The initiative was tabled by the minority El PI party in order to curb human pressure and saturation on the islands, the party said in a statement.
The spokesman for the regionalist party, Josep Melià, argued that there is an “enormous” percentage of home purchases in the region by non-residents, “one of the main factors in the enormous difficulties” in the islands in gaining access to housing.
Melià cited Denmark as an example, where on certain islands there are limits on the purchase of homes by non-residents. “This measure is possible within the European Union, it is an unquestionable reality”, he said.
Also at the proposal of El PI, Parliament has supported regulating the entry of rental cars in Mallorca, Minorca and Ibiza, a measure that is already in place in Formentera.
During his speech, Melià recalled the words of hotelier Carme Riu, who said that “we cannot increase the number of tourist places”.
One of the measures of the regionalist party that has also received the approval of the chamber has been to demand that central government gives the Balearics a place in the management of the airports.
“The Balearic institutions must have the capacity to decide on the size of airports and air connections to and from the Balearics,” said Melià.
In addition, the chamber has approved urging the central government to incorporate the increase in population, the floating population and the cost of living in each territory as elements to be taken into account in the new funding model.
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The reason Denmark can uphold this regulation is that that Denmark has an exception from EU law on this point. Protocol 32 in the Lisbon Treaty permits Denmark to keep its national laws which prohibit foreigners from buying summerhouses and second homes in Denmark if they do not live in Denmark. Spain do not have such an exception to my knowledge. A restriction as set out in the article seem to be a breach of the freedom to move capital within the internal market and the right to choose a residence and move freely within the territory of the EU member states.