The Supreme Court ruling that the Balearic government must pay compensation of 96 million euros to the German property developer Matthias Kühn has led to a war of words between the two main political parties - the Partido Popular and PSOE - and to opinion that the amount of compensation is "a disgrace".
The Muleta II urbanisation in Puerto Soller envisaged the building of 33 luxury chalets. While the mayor of Soller, Miquel Nadal of the PP, has declined to comment on the ruling, sources from the town hall say that the ruling doesn't change anything with regard to development.
In 2008, the then PSOE-led government of Francesc Antich included Muleta in a series of alterations to land classification. The land for the proposed development could no longer be developed, and the Soller general urban plan subsequently classified it as protected land.
Opposition parties in Soller, Més and PSOE, say that the amount of compensation deemed to be owed is "a disgrace". Laura Celià of Més, defending the importance of protecting land against speculation, says that the high compensation is a consequence of an agreement between the PP government of José Ramon Bauzá and Matthias Kühn. "It was an unnecessary agreement that has now led to exorbitant compensation."
Jaume Mateu of PSOE blames the PP for having facilitated the developer's reactivation of the urbanisation through the 'Ley de Company' of 2013. This law was named after Biel Company, who succeeded Bauzá as the leader of the PP but was minister for the environment and territory in 2013. The reactivation, says Mateu, was through an agreement as to the land's reclassification, "which the town hall did not accept".
Mateu is echoing views of PSOE's regional executive. Spokesperson Mercedes Garrido said on Thursday that the origin of the problem was the 2013 Bauzá government agreement. She has singled out Antonio Gómez, who was vice-president of the Balearics from 2013 to 2015. PSOE accuse Gómez of benefiting Kühn with the construction of Muleta II. And this was despite reports against development that emanated from Soller town hall, which was then led by Carlos Simarro of the PP, and from the Council of Mallorca's territory department, which was also run by the PP.
Gómez is currently an adviser to the PP government of Marga Prohens, and PSOE are calling on the president to dismiss him.
On the other side of the argument, Prohens has demanded that PSOE accept responsibility and "apologise to the citizens". In her opinion, the affair points to "the lack of diligence that the socialist party has with managing public money".