Mallorca boat arrivals row: PSIB calls Prohens claims lies

A row over migrant boat arrivals has flared in Palma, Mallorca, after PSIB parliamentary spokesman Iago Negueruela accused Balearic president Marga Prohens of lying about “mass arrivals”. He said the figures for July and August were public and showed virtually the same number of people arriving as a year earlier. The clash followed their meeting to open the new political term.

Prohens had called an extraordinary press conference on Friday, demanding answers from Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez over what she described as a high risk of situations that could threaten the archipelago’s security.

Negueruela said Prohens had supplied no figures, despite the Interior Ministry publishing a fortnightly tally of small-boat arrivals on the Balearic coast. He accused her of hardening her language rather than responding to events, and warned that such claims could fuel hate speech.

Sánchez had said in Congress on Thursday that a National Police report concerned maritime arrivals to mainland Spain and the Balearics only. Negueruela argued that this did not justify Prohens’ emergency appearance.

The PSIB spokesman also put tourism overcrowding at the top of the new political term after a summer of strong public reaction against it. He said the government was moving away from what people were demanding and failing to tackle pressure on the islands.

His party’s first proposal will be to raise the sustainable tourism tax, known as ITS, on the terms Prohens herself put forward in the 2024 general policy debate. Negueruela said PSIB would support that plan, although it would prefer tougher measures.

Prohens told him she wanted measures agreed through the Sustainability Pact, according to Negueruela. He replied that people expected concrete answers rather than another reference to the pact.

They also discussed the regional funding model approved on Friday by the Council for Fiscal and Financial Policy. Negueruela called on the Balearic government to show more leadership, citing the possible creation of a fund to offset the negative effects of mass tourism.

He further pressed for action on climate change and improvements in public health services. In his view, Health Minister Manuela García and Cristina Granados, director of Son Espases University Hospital, should not remain in their posts.

Topics: Police · Migration · Health · Tourism · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com