Palma mayor José Hila recognises that the town hall has no competence for regulating cruise ships. He was speaking yesterday following comments by the president of the State Ports, Salvador de la Encina, on Thursday. De la Encina made clear that neither the town hall nor the regional government has any legal power in respect of cruise ship regulation. The State Ports president said that everything depended on the willingness of cruise operators to self-regulate.
Hila observed that the town hall has understood this, which was why there were meetings with cruise operators at the recent Hamburg fair. "We were told that they were willing to talk." He added that the government and the town hall want to arrive at an agreement, and noted that the State Ports authority is in agreement that "something must be done".
The mayor stressed that it was fortunate that the Balearics Ports Authority (the State Ports regional wing) is "very aligned with the interests of the city and has shown itself to be on many occasions".