December 3 is the day for the Christmas lights in Alcudia to be switched on. They will start with a mapping projection on the front of the town hall building, and a highlight will be a four-metre-high, illuminated, walk-through gift in Plaça Carles V.
The councillor for trade, Gabriel de Hevia, saying that this will be an attraction for people to take selfies, has been facing criticism from the opposition Partido Popular for having increased the spending on Christmas lights.
Fina Linares of the PP says that "spending has gone from 20,000 to 60,000 euros in the midst of the pandemic crisis and after a tourism season that has not been what we would have hoped". Moreover, this is spending with "an obscure adjudication process without public tender".
De Hevia acknowledges that he approved a credit modification to increase spending from 30,000 to 60,000 euros. The intention had been to put the service out to tender. In the end, this was not possible "because we lack the technical staff". He says that the service has been awarded "without competition but with three budgets and expenditure similar to that of previous years".