Menorca PSOE chief’s seven properties spark housing row
Seven property interests put Menorca’s PSOE leader Pepe Mercadal at the centre of a housing row on Monday. Nuevas Generaciones of Menorca, a youth organisation, accuses his party of double standards after reports in Spanish media about the property holdings of its MPs.
The group says Mercadal declares partial stakes in five homes in the Balearic Islands, received as gifts. He also owns a flat in Belgium bought outright and holds a stake in a parking space. Together, those holdings make up the seven properties at the heart of the dispute.
Xim Todo, who leads Nuevas Generaciones in Menorca, says the PSOE blames other property owners for the housing problem but takes a more forgiving view of its own politicians’ holdings. He says young people struggling to leave home need available housing and rents they can afford, not another person to blame.
Todo has called on Mercadal to press Spain’s central government to honour its commitments to Menorca and to explain his party’s housing policy. The group’s criticism centres on whether that policy is delivering homes people can afford, not on any allegation that Mercadal acquired his holdings improperly.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com