The general secretary of Podemos in the Balearics, Alberto Jarabo, said again yesterday that government vice-president, Biel Barceló should resign over the contracts' affair. He said that by continuing in his post, Barceló was weakening the government, adding that there is to a meeting within the next few days to hear the views of PSOE and Més on the situation.
This meeting, according to Jarabo, will be about providing a joint vision of the agreements for change that were signed by Podemos, Més and PSOE when the government was formed. He insisted that these agreements need to be respected, observing that what has happened with the contracts has been "blatant ethical non-compliance". Although Podemos are respecting the agreements, Jarabo admitted that the relationship with the government (PSOE and Més) was not good.
He explained that there are "parties" which have doubts about the commitment to consensus and dialogue in a sincere and transparent manner. There has to be a political vision to jointly defend the agreements, he stressed. The situation is a serious one, he went on: "We cannot look the other way. We should be demanding that someone takes responsibility for all that has happened."
If Barceló were to resign, in Jarabo's opinion, any shadow of doubt about the Balearic government would be removed. "So long as the investigation goes on, he will be in the spotlight, and that is not good for the government's image."
Laura Camargo, the party's political secretary, had her say yesterday on the holiday rentals' legislation. Podemos will be presenting amendments to the legislation and will seek a more "agile" sanctioning system. The number of tourism ministry inspectors, she added, needs to be based on the total number of tourist places (in accommodation). There has to be a "real ceiling" for the number of places, and the number of inspectors needs to reflect this. She concluded that applying the legislation during this tourism season will be "complicated".