Mallorca hire cars: Disagreement over reduced numbers

In principle, Aevab supports a reduction. Baleval has expressed its concerns and called for consensus before making decisions.

The specifics of the proposal have yet to be set out, so neither association knows what the scale of the reduction might be. This said, the associations, just like the authorities, can’t say for certain how many hire cars there ever are on the island. They are both wanting meetings with the Council president, Llorenç Galmés, in order to find out what the Council may have in mind.

The president of Aevab, Ramón Reus, recognises that “there are too many hire cars in Mallorca”. He approximates that there are up to 70,000 and believes that 50,000 or 60,000 would be enough. Although he accepts that Mallorca suffers from traffic congestion, he insists that the sector should not be “criminalised”. Car-hire firms aren’t the only ones responsible for the congestion. He points out that the population has also grown considerably in recent years while infrastructure has not developed at the same speed.

Measures are being adopted or considered elsewhere. Formentera is an example, and Reus feels this could be a good model, but stresses that the specific characteristics of Mallorca must be taken into account; it is a much larger island with a much higher volume of vehicles.

The Council of Ibiza has a proposal for a reduction, the president of Baleval, Julio Nieto, believing that this “represents a restriction of constitutional rights, such as the freedom of movement of people and goods, the freedom of establishment and the right to free competition”. He notes that Spain’s Markets and Competition Commission has challenged the Formentera restrictions.

Nieto hopes that the Council of Mallorca doesn’t commit “the same errors” and insists that any regulation that limits fundamental freedoms must be backed up by serious study in order to arrive at the “least harmful” option.