/ Town Hall
Friday, 8th May 2020
THE FIRST WEEK OF MEETINGS WITH SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC AGENTS AND MUNICIPAL POLITICAL GROUPS TO CONSENSUS A REACTIVATION PLAN OF THE MUNICIPALITY CONCLUDES
New proposals are being worked on to put out a second package of social, economic and tax measures
This week the first meetings were held to agree on an Action Plan for social, economic and environmental recovery in Calvià, which the municipal government team and all the political groups in the Town Hall pledged to in the Plenary Session held on 30th April through an institutional declaration.
In the weekly meeting of the mayor Alfonso Rodríguez Badal with the spokespersons of the political groups (Nati Francés, Marga Plomer, Luisa Jiménez, Gaël Thyus and Esperanza Catalá), and in the meetings called with the hotel associations of the municipality, the union representatives of UGT and CCOO, the commerce sector (ACOTUR) and the nightlife sector (ABONE), work has started on different proposals to put out, next week, a second package of support measures for companies and self-employed workers of the municipality, and for Calvià citizens in general.
Amongst these measures, an area expansion for bar and restaurant terraces is planned, whenever possible, so that they can continue maintaining their businesses, complying with the new sanitary protocols, and maintaining jobs. In the first package of measures, approved in the extraordinary Plenary Session held on 21st April, an improvement for the sector was already agreed with a refund of the public domain occupation for tables and chairs fee for the entire year 2020 that had already been paid, and a 100% bonus-discount of this occupancy fee for those who had not yet paid it.
Another proposal that is being worked on is to recalculate the rubbish collection rate for productive sectors affected by the paralysis of economic activity, mainly linked to the tourism sector, such as commerce, hotels, and bars and restaurants.
What is intended with the Recovery Plan is to cover the social needs caused by the Covid-19 crisis and adopt measures to support an economic recovery in the municipality. But, in addition, there is a desire to work on the to design, in the medium and long term, of a new scenario, facing the new reality: moving towards a type of tourism in which quality prevails over quantity.
Meeting with President Armengol
The Mayor of Calvià also held a meeting this week with the President of the Regional Government, Francina Armengol, together with the Mayors of Marratxí and Llucmajor. During the meeting, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal shared his concern about a tourist activity restart and reiterating a few ideas, some of which have already been put on the table in the Tourism Commission of the FEMP that he chairs, such as the need to bonus national flights to the islands to be able to compete on equal terms with mainland tourist destinations.
The de-escalation process that has already started, and the concern that health protocols continue being respected in all areas, throughout this process were also discussed.
Finally, it was decided to continue requesting the State to allow (doble espacio) municipalities to use their remnant, and to allow them to have some capacity to make investments from the public sector in areas such as rehabilitation, public housing or the renewal of urban areas.
