Your seven days news round-up in Mallorca

The European elections, in which British residents of Mallorca can no longer participate because of you know what, held no real surprise, other than the performance of Se Acabó la Fiesta, which really is the name of a political party (sort of). But apart from The Party is Over, Rosa Estaràs of the Partido Popular, who is about as permanent a fixture in the European Parliament as its roof, was elected for the fourth time; there was a further lurch to the right; and the PSOE candidate from the Balearics failed to get a second five years because she was just one position too low on the national list of candidates.

Ahead of the elections, issues important to the Balearics were highlighted. One was insularity, which has always been problematic under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty on account of the fact there are no special arrangements for financing. The comparison was again being made with the Canaries, one of the EU's 'ultra-peripheral' territories and which does benefit. But then the Canaries are very much on the periphery; geographically they aren't even part of Europe.

Other key issues had to do with housing, and so there was once more an airing of the call for restrictions (of some description) on non-resident home-buying. Alicia Homs, the PSOE candidate who missed out, said that she and her party would be pressing for an 'island exception' (not exclusive to the Balearics) and for specific legislation to regulate the purchase and sale of second homes. So, first homes weren't a problem for Ms. Homs. Or maybe she had meant these as well. Anyway, she didn't get elected, while the move to the right will probably kill off any possibility of amending EU regulations.

On tighter controls of holiday rentals, there is far greater agreement between right and left. This said, the EU has already acted in obliging websites to only carry ads for licensed properties.

Housing electioneering

President Marga Prohens reckoned that the election results were a vindication of PP policies, such as the amnesty on illegal properties on rustic land, one aspect of developments regarding housing since the PP won the regional elections last year. Just prior to last Sunday's vote, the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, was denounced to the Electoral Board by the opposition for having announced the building of 1,200 new social housing homes. This was a clear case of electioneering, the opposition maintained.

Some days later - Tuesday - and the mayor had increased the number (of all homes) to 13,000. He mentioned these in a 90-minute speech for the 'state of the city' debate at Palma's council meeting. Some citizens may have had the state of parts of the city in mind, as indeed did the opposition, who argued that the city was still dirty despite the mayor's 'shock plan' for cleaning. His housing and cleaning plans were merely theoretical, while nothing had been done to tackle tourist overcrowding.

Give Caló des Moro a break

Another mayor, Santanyi's, had overcrowding on her mind. At the Monday council meeting she produced copies of press reports about Caló des Moro, the venue for Sunday's action by the Mallorca Platja Tour group against beach overcrowding. The mayor called for the media to give it a rest where Caló des Moro is concerned, noting that the police have confirmed that every time Caló des Moro gets publicity in the media, the number of people going there increases. The Sunday action, one was therefore left to conclude, will have precisely the opposite effect to that intended.

A welcome in Magalluf

The absurd reporting of matters in Mallorca continues to get ever more absurd. One British paper was of the view that Calvia's mayor, Juan Antonio Amengual, was "begging" British holidaymakers to go to Magalluf, when all he had done was issue a reassurance that "all Brits are welcome". He added that Calvia wanted people to enjoy their holidays "with respect between tourists and residents". Quite. And what is so difficult to understand about respect? As to begging any holidaymakers, it was noted that June hotel occupancy was running at about 80%, in line with what would normally be expected.

A hotelier's concerns

In Palma, the season is going very well, with bookings slightly up on 2023. So said the president of the Palma Hoteliers Association, Javier Vich. This association, it should be noted, doesn't include Playa de Palma, where there is a specific association. Vich did cause something of a stir as he said that he wouldn't go to a place where he perceived there to be animosity towards tourists. He was concerned about protests against overcrowding, stating: "It is very difficult to build a destination and very easy to destroy it."

There are problems and Vich was willing to admit there were - housing, roads, parking, treatment plants, illegal holiday lets, population growth. "Now that discontent has been expressed on the streets, work must be done on addressing it, never forgetting that we have always been hospitable." He added that the hotel sector has been saying that there can be no growth in volume for the past ten years. "We all now have a responsibility to say where we want to go, but to do so responsibly."

Water shortage

Vich didn't specify water as being a problem, but he could have done, as the greater the number of people at given times, the greater the demand. Obviously so, but of special relevance to an island where water is precious. The whole of Mallorca, it was confirmed the other day, is at pre-alert for drought, and another municipality announced restrictions on water consumption. Bunyola had previously issued a ban on the use of water for the likes of pools and watering gardens. It was now limiting daily consumption to 200 litres per person. Municipal reserves, said Mayor Joan Riera, were just ten per cent. Other town halls to have announced special restrictions are Arta, Banyalbufar and Estellencs.

And water not quite everywhere

None of these municipalities got a particular soaking on Tuesday. The storm that badly affected the airport highlighted just how localised weather events can be in Mallorca. The 70-plus litres per square metre of rain that fell in the space of two and a half hours were, according to the Aemet met agency, a record for June. A few kilometres away at the port in Palma, the Portopi weather station registered only 1.8 litres.

The storm also demonstrated that the forecasters' modelling can never be wholly accurate. Aemet said on Monday that things were somewhat unpredictable. Yellow alerts for rain in the Tramuntana, north/northeast and interior were issued on Monday. There were none for the east or the south. Shortly after noon on Tuesday, the yellow alert for the interior was upgraded to amber and Aemet went straight to amber for the south. The deluge came mot long after.

As things turned out, the second highest rainfall was in Manacor in the east - 14 litres, a fair amount of rain but not one that would have qualified for a yellow alert, which is typically 20 litres per square metre in one hour.

Roadblocks and other barriers

Back in Bunyola, there was a somewhat bizarre occurrence. Residents of the Es Puig Verd area had put up a roadblock. It was to stop all the traffic going to the Joan March Hospital and the Sa Coma development. It was also because of speeding and cut the connection between Palmanyola and Santa Maria.

The town hall couldn't do anything about this. Es Puig Verd is one of those places in Mallorca - there are various examples - that has never been officially 'received' by a town hall and so the road is in fact managed by what is known as a compensation board of residents.

In the Palma shanty town of Son Banya, commonly referred to as Mallorca's 'drugs supermarket', the drugs clans have reinstalled a form of fortification to hinder police while at the same time facilitating the sale of drugs. In April, the town hall dismantled a previous one that comprised wire fences, wooden panels and building blocks. It was suggested that the clans had taken advantage of police involvement elsewhere, but it seems to be more a case of them wishing to show who is in charge.

The police have been required in Son Gotleu because of clashes between residents and Algerians, but this trouble has moved to Arenal, where residents are equally determined to drive out young men they hold responsible for violent crimes. There has been evidence of the residents themselves meting out violence. A video emerged of an assault with clubs and chains on two Algerians. This was on the promenade in the Palma part of Arenal, the focus of the trouble having been in the Llucmajor part, where the police and the Guardia Civil have a 24/7 operation to try and 'shield' Arenal.