15/09/2001 00:00
TW
0

The five party local government coalition was in crisis last night after the Majorcan Nationalists, led by Maria Antonia Munar, said that they would not support a radical change in the building and planning laws. Munar, who presides over the Council of Majorca, said that her party would not attend a key meeting on Monday which would be attended by members of the other four parties. Munar, is furious that Balearic leader, Francesc Antich, wants to change the planning laws which she feels are the responsibility of the Council of Majorca and therefore not a local government matter. Munar accused the coalition parties of breaking their promises. She said yesterday “when we joined the coalition we thought that it was the dawn of a new era and the Balearics would benefit but we are now seeing problems.” But Munar and other party officials said that they did not feel that the coalition was in danger of breaking-up. However, if and when the proposed changes to the planning laws are debated in parliament then the Majorcan Nationalists would vote against the bill. The issue of the building freeze and changes to the planning laws have divided the coalition for some time. Munar is pushing ahead with her own “freeze” from the Council of Majorca but the Balearic government have also got their own planning agenda. Munar has criticised Antich saying that the proposal drawn up by the local government will not benefit Majorca because it had been designed to take-in the special needs of Minorca and Ibiza-Formentera. Munar is a political survivor. Ten years ago the Majorcan Nationalists sided with the Partido Popular and won the 1988 elections. But Munar, who was then local minister for Culture was sacked. She got her revenge at the last local elections in 1999 when she sided with the left-wing/nationalist coalition which effectively condemned the Partido Popular to be the opposition party eventhough they had received more votes but were a few hundred votes shy of an overall majority.