Speaking in favour of the motion, Alberto Jarabo, the spokesperson for Podemos, said that Palma is "our city" and that Palma de Mallorca was invented as a commercial brand which helped to distinguish it from other parts of Spain, i.e. Las Palmas and La Palma in the Canary Islands.
He was supported by the Més parliamentary deputy, Bel Busquets, who claimed that Palma de Mallorca has never been the capital's real name. "It was an informal move made by Madrid. Palma de Mallorca is a new name, it’s a name which Majorcans associate with bureaucracy."
PSOE deputy Jaume Garau said that Palma should stick to its Roman roots like Valencia and Barcelona. "We all remember back in 2012 when the PP changed the name. It was all part of the president’s strategy to weaken the importance of the island’s Catalan culture and language. It’s now time to recuperate the name Palma for various reasons - sentimental, scientific, political and cultural."
The mayor of Palma, José Hila, was invited to speak and he observed that Palma is the name used overseas. For this reason, Palma is enough: "It does not need to be on the map with a surname."
But the PP are going to put up a fight. The former PP Palma councillor for tourism and deputy mayor, Alvaro Gijon, called on all of the parties "not to fiddle about with and change history". "The airport is always going to be Palma de Mallorca. Why complicate life?"
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Very few people outside of Spain associate Palma with the city in Mallorca, which is why the name should remain DE Mallorca. Furthermore the catalán dialect is a joke
Sara,my point was that airline tickets and airport notice boards certainly stated ''Palma de Mallorca'' in the 1990's and probably further back than that,no doubt to make sure that people knew which Palma they had booked for and were going to since there are many Palma's,as Steve Riches pointed out.
The airport will always be Palma de Mallorca worldwide due to distinguish it from others! The City will always be Palma!
Reminds me of the, probably, untrue story about a young girl who told a friend that she had been to Magaluf on holiday and when asked where it was she replied " I don't know, we flew".
Locally of course there is only one "Palma" - so it's not necessary to stick "de Mallorca" on the end of any signs etc...HOWEVER in the world there are 62 places called "Palma" - so keeping the "de Mallorca" part avoids any possible error when people are booking travel, flight tickets etc. That assumes, of course, that local politicians have much interest in clarity for the people who supply 70% of this island's income, ie. tourists. It doesn't need a vote. Just carry on. Stop wasting time.
Who cares ?. What I would like to know is does one go "up" to Palma or "down" to Palma ?. Sara most probably goes "back" to Palma.
Sean: Between the 1990s and 2012 the name was changed to Palma. Then the PP changed it back to Palma de Mallorca again in 2012, just like they changed other things 'back'.
''The PP changed the name in 2012'' Funny that because in the 1990's and probably before that, all airline tickets and airport notice boards always stated ''Palma de Mallorca''