The president of Formentera tried to extort Prohens to get an extra salary

The president of the Formentera Council and deputy in the Balearic Parliament, Lorenzo Córdoba, demanded that the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, pay 4,000 euros as a bonus to guarantee his parliamentary support for the PP.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
06 December 2023 Wednesday 21:22
11 Reads
The president of Formentera tried to extort Prohens to get an extra salary

The president of the Formentera Council and deputy in the Balearic Parliament, Lorenzo Córdoba, demanded that the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, pay 4,000 euros as a bonus to guarantee his parliamentary support for the PP. The spokesman for the Balearic Government, Antoni Costa, has confirmed that Córdoba conditioned its support on private interests, not in defense of the island, but has avoided giving details of the blackmail.

In the May elections, Cordoba led the s'Unió candidacy for the Formentera Consell, a right-wing coalition that included the PP and Compromís. He also got a seat in the Balearic Parliament since he also headed the regional list. That Formentera deputy was decisive in Prohens obtaining 26 votes, one more than all the left-wing parties.

That Formentera vote was decisive at the time so that an abstention from Vox was enough for the PP leader to become president and be able to govern alone. Prohens governs with relative comfort since Vox has seven deputies who, added to the 25 of the PP, exceed the absolute majority of 30. That is, the Formentera deputy does not endanger the balance of forces in the Balearic Islands.

The events began last week, when the president of Formentera held a meeting with Prohens. Shortly after the meeting, he sent a statement in which he announced that he was no longer giving his unconditional support to the Balearic president. Córdoba gave different versions of the reasons for this decision, but all of them focused on the fact that the president did not guarantee the defense of Formentera's interests.

However, days later, the executives of the two parties that make up s'Unió held a separate emergency meeting in which they demanded the president's resignation. It was then that information began to be revealed that the demands that Córdoba had made had nothing to do with the interests of Formentera, but rather with personal economic reasons.

The Government spokesperson and Executive Vice President, Antoni Costa, explained in a press conference this Thursday that the president of Formentera intended to "condition" the stability of Marga Prohens' Government not according to the interests of Formentera, "but according to of his personal interests.

He has not given details, but it has finally been learned that he demanded that bonus of 4,000 euros from the PP to maintain his support. Córdoba earns about 80,000 euros a year for his two positions, but he assures that it is not enough to deal with his financial problems.

The Government spokesperson has acknowledged that this situation does not give them "satisfaction" and has added that it is not a "pleasant" moment for the Executive, but has also specified that Formentera's vote is not decisive. "We would like this situation not to have occurred so that stability is not compromised," he said. The PP and Compromís parties hope that Córdoba will present his resignation to seek a new majority in Formentera and elect another president, but he has assured that he does not plan to leave his position either in Formentera or in the Parliament.