On Monday, Spain's employment minister, Yolanda Díaz, said that restaurants staying open until one in the morning was "crazy". Alfonso Robledo, president of the CAEB Restaurants Association in Mallorca, has responded to Díaz by saying that her proposal for earlier closing is "a nonsense".
"Spain is a tourist country, we are the joy of the world. If we close our bars and restaurants earlier, no one will want to come. It would be counterproductive for one of the main engines of the Spanish economy; the first, in the case of the Balearic Islands."
He adds that powers to determine closing hours reside with town halls. Díaz's proposal to regulate hours would be "an interference" with these powers.
Robledo also flatly denies that Díaz has met with the Spanish restaurant employers' association. "I am part of that association and it is totally false that she has met with us."
In his opinion, Díaz has only raised this as a means of diverting attention from the 'caso mascarillas', the allegations of corruption regarding the purchase of masks during the pandemic.