Politics

Balearic parliament is suspended

There has been very reduced attendance at parliament. | Parlament

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma05/04/2020 10:42

The board of political party spokespeople has decided that the Balearic parliament should be suspended for a month. Although the Spanish Constitution makes clear that parliamentary activity does not have to be suspended when there is a state of alarm, there is a recognition that - for now - this activity can be considered to be non-essential. There will therefore be no plenary sessions or committee meetings.

Over the past three weeks, very few initiatives have emanated from the 59 deputies. Just twelve have been registered. They have all come from members of the opposition parties and have all been written requests for answers to questions related to coronavirus.

Only Més Minorca have objected to the suspension. Spokesperson Josep Castells argued last week that there should be control sessions in order to evaluate what the government is doing during the crisis. "We have an obligation to raise the concerns of the citizens."

The other parties have all supported the move but with some reservations. Miquel Ensenyat of Més Majorca suggests that parliamentary sessions should perhaps be reactivated because of a prolonging of the state of alarm. The Partido Popular believe there should be a "normalisation" of the situation from next week, while Vox suggest that the government should still hold committee control sessions at which ministers are quizzed about policies and actions.

Ciudadanos and El Pi are both of the view that ministers should be left to just focus on managing the crisis.

The government has, meanwhile, set up a special committee through which all the political parties are being informed of its actions.