The leader of the Partido Popular in the Balearics, Marga Prohens, stated on Wednesday that she is opposed to a decrease in the number of tourist accommodation places said to be contemplated by the government's decree for tourism circularity and sustainability.
Prohens described the decree as "a trick of propaganda" and promised to repeal it, if the PP form a government after next year's election.
She insisted that it is "not true" that the PP wish to see indefinite growth, pointing out that the 2012 tourism law (introduced by the PP tourism minister Carlos Delgado) was one for "management, not prohibition". "It represented the greatest leap in tourism quality in decades", attracting millions of euros of private investment.
"There is no economy in the world that wants to raise de-growth as its banner. During the pandemic, we have witnessed the consequences of de-growth. We do not believe in indefinite growth or in the consumption and destruction of land, but we want to continue distributing wealth among the citizens."
The PP, Prohens added, "cannot accept limiting competition". This will leave many people without opportunities and will restrict the creation of jobs. This, the decree, is a matter that goes "beyond tourism". "It is about imposing a model of socialism against freedom."
"We are the voice of the middle class, who do not matter to this government. They are scaring away investment, which will go to other destinations. We say that enough is enough and that the government stops deciding how we have to live, at what price we should rent our houses, how we should speak, and what car we should buy. We are talking about something more than tourism, given an interventionist left that attacks those who do not have a loudspeaker."