La entrada The Government puts on the table 12.2 million for the maintenance of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>The contract will meet the conservation needs of the common areas managed by the Balearic Islands Port Authority, such as docks, esplanades, roads, buildings and other port areas, with the aim of guaranteeing their correct operation, the safety of users and the maintenance of the facilities.
The works contemplated include cleaning and conservation tasks, maintenance of green areas and landscaping, pest control and other actions necessary for the ordinary operation of port infrastructures and the provision of services to operators and citizens.
The Ministry recalled that the ports of general interest of the Balearic Islands, including Ibiza and La Savina, play an essential role in the supply and mobility of the islands, as well as being points of arrival of passengers and goods.
Both ports are part of the state network and concentrate a high level of activity throughout the year, which makes it necessary to carry out periodic maintenance work in their common areas to guarantee their use in adequate conditions.
La entrada The Government puts on the table 12.2 million for the maintenance of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada Truths and lies of the fierce opposition to the redesign of the port of La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>As they have responded to La Voz de Ibiza from the Port Authority, «we have no news (about the call). In any case it will be informed in due course».
The truth is that, in recent weeks, there have been accumulated press releases and statements from political groups questioning the scope of the tender announced by the APB that, in many cases, go against the truth.A story sown mainly among Gent per Formentera, the Socialist Party and -to a lesser extent- Sa Unió, which is riddled with falsehoods.
Lies and truths
25 years of concession
Both GxF and PSOE have criticized the 25-year concession term. Alejandra Ferrer, president of GxF, has stated that this «will convert theport of La Savina into a monopoly, increasing the prices of moorings and commercial premises, and turning its back on recreational boating.»
Along these lines, also in statements made during a talk show on Ràdio Illa, the socialist Ana Juan said that «the fact of granting a single concession is to create a monopoly, and monopolies are never good».
While Hugo Martínez, councilor of Sa Unió, added that «we consider that a 25-year monopoly, a priori, is not something positive for our island and we do not know the pros and cons of what this means. Therefore, it is very difficult to position ourselves in favor of this initiative. We need the port, as the main point of entry and exit of our island, to be as fair as possible for our citizens, to have more life and, of course, that the benefits are not only for a few».
It is true: the concession will be for 25 years, as advanced by the APB. What is striking is that GxF and PSOE encouraged to give the so-called Yacht Club of Formentera the eastern dock (which accounts for 60% of the total number of moorings of the port) for the same number of years and with a practically derisory investment with the aim of promoting nautical activities and, mainly, access to affordable moorings.
At the time, both parties supported «unconditionally» this procedure under the figure of competition for 25 years in favor of the CNF, to manage 91 moorings with a total investment of 1,200,000 euros. That is, a fee of 48,000 euros per year.
The APB has justified the unification of the docks into a single one in that the greater efficiency of space and resources has allowed new mooring points and lower operating costs to emerge, which will result in lower rates than under the current two-dock model.
Investment in La Savina
The left-wing groups have also warned that the minimum investment required from the concessionaire is 18 million euros, which will cause an increase in the prices of moorings and commercial premises.
«This will automatically mean that the concessionaire will have to recover that money and, consequently, raise the prices of moorings, commercial premises, etc. And the APB already makes enough profit from the port of Formentera to make the necessary reforms and investments without the need to privatize its management for so long,» Ferrer said.
However, according to official information from the APB, the company awarded the contract will have to make a minimum investment of 15 million euros. Precisely, the long term is a response to the important disbursement that the winning company will have to make, contrary to the logic argued by Ferrer.
It is that the 25 years favor the amortization of the investment. The math is simple: a shorter concession period will inevitably lead to an increase in the price of moorings and rents for commercial premises.
Social ties
«Mooring prices have no set limit. There is no space reserved for small private boats at affordable prices. There is no dry marina area». said the GxF spokeswoman.
It is true: the contest rules do not establish a price limit for social moorings. However, the APB has advanced that «will value in its bases the reduction of rates for moorings, especially for boats up to eight meters in length. Also for the rates of commercial premises, terraces, parking, electricity supplies, lifting services, launching and launching of the dry dock.
He has also reported that the facility will have «a dry marina», another mantra repeated by the left that is far from reality.
On the other hand, the tender provides, as a minimum, a space of 55 base moorings throughout the year reserved for boats up to 8 meters in length. In addition, it must be taken into account that when a new concessionaire enters, it obviously inherits the bases, which are currently more adding both docks.
Therefore, in principle, there will be more than the 55 social moorings established as mandatory by the APB’s specifications.
Mega yachts
Ferrer also said that «the size of the vessels is not limited, which allows the entry of mega yachts«.
This is a half-truth since it is true that there is no written limitation although the same mooring rearrangement establishes it de facto.
Of the current 180 moorings on the water sheet, the mandatory distribution according to the tender is as follows:
- 75 charter berths during the high season (June-September).
- 55 base moorings throughout the year.
- 6 moorings for official organizations (Guardia Civil, Maritime Rescue, Customs, etc.).
Thus, 44 moorings would be freed for yachts and mega yachts.
The claim of a yacht club
To this is added the claim for a space reserved for a yacht club that, in practice, Formentera does not have.
«No space is contemplated for the yacht club,» said Ferrer. This in reference to the claim of the Yacht Club of Formentera to manage moorings in the port of La Savina.
It is an institution that has no sporting activity and whose registration with the Balearic Sailing Federation was rejected for failing to comply with Article 1 of Decree 147/1997, which regulates the «constitution and operation of sports clubs in the area of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands».
Fear of foreign investors
Ferrer also said that «talking about a single marina, in addition to implying a monopoly, makes the competition much more attractive to large foreign investors, who do not care what happens in Formentera If to all this we add the absolute lack of transparency, the result is obvious».
Transparency
This is a point on which the three political forces of Formentera have agreed: GxF, PSOE and Sa Unió.
Almost in unison they have demanded that the citizens of Formentera have a voice in the process through the Consell d’Entitats.
All this despite the fact that the president of the APB, Javier Sanz, has metwith the president of the Consell Insular, Óscar Portas, and has explained the main points of the tender to the island’s political groups.
In addition, last December 9 Sanz has chaired the celebration of the Navigation and Port Council of the port la Savina, where he said that «we are in constant contact and, in addition to the Board of Directors, there is a person from the Consell de Formentera, to see their concerns and what they need, and we have collected everything they have asked us».
The contradictory position of the Consell
The president of the Consell Insular, Óscar Portas has said in the last plenary session that the island institution has hired a legal team to appeal the competition through administrative litigation.
This is a preventive administrative litigation because to date the bases are still a mystery.
However, the Consell’s representative on the APB’s Board of Directors did not skimp on praise for the bidding process.«It is a very well worked, consensual and that includes virtually all the requests made from Formentera,» Artal Mayans said at the session,
Charter
They have also raised that there is no «space reserved for recreational boating and charter boats,» according to Ferrer .
However, the tender provides for a «minimum fleet of 75 berths for charter during the four months of high season from June to September», in addition to a «dry marina for charter boats up to seven meters in length«.
La entrada Truths and lies of the fierce opposition to the redesign of the port of La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada The surprising praise of Artal Mayans to the bases to which Sa Unió opposes the unified concession of the port of Formentera. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>It was at the session in which the bases that have not yet been approved on December 19 were approved, according to the minutes of the session of the APB that are in the possession of La Voz de Ibiza.
«It is a very worked, consensual and that includes virtually all the requests made from Formentera, which were moorings, guarantees for bases to be recognized (sic), price stability, maintaining two gas stations in the port, reduction of excursions, increase charter as business sector strength (sic) and the new subway parking, «said Mayans, as transcribed verbatim in the minutes.
Frustrated favorable vote
In addition, he expressly requests that it be recorded in the minutes that he states that, «although his vote would be in favor, unfortunately and by a large majority of the Plenary of Formentera he will have to not vote in favor«.
However, he reiterates that «the specifications are very well done, it will need control and supervision by the Port Authority for all this to go ahead».
In addition, Mayans thanked the director and the president of the APB for «listening to all the requests that Formentera has made and most of them have been included in the specifications», for «all the hours spent» and maintains that «it is a brave and very positive specification«.
A contrary position
This position raised by Mayans in the APB Board of Directors contradicts the one raised by the Sa Unió coalition of which he is a member.
The president of the Consell Insular, Óscar Portas has stated in the last plenary session that the insular institution has hired a legal team to appeal the contest called by the contentious-administrative route.
This is a preventive administrative litigation because to date the bases remain a mystery. It is known what the Port Authority announced and what the political groups have been telling about the meeting they had with the president of the entity, Javier Sanz.
«We must exhaust all options both on the legal side and with allegations to stop this process,» said Portas, who insisted that the unification of the two sports marinas of La Savina does not meet the needs of the people of Formentera.
The competition for the management of the port of La Savina
The public tender approved by the APB will define the management of the port of La Savina for the next 25 years. This process includes a minimum investment of 15 million euros by the company awarded the contract, with the aim of modernizing the facilities and improving accessibility.
Among the measures planned are the construction of a dry marina, two subway parking lots and the remodeling of several buildings. The use of renewable energies and sustainable materials will also be promoted, in line with APB’s environmental objectives.
Sa Unió’s position
Not as belligerent as GxF and PSOE, formations that have openly positioned themselves against the Savina model, Sa Unió has expressed in the last hours its reticence.
In a discussion with the rest of the representatives of the Plenary, the spokesman of the government team, Hugo Martinez, rejected that the concession was to 25 years, although it is an old claim of Formentera’s businessmen insofar as it allows the concessionaire to amortize the costly investments proposed. «It is not something positive,» he said surprisingly.
However, the main focus of the criticism is an alleged lack of transparency and that contradicts the explanations given by Sanz in the Navigation Council of the Port of La Savina, in the meeting with the political groups and in the meeting with the new president, Óscar Portas. So much so that Llorenç Cordoba, former president and former representative of the Consell in the Board of Directors of the APB, said in the same talk show that Javier Sanz could be going too far with so many explanations about a tender whose content is confidential until it is published in the BOE.
«It has been explained as much as possible about a contest, more would be prevaricating,» Cordoba said.
Continue reading:
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The future of the port of La Savina at stake: Artal Mayans urged to stop the bidding process
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Formentera rejects the concession model for the port of La Savina and demands changes
La entrada The surprising praise of Artal Mayans to the bases to which Sa Unió opposes the unified concession of the port of Formentera. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada Confirmed: there will be a single bidding for the two docks of La Savina port se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>«There are two docks and we have made an approach to make a single dock with a series of justifications, especially the problem of investment and profitability,» said Sanz at a press conference after the meeting. In this sense, he justified this decision of the APB to the «problem of dimension and capacity«. In addition, he said that the number of moorings will be maintained. «It is something that is much more profitable, more operative and better for the citizens, and that is what we are going to propose soon. But we have consulted with everyone, we have talked to them, there are interesting things that they tell us and we will contribute them,» he said. However, the number of years for this single long-term bidding has not yet been defined: «We have not yet defined the number of years for this single long-term bidding.
We are talking about between 18 and 20 years, or 25, depending. We have to study that clearly, because the investment that is going to be made will be a very strong investment, so we have to give people time to amortize it». The president of the APB has stated that, at the request of the island’s political groups, they have held a meeting. «We are in constant contact and, also in the Board of Directors, there is a person from the Consell de Formentera, to see their concerns and what they need, and we have collected everything they have asked us.» «We want to have an open, constructive dialogue, and this is what we are doing with everyone, but in the end we have to make a decision, which is the best for everyone, in the public interest, and above all the best for the citizens of Formentera, which is our great intention,» said Sanz. He also said that «we have a port of general interest and we need to fit everyone. And not just one marina or two marinas: there are fishermen, ferries, charters, and we have contemplated within the structure of the port, we have contemplated all this with great rigor, and always in an area of improvement». The political groups had criticized the absence of a process that includes the voices of the citizenry through the Council of Entities of Formentera. «If we have to meet with each one we would be years,» Sanz argued. In that line, he responded that «the Navigation Council is a body where all the people who have port interest within this port are represented. There are the Council, fishermen, engineers, everyone. That really is the real forum for debate and that is what we have done, we have summoned everyone and that is what we continue to do». On the other hand, he spoke of an investment of 3 million euros, the construction of a parking lot and the need to implement a «security line at the entrance of the port of La Savina to improve security and distinguish the traffic entering and leaving».
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La entrada Confirmed: there will be a single bidding for the two docks of La Savina port se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada All parties of the Consell de Formentera oppose the proposed management of La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>The need for an inclusive approach
The political groups believe that the current proposals do not solve the problems facing the port and, instead, could have a negative impact on the entire island. As they explain, the proposal does not contemplate fundamental aspects, such as the reservation of spaces for small boats at affordable prices, essential for residents. Nor does it limit the space for large boats, a key aspect to maintain the balance in the use of the port. In addition, they criticize the absence of a process that includes the voices of citizens through the Council of Entities of Formentera, a forum that they consider essential to address decisions of this caliber.
An infrastructure with social and economic impact
The port of La Savina is not only the only maritime access to Formentera, but also the heart of the island’s economic and social activity. Therefore, any change in its management model must prioritize the welfare of the local community and ensure sustainable development that preserves the natural and cultural environment of the island.
Clear demands to APB
The political representatives have formally requested the APB to delay any decision on the port until a transparent public debate is held. They have also asked that their position be shared with members of the APB Board of Directors before the issue is discussed at future meetings. Formentera seeks to protect a port that not only physically connects the island to the world, but also represents a fundamental pillar for the identity and future of its community. The parties agree that citizen participation is key to ensuring that the port of La Savina remains an accessible and functional resource for all inhabitants.
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La entrada All parties of the Consell de Formentera oppose the proposed management of La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada The businessman Angel Bustos faces 12 years in prison for squatting in the western dock of La Savina. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>Bustos’ role in beach bars
Currently, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marina Formentera is Julián Bustos Ferrer, son of the businessman. Ángel Bustos is a delegate board member. Ángel Bustos is one of the businessmen who was awarded, in this case, two beach kiosks in the contest under suspicion. Bustos, through his lawyer Francisco Javier Jiménez de Cisneros, managed to get the president of the Consell, Llorenç Córdoba, to withdraw from the tender after requesting his recusal. Bustos’s beach bars would not have been winners if the criteria established in the bases for scoring the bids had not been modified, with the envelopes opened. And, like all the others, they also fail to comply with the requirements of the bases.
Incompatibility of Javier Serra
The president of Compromís, a party that forms together with the PP the coalition Sa Unió, and former vice president of the Consell de Formentera, Javier Serra, was a shareholder of the company when the events occurred. At the time, he was in the opposition of the Consell de Formentera. Javier Serra’s link with Marina Formentera is another of the pieces that the president Llorenç Córdoba has brought to the attention of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. According to La Voz de Ibiza, Javier Serra would have breached the Law of Incompatibilities throughout the period in which he was part of the island government by not having divested 22.5% of the shares in the company. And this is because it maintains contracts with the administration. In this case, the concession of the exploitation of premises and offices in Building B of the port of La Savina. Serra has stated that it has divested itself of the shares to comply with the law. However, sources of the Consell have clarified that «nobody has seen it».
What penalties could they receive
The crime of embezzlement of public funds is regulated in the Penal Code and contemplates different penalties depending on the seriousness and circumstances of the case. There are two types of embezzlement: aggravated embezzlement and attenuated embezzlement (misappropriation of lesser gravity or disloyal administration). The penalties vary depending on the damage caused and the intentionality of the crime. In this case, the figure of «aggravated embezzlement«, which implies a profit motive or having caused serious damage to public assets, could be applicable. This includes 4 to 12 years of imprisonment, absolute disqualification (from 10 to 20 years for public employment or office) and a fine according to the amount of the embezzled funds. Disobedience is regulated in Article 556 of the Penal Code. Here it could also derive in a serious disobedience to authority that applies in situations of active disobedience in which public order is endangered or the orders of the authority are clearly resisted. When a person seriously disobeys an officer of the authority in the exercise of his duties, a prison sentence of 3 months to 1 year or a fine of 6 to 18 months could be imposed . Finally, the usurpation of a public facility in Spain, such as entering or improperly occupying buildings, offices, or public spaces without authorization, may involve penalties under the Penal Code in different articles. Article 245 of the Penal Code states that if someone occupies a public facility or property belonging to the State or other public entity with violence or intimidation, he or she may face a prison sentence of 1 to 2 years. When the occupation is without violence or intimidation, the action may be punished with a fine of 3 to 6 months.
La entrada The businessman Angel Bustos faces 12 years in prison for squatting in the western dock of La Savina. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada The Public Prosecutor’s Office files a complaint against the businessman Angel Bustos for squatting the western dock in the port of La Savina. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>What they are accused of
This judicial opening has occurred because Marina de Formentera was squatting for almost five months. One day before the end of the concession on May 27, 2022, its managers announced that it would not leave the port facilities of the western dock of La Savina pending the resolution of the contentious appeal it had filed after the APB denied an extension for 35 years. In a press conference, the firm’s representative, Ángel Bustosaccompanied by the lawyer Francisco Javier Jiménez Cisnero Francisco Javier Jiménez Cisneros de Cid announced this decision and accused the APB of acting in a «discriminatory» manner by not granting an extension. For this reason, they had gone to the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands to reverse the APB’s decision of February 23, 2022 in which the extension of the concession was denied. With this, Marina de Formentera was transformed into a squatter during the whole summer season, the most profitable one and obtaining an important lucrative benefit, something that had never happened in the history of the APB.
For this reason, the president of the organization at the time, Francesc Antich, had to file an eviction laws uit with the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJB), since Marina Formentera did not have the necessary authorization to do so. This made it impossible for approximately four and a half months for Port Med Formentera, owned by Nicolás Mayol’s group, to evict the company. Nicolás Mayol, to take possession of the concession for the management of mooring places and premises in the inner west dock, which it had won in a public tender for the temporary occupation for a maximum of three years with an offer of 1.5 million euros, which tripled the starting fee of the tender. Only on October 4, 2022, Marina de Formentera announced that it was leaving of its own accord in view of the imminent forced eviction of the APB.
La entrada The Public Prosecutor’s Office files a complaint against the businessman Angel Bustos for squatting the western dock in the port of La Savina. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada The Consell de Formentera assumes that there will be a single concession for the two docks of La Savina. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>Same path?
The dock of Levante, is in the hands of Puertos y Litorales Sostenibles, also concessionaire of the Club Nautico de Ibiza. The present Authorization of Temporary Occupation ends in January next year. In the coming weeks it will be known, then, what are the real intentions of the Port Authority in this regard. For the time being, there is no doubt that it has no intention of launching a long-term tender, since there is no material time to call it. Nor is there any reason, except for the unification of the docks, for not having done it before.
One or two concessions?
Sources of the Consell de Formentera assume that it will be a single concession that includes both docks.
This is also reflected in the first moves of the APB since, instead of making a long-term concession as promised by Sanz himself long-term concession, as Sanz himself had promised for the Poniente dock, a temporary for the Poniente dock, an extension of temporary occupation until October has been approved. From the APB they keep a strict secrecy. When asked by La Voz de Ibiza, they only answered that «nothing has been decided yet«. Sustainable Ports and Coasts awaits the decision of the APB. «We would like to know. The port administration is doing that analysis and formally we do not know what will finally come out,» said Pepe Roselló, representative of Marina La Savina.
Grant of «15, 20 or 25 years».
What is clear is that the president has committed that the next authorization or authorizations will be long-term concessions. In his last visit to FormenteraIn his last visit to Formentera, the president of the APB, Javier Sanz, was in favor of putting an end to temporary occupations, mainly in the Levante and Poniente docks, and moving forward with long-term concessions. «Our philosophy is to make long-term concessions, with (private) investment and not short authorizations that in the end do not lead us to anything,» Sanz said at a press conference with the president of the Consell Insular, Llorenç Córdoba.
La entrada The Consell de Formentera assumes that there will be a single concession for the two docks of La Savina. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada The expiration of the Special Plan for the port of Formentera, promoted by Javier Serra, is irreversible and there will be a new procedure. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
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The expiration is not as serious as the one that has been suffering and still suffers the port of Ibiza, since the port of La Savina has a Special Plan in force. The consequences are that the improvements contemplated in the document will have to wait years. Nobody knows how many. A minimum of three will have to wait for the start of the proceedings for Formentera to have a dry marina, subway parking and improvements in mobility.
Silence
La Voz de Ibiza has tried to contact Javier Serra to know the reasons for his attitude towards the processing of the Special Plan. The councilor of Compromís has not responded to calls or messages sent.
What is the Special Plan for the port of La Savina?
The Special Plan, dated 2019 and revised in 2021, establishes that it is based on current regulations such as the Ports Law and the Port Use and Space Plan (PUEP), to ensure proper planning and management of the port service area. This involves defining permitted uses, granting authorizations and concessions, as well as complying with Formentera’s urban planning regulations. For its elaboration, different aspects have been taken into account, such as the agreement between the Consell Insular de Formentera and the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands, embodied in the Preliminary Planning Project of the Port of La Savina.
La entrada The expiration of the Special Plan for the port of Formentera, promoted by Javier Serra, is irreversible and there will be a new procedure. se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>La entrada Cordoba links his dismissal from the APB with Sa Unió’s interest in another project to expand La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
]]>No possibilities
In any case, neither Alberto Pedraza ‘s project of Ports and Coasts, nor the assumption referred to by the non-attached president, have at this time any prospect of prospering. The parties have announced their opposition to an extension that is not contemplated in the DEUP, much less in the special plan in force.
Contradictions
Slipping commercial interests, Cordoba has argued that from Sa Unió at first raised that «I had to leave this position because I had not expressed myself on the expansion of the port, which is totally false, since I have actively and passively expressed myself against an expansion of the port. The only argument they put forward is that they do not know the idea that was presented to me and the other candidates for the presidency of the Consell by a businessman, and that seems to be the only thing that bothers them».
«All they do is lie.»
Cordoba’s statements come after learning of Sa Unió’s intentions not only to remove him from his remunerated chair at the Port Authority but also to strip him of all of his powers. to strip him of all of his powers, as announced this morning byThis morning, advanced this morning by La Voz de Ibiza.
In this context, the president of the Consell has once again expressed his surprise at the sudden interest of the councilors of Sa Unió in stripping him of all his powers. «Some competences that, as it is public and notorious, the councilors of Sa Unió have rejected in more than one occasion with the only objective of overloading the president with work to try to make him resign», have raised from his office. «With this new maneuver of Sa Unió, it becomes evident that the refusal of Sa Unió councilors to assume the competences of José Manuel Alcaraz when I was forced to dismiss him due to a total and absolute lack of confidence in him was only a mere strategy to cause that he could not handle all the work,» Cordoba stressed. «Now, curiously, they do want them. And, moreover, they want to give them back to someone I do not trust and will never trust for the thousand reasons that everyone knows. Why do they want the competences now?
what are their interests?«.
With regard to the Department of Coastal, «there was no way that nobody wanted it, as soon as they have seen that the problems inherited from the previous legislature are being solved, now they want it,» he recalled. «They have been threatening for months that they were going to resign from their posts with the sole purpose of trying to force a motion of censure, but as they have not succeeded they are now looking for another formula to achieve power, and meanwhile all they do is lie,» recalled the president of the Consell Insular de Formentera. «I wonder what the opposition will think of all this, if they will be complicit in this move to try to oust the president for no reason,» concluded Cordoba.
La entrada Cordoba links his dismissal from the APB with Sa Unió’s interest in another project to expand La Savina se publicó primero en La Voz De Ibiza.
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