On Monday, a council meeting in Pollensa will debate the censure of social welfare councillor, Francisca Cerdà. A motion brought by the opposition parties, this relates to Cerdà having been vaccinated at the Sant Domingo care home and to the fact that she told local media that she hadn’t been vaccinated, when in fact she had been.
There is now, however, an additional factor. The opposition have called on the mayor, Tomeu Cifre, to dispense with the need for the Monday motion by dismissing Cerdà. This is because of what she had to say about the image conveyed by queues of people waiting to be given aid from the Hope Mallorca station.
This charitable initiative, which has been hugely successful, has what it refers to as stations in different parts of the island. The Pollensa station is sponsored by a property development company, and the week before last there was a report about its activities. Aid was being given to between 250 and 300 families.
This should have been something to celebrate, and indeed it was until Francisca Cerdà became involved and said that the queues “should be avoided because of the image conveyed”.
“I do not accept this at all.” She added that she would be speaking to Hope Mallorca in order to find a solution to the “problem”.
The opposition parties were indignant. Social services at the town hall have been overwhelmed with demand. They have done their bit, which the opposition acknowledge, but more should be done.
This is why there is a need for initiatives such as Hope Mallorca.
The councillor, they pointed out in a joint statement, receives a salary of 47,000 euros. Rather than increasing social protection and taking on a task legally required of the town hall to cover basic needs for the population, this task is being delegated to voluntary organisations, and she then complains about the image conveyed by the queues.
These queues, they continue, are most unfortunate, not because of the image but because they should not be acceptable in a municipality where the town hall has a budget surplus into the millions sitting in the bank which could be used.
Instead of addressing the underlying problem of social need, the councillor is concerned about the “aesthetics”. Francisca may not have intended her words to have come across as they did, but I’m afraid they did. The image is a reality, as the opposition have said.
At best, she appears to have the knack of putting her foot in it. But coming on top of the vaccination affair, over which she should have resigned anyway, it now seems almost unthinkable that Cifre won’t invite her to go.
* For anyone interested in the efforts being made by Hope Mallorca and in donating, the website is