Mallorca's €3m sports fee relief goes to councils
Mallorca’s €3 million plan to cut sports fees changes course: town halls will get the money to pay running costs instead. In Palma, Mallorca, the Mallorca Island Council approves the switch on Thursday, 8 October 2026, with votes from PP and Vox. Left-wing parties and El PI abstain.
The money was part of a plan to ease the effects of the war in the Middle East. Finance councillor Rafel Bosch says his department’s staff warned that the sports fee scheme would be difficult to put into practice and account for. The council’s written case for the change says the scheme could not be guaranteed to meet its aims and would put too much work on sports federations.
Bosch says town halls can use the money for rising electricity and heating bills and swimming-pool maintenance. Those costs could otherwise push up fees at some sports facilities. The council is no longer planning a direct cut in fees.
The change draws criticism from the opposition. Socialist spokesperson Catalina Cladera calls it a failure of the council’s aid plan and doubts the money will reach its intended recipients this year. Catalina Inés Perelló of MÉS per Mallorca says families were promised direct help, not funding for town hall bills.
The council also approves a transfer of €1.8 million to the Mallorcan Fund for Cooperation and Solidarity for its 2027 budget.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com