Palma's mobility councillor, Toni Deudero, insists that extending the period during which no fines will be issued for breaking rules for the new Low Emission Zone is legal.
The town hall administration came under fire from the opposition when the extension was announced on Thursday. Xisco Dalmau of PSOE said: "This is illegal. It violates national and European regulations. June 30 is the last day to avoid fines. It cannot be extended until December 31."
Miquel Àngel Contreras of Més accused the Partido Popular and Vox, who support the PP on this issue, of risking people's health and the environment, and of seeking "any excuse not to implement the ZBE".
Deudero explains that there has been "exhaustive and detailed" work to ensure that Palma complies with regulations for the ZBE (this is the Spanish abbreviation for LEZ). A period of one year for not implementing fines after the zone became operative at the start of January 2025 had been considered a possibility. In his view, the public needs to have more time to become aware of the zone, the rules governing it and the fines.
But the political argument at the town hall isn't confined to holding off on issuing fines. Gari Durán of Vox has called for the withdrawal of the ZBE. The city centre, to which the zone applies, "is the least polluted area in the city". If nothing else, she argues that the fine regime should be eliminated or suspended indefinitely. Dalmau of PSOE has therefore referred to "a fake ZBE", to which Durán has responded by saying "the only fake thing is the report on which the ZBE was based".
The introduction of the zone was approved before the 2023 election and so when PSOE, Més and Podemos formed a coalition administration at the town hall.