Out Of Africa: Balearic Environmental Protection

There is no more environmentally correct politician in the Balearics than the government's jolly Enviro Man, Vince Vidal. Vince, who has spent a large part of his time as minister figuring out how to fit car parks into the Es Trenc nature park, has somewhat amplified the Balearic environmental brief. Unbeknownst to other ministers and the citizens, Vince had decided to extend fraternal environmental concern to parts of Kenya and Ethiopia and a good chunk of the Indian Ocean.

All of this - it was revealed - is included in the Es Trenc park, which will doubtless come as a surprise to beachgoers who are more concerned with the desperate hunt for a refreshing chiringuito beach bar. (Their refreshment needs are, it needs pointing out, being satisfied by altruistic illegal sellers, who have spied an opportunity.)

What had happened was that Vince, or someone at the ministry, had got the latitudes and longitudes wrong. Hence, the draft of the nature park's law included part of Africa. Fortunately, someone else at a different ministry - the presidency - spotted the fact that Es Trenc had mysteriously been relocated several thousand kilometres south. This was just as well, because the nature park law was on the cusp of being posted to the Official Bulletin, which means that it comes into force. It would have become legal reality, but in the wrong place and indeed wrong continent.

In the spirit of the holiday rentals' legislation fiasco, the government would still have been able to rectify the error by, for instance, issuing a decree re-establishing Es Trenc as part of Mallorca. But the cock-up hardly inspired confidence. As was commented - this is a government that wants to manage the airport? Yes, this is the same government, with Palma airport where Palma airport shouldn't be and renamed Jomo Kenyatta de Mallorca.

But was it really an error? With administrations such as Palma and Calvia town halls having demonstrated their inabilities to deal with certain matters of law and order, can we look forward to other legislation acknowledging these inabilities and fraternally embracing Senegal and Nigeria?