At Thursday's council meeting, a Vox proposal to freeze the salaries of Palma town hall public servants was rejected by the three-party ruling administration. Two other opposition parties, Ciudadanos and the Partido Popular, abstained.
Sergio Rodríguez of Vox said that given the "apocalyptic" vision of the current situation, there should be an emergency fund of 45 million euros for the most necessary social benefits and for promoting the local economy. This fund could be created by freezing salaries and reducing "ideological and non-essential" items, such as the 400,000 euros for neighbourhood groups and the 44,000 euros for the historical memory law. "Financing historical memory at this current time means that the dead of the past matter more than the living of the present."
Rodríguez argued that "people have not yet realised the situation in which we find ourselves, but it is one that means we are all going to have a very bad time". In response, the finance councillor, Adrián García, pointed out that a fund is already being provided and that the work of neighbourhood groups was important in revitalisation and for small businesses.
García also dismissed a call for there to be cuts to public companies (Emaya and EMT are two such companies) and for spending on equality, LGTBI and gender-based violence to be dropped. "Even in this current situation, they (Vox) seek to make cuts, when we need to come out of the situation with humane reconstruction." The councillor for social justice, Sonia Vivas, condemned Vox "for attempting to use the flag of Covid-19 to knock down public policies that are so necessary".