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Political crisis deepens over Real Mallorca stadium naming rights deal

Més and Podemos want the agreement to be rescinded

Jaume Alzamora of Més questioned by the media.

| Palma |

A Tuesday morning meeting of the political parties which form the administration at the Council of Mallorca ended abruptly when representatives of Més and Podemos walked out. They did so because the president of the Council, PSOE's Catalina Cladera, wasn't going to attend the meeting.

Cladera doesn't typically go to these regular meetings, but Més and Podemos had wanted her to be at this one, so that she could discuss the naming-rights agreement for Real Mallorca's stadium. Cladera later tweeted that she had called another meeting for Thursday. In the tweet, she said that she had called the Council vice-presidents (one from Més, the other from Podemos) and anyone else the two parties consider appropriate to a meeting to discuss the agreement by the Mallorca Tourism Foundation (regarding naming rights). "With maximum transparency and loyalty to the government pact," she concluded.

Més spokesperson Jaume Alzamora said that they had wanted her to attend, as she is the head of the Council and so that she could "give explanations about the contract, to revise it and not go ahead with it".

Aurora Ribot, Podemos spokesperson and one of the two vice-presidents, regretted the fact that Cladera was absent, adding that she believes there will be agreement "to deal with the discrepancies". By this, she meant withdrawing the agreement with the club.

PSOE spokesperson Andreu Alcover said that the councillor for tourism, Andreu Serra, was at the meeting. "If they had wanted explanations, Serra could have given them." He added that he believed that it would be "a mistake" if there were to be a change to the agreement.

Cladera and Serra negotiated a two-year naming rights deal worth 1,815,000 euros. This was an extension to an agreement of 2020 to name the stadium Visit Mallorca. Més and Podemos believe there should not be tourism promotion of this sort as it goes against policies for tourism sustainability and for addressing tourist "massification" of Mallorca.

Més have been talking in terms of an ultimatum. They have indicated that they could break the pact with PSOE and Podemos if the agreement with the club goes ahead. This could potentially also affect the Balearic government and the administration at Palma town hall. Podemos have been less overt in their statements.

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