The promoter Last Tour, organiser of the Cala Mijas Festival, issued a statement last Friday to announce the definitive suspension of this musical event, they say, "due to contract breaches and non-payments by the Mijas Town Hall". 

According to the document, since Friday, the Cala Mijas Festival organising company has cancelled the sponsorship contract that linked them to the Mijas Town Hall since the end of 2021, deciding not to promote the celebration of the festival in its 2024 edition. 

Among the reasons they argue, the most relevant is, according to them, the non-payment of the sponsorship of last year's festival, as well as the lack of refurbishment and facilities in the enclosure by the consistory. They also criticise the "inattention", they say, "unjustified", shown by the new government team, as well as the "lack of interest" in the organisation of the festival, thus preventing the continuation of the agreed collaboration.

Last Tour regrets having reached this situation, especially after the success that, they say, this festival achieved in its only two previous editions, in 2022 and 2023, they emphasise. Finally, they thank all the people who have worked and supported this international event. 

For its part, Mijas Town Hall explains in a statement that "as established in the contract, the organising company should have presented the poster for the 2024 edition at the end of the 2023 edition and to date they do not have it, not even a proposal, which represents a serious breach of contract". Furthermore, it states that "they have been asked, repeatedly, to justify in detail the investments they should have made, but they have not complied with this mandatory request", and "according to the agreement, Last Tour was committed to investing 8,000,000 euros in the 2022 edition, increasing one million euros per edition until reaching 12 million euros in 2026. Despite repeated requests, the investment made in 2023 has never been justified, something that is mandatory".

According to the council, the contract states that the Town Hall sponsors the event and “the contract specifies that the Town Hall must provide a space with the basic connections for its adaptation and that the promoter will be responsible for carrying out the necessary refurbishment and facilities for the correct development of the event” and adds that “Last Tour has been inflexible on this point, demanding that the Town Hall assumes the costs of items that don't correspond to a sponsor as is the case”.

The Town Hall claimed that they cannot meet "the demand made by Last Tour to cancel the settlements for the occupation of public roads at the Cortijo Colorado site", a 145,000 m2 plot of land owned by the municipality where the festival is being held. In this regard, they clarified that, "as the legislation states, they can never be subsidised" because this land "is no longer destined for the population and is used exclusively for the celebration of a lucrative activity".

Regarding the payment of the pending invoices, "the responsible for the contract asked them to settle the deficiencies found in the last two invoices presented, corresponding to the 2023 edition, without these deficiencies the possibility of convening an extraordinary plenary session to deal with the payment of the complete dossier could not be considered, deficiencies that have not been corrected". The intention, said the government team, "was to vote on the full dossier during the extraordinary plenary session, something that could not be done because Last Tour did not meet the requirements presented to them regarding the last two invoices", said the local government, and states that "they have worked tirelessly to make progress on other issues of the 2024 edition but Last Tour has not shown any willingness", and recalled that "the invoices for the 2023 edition issued so far have been objected by the Municipal Intervention, which suspends the processing of the expenditure file until it is solved". 

Mijas Town Hall said that “they have always shown their willingness and interest for the continuity of the festival and this desire cannot be confused with their obligation to look after the public resources of the citizens, forcing them to assume expenses that are not theirs and that benefit the lucrative activity of a private company", concluding that "they will defend the rights of their neighbours and will take the appropriate measures to rectify the damage caused".

Share it with this link: https://mijasint.com/?a=30615