: "Did the Coastal criteria change or was the director changed so that the criteria would change?" Córdoba admits that it cannot be affirmed without proof that "there were illegitimate orders or pressures," but considers it difficult to disassociate the dismissal from the political will to obtain a different result.

An important political piece

The deputy for Formentera is just one of 59 in Parliament, but tight majorities have made him a more important political figure than the island's demographic weight would suggest. This legislative term has been decisive. Llorenç Córdoba –elected by Sa Unió– agreed on 20 points with the PP in exchange for voting for Prohens' investiture. His vote was decisive because the Popular Party had agreed to Vox's abstention.

From the outset, Coastal Law has been one of the issues that has defined Córdoba's relationship with the Government. The deputy has advocated for an adaptation of coastal policy to the specificities of Formentera and has pressured the Executive to resolve the problems of owners, concessionaires, and activities affected by the regulations.

Córdoba expressed satisfaction this spring with the degree of compliance with the 2023 investiture pact. However, the political relationship with the PP and Sa Unió has deteriorated profoundly. Now, Córdoba demands the censure of Lafuente and insists that the reports, meetings, and political actions that preceded Ferrer's dismissal as the new resolution be made public.

Before the dispute over loungers erupted, Coastal Law had already prepared a report on Formentera's kiosk concessions – in November 2025. These bars are a goldmine for exploiters. The situation was more serious than a disagreement over how many facilities fit on a beach: technicians considered that there were sufficient indications of non-compliance with essential concession conditions to initiate their termination, such as failing to dismantle the facilities in winter as dictated by law.

The Director General defended the technical criteria, and her proposal to promote termination did not please the current concessionaires. However, it did please the previous ones, who asked for the regulations to be complied with and for the technicians to be heard. These businessmen have pressured Lafuente for the dismissal of the Director General: why remove someone who is trying to apply technical criteria? The Coastal Law is clear: if the conditions are not met, the Administration must act.

Every so often, concessionaires and politicians have mobilized again in Formentera. Accusations and pressures come and go, as do positions, allegiances, and support, depending on whether the concession is won or lost. Public officials know well that business on the coast can determine an election. In 23 years, Formentera has changed a lot. But the battle to make money on the coast and the conflict in land management have not.