Heading For Rockier Rocks: Bauzá in 2014

What a difference a few days make. A look forward to what 2014 might bring has changed as a result of Carlos Delgado's resignation. Before the resignation one could have predicted a rocky but nonetheless unswerving year for President Bauzá. With the resignation the scenarios shift. They will still be rocky but they might be less rocky or rockier still.

I have suggested that Delgado's departure might mean that the Partido Popular is looked upon with less animosity. The cheers that went up when his resignation was announced had comparatively little to do with his day job as tourism minister. They were to do with Delgado the dogmatic defender of Castilian, the arch "españolista" in the Bauzá administration and the philosophical champion of anti-regionalism.

Bauzá must know that he has a problem with the government's stance on Catalan and with its indifference towards regionalism. With Delgado out of the way, he could take the opportunity to soften this stance and so reduce the animosity. There will be many in his party (and formerly in his party) who will be urging him to do so, not least those who were helpful to him in the past. The dislike for Delgado was what prompted certain grandees, now disaffected, to support Bauzá at the last leadership election.

These grandees might have been naïve, but they hadn't anticipated that the former mayor of Marratxí would turn into Delgado Mark II. One-time backers of Bauzá, Jaume Font and Antoni Pastor, pro-Catalan and pro-regionalism, have both fled the PP; the first voluntarily, the second because he was excommunicated. Of those who haven't fled, old-school sorts such as Pere Rotger, Cristofal Soler and Gabriel Cañellas who were of a PP regionalist bent, have looked on as previous moderation has given way to radicalism. Cañellas didn't say so directly in his recent address at the PP's annual awards, but it was clear what his metaphors meant. Jeroni Salom, the party's president, has been less than fulsome in his praise of Bauzá. Mayors have fallen out with Bauzá over language and even over the new casino - Isern in Palma at any rate. His opponents now begin to appear as though they are a small army preparing for battle.

There are concerns that Bauzá is damaged goods and that his candidacy for president in 2015 would be harmful to the PP. He remains odds-on to be the candidate, but the mutterings are growing louder. Change might be in the air, and with Delgado, the president's ideological soul mate, having taken himself off to find richer pastures outside politics, the Bauzáists (or should that be Delgadoists) are deprived of their guiding light and look increasingly vulnerable. Bauzá can go one of two ways. He can soften and enjoy a relatively smooth ride. Or he can be unmoved or harden and face potential revolution. It is unlikely to be the former. He can't backtrack on Catalan, teaching or the law of symbols. Were he to, then he would be damaged beyond the repair of lost credibility.

Bauzá can at least draw on the support of his government inner circle, but events during 2012 and 2013 have made his cabinet one which comprises lightweights who owe their positions to patronage. Whatever one thought of Delgado, he was a politician of some substance, and so were Pep Aguiló and Rafael Bosch, both sacked in May. Who can Bauzá now call upon? A political hack at tourism (one who, however, might stick to the task of tourism rather than be involved in running the government show); Mrs. Malaprop, Joana Camps, out of her depth at education; Marti Sansaloni, last man standing at the health ministry following two resignations, and heavily criticised over his insensitivity regarding the Alpha Pam affair; Antonio Gómez, originally minister to the president (a sort of without portfolio function) and now the vice-president, who recently attacked the one-time PP member, Antoni Pastor, calling him a turncoat and a "disgrace" to the Balearic Parliament. Bauzá was forced to reprimand him.

There is a general view that Bauzá has managed to lose people of substance and to surround himself with mediocrity. And it shouldn't be overlooked that he himself was totally new to the upper echelons of politics when he became president. There is an unnerving sense of a government bound together by a radical programme that causes division within local society and by gratitude to its leader but which lacks experience, wisdom and savvy. Rocky or rockier still? I'll opt for the latter.


Index for December 2013

Algaida and tourism development plans - 8 December 2013
Balearics identity - 3 December 2013
Carlos Delgado's resignation - 28 December 2013, 31 December 2013
Catalan Lands don't exist - 12 December 2013
Catalonia's referendum - 13 December 2013
Christmas songs - 17 December 2013
Citizen Safety Law - 1 December 2013
Corruption in Spain - 6 December 2013
Eurovegas - 15 December 2013
Funds for resort modernisation - 18 December 2013
GOB: forty years - 9 December 2013
Gotmar improvements - 26 December 2013
Holiday rentals - 11 December 2013
Jaime Martinez, tenth Balearics tourism minister - 29 December 2013
Law of Symbols - 20 December 2013
Mallorca/Spain quiz of the year - 25 December 2013, 27 December 2013
Marca España decline - 10 December 2013
Non-hotel sector organisation - 27 December 2013
Quotes of the year - 24 December 2013
Paramount theme park - 19 December 2013
Pardons asked for in corruption cases - 16 December 2013
Partido Popular Larus awards - 23 December 2013
PISA survey and Balearics educational performance - 4 December 2013
Ramon Llull and the national education ministry - 14 December 2013
Rural tourism - 22 December 2013
Spain's tourism promotion - 30 December 2013
Tax breaks for hotels opening all year - 7 December 2013
Thomson Scene brand - 5 December 2013
Tourism season benefited hoteliers only - 2 December 2013
Urban tourism - 21 December 2013

The Ten Tourism Ministers Of Mallorca

The coronation of the new Balearics tourism minister failed to acknowledge a landmark in the islands' tourism ministerial history. Jaime Martinez is the tenth tourism minister since tourism ministers started to be appointed in 1983.

To give the full list of ministers, they have been Jaume Cladera, Joan Flaquer (twice), José María González Ortea, Celesti Alomar, Francesc Buils, Miquel Nadal, Miquel Ferrer, Joana Barceló and of course Carlos Delgado. Of thirty years of the ministry, seventeen of these years saw only two ministers - Cladera for ten and Flaquer for seven. With Martinez now getting his feet under the ministerial desk, his appointment means that eight ministers have averaged just a fraction longer than a year and a half in office.

One does have to bear in mind of course that during the last administration there were no fewer than four ministers. Buils and Nadal both had to go and both have since been convicted. Ferrer lasted only a few weeks before his party, the old Unió Mallorquina, was booted out of the coalition. Barceló got the job solely because the president, Francesc Antich, was desperate to find someone, anyone, from his own PSOE party to take over. Four ministers over the course of a four-year administration between 2007 and 2011 help to explain the low average tenure of Balearics tourism ministers.

Delgado's resignation is indicative of instability in two respects. One is the cabinet of President Bauzá because of its resignations and reshuffle dismissals. The other is the job of tourism minister. A new minister can be expected after elections, but the ministry has now had six ministers in six years. Continuity, it might be said, has been in somewhat short supply. So also has been contentment among those in the tourism industry. The Balearics, for a region that pioneered mass tourism, has a pretty lamentable recent record when it comes to governing this tourism.

But what of these various ministers? The one who stands out is the first minister, Jaume Cladera. He had the job for the longest period and of all of them he has been the only one of whom it can be said that he was genuinely qualified. His background was tourism before he became vice-president of the Mallorca Tourist Board in 1979 and was a logical choice to be minister in the first regional government in 1983. Of others, Alomar had been the director of the old IBATUR promotion agency prior to becoming minister in 1999, but none could boast Cladera's industry background.

Starting pretty much from scratch, Cladera was bound to make some impact. And, by introducing the plan for tourism and for introducing all manner of legislation to do with tourism, he did make an impact. He commanded a deal of respect as well as being a symbol of stability for the industry.

It isn't a pre-requisite of ministerial office that a minister has to have a background specific to his portfolio, but it certainly helps if he or she does.  President Bauzá appeared to acknowledge as much when he appointed Gabriel Company, at the time an independent and not a member of the Partido Popular, to head the agriculture-environment-land mega-ministry. Company was a businessman with years of experience in agriculture, but in terms of economic importance agriculture is a long way behind tourism. Why, therefore, is there not a minister with specific industry knowledge? Someone like, say, a Jaume Cladera?

The new man Martinez has been knocking around the tourism ministry as well as Calvia town hall over the years. He knows about tourism, but this isn't the same as understanding tourism or, perhaps more importantly, understanding tourists. Part of the Calvia clique which Delgado, rather like a new football manager, took with him to the ministry, it can be said that Martinez has experience of administration in one of Spain's most important tourist towns. But does he have experience of tourists? What does he really know of the differing types of tourist, the differing nature of tourism in Calvia and therefore in Mallorca and the Balearics? Administration yes, but not necessarily experience of the right variety. An architect by profession, what have been his priorities? As with the Mallorcan property lawyer Isabel Borrego who is the national secretary of state for tourism, there is the fear that he views tourism as an exercise in real estate and bricks and mortar (and a certain type of bricks and mortar) rather than in hearts and minds.

Do we, though, expect too much from tourism ministers? There are certain issues which they can do precious little to influence - all-inclusives being one, save perhaps from legally established standards of service. There are others which they can influence; holiday rentals is one, were they of a mind to. But the expectation lies more with a sense of vision, and this is most unlikely to ever come from someone whose knowledge of tourism is administrative as opposed to strategic and hands-on. Martinez is really no different to most tourism ministers that the Balearics have had in this regard. The tenth minister, and the ninth not to have come from the industry.

He Killed Bambi: Carlos Delgado's resignation

So, farewell, Carlos, we shall miss your entertainment factor. We say goodbye to you, slayer of Bambi. You gave us a pantomime last year - "Cinderella And The Magic Orbs" - when as Prince Charming you told Cinderella that your hat was made from magic sea-grass orbs. Cinderella thought they were a deer's testicles. Silly girl. We say goodbye also to your finding a nice little job for your lady of Lourdes at your ministry (46,000 euros a year). What a pity you had to withdraw the job offer. She was so well qualified after all, your girlfriend, now Mrs. Delgado. We wonder what Lourdes made of the magic sea-orbs and how the photo of them came to be in the press. Did she speak to your former wife? We bid farewell also to your comparing the Guardia Civil investigators of alleged irregularities at Radio Calvia when you were mayor to a fascist, whoring, heavy-drinking, Atletico Madrid-supporting fictional comic detective. Is it true you had offered to resign at the end of June? Was that not when you were making this comparison?

We wish you safe journey also knowing that you gave the hoteliers all that they could have wished for, that you did nothing to help the non-hotel sector or the owners of private apartments for holiday rental, that you could only run to a tourism promotion budget of 2.7 million euros a year, that you turned the Balearics exhibition stand in Berlin into a laughing-stock, that you didn't concentrate only on tourism, that you were the power behind anti-Catalan policy, behind trilingual teaching policy, behind slagging off mayors who disagreed with this policy, behind getting nice Rafael Bosch removed as education minister. Or maybe some of this should only be allegedly.

Perhaps you don't deserve only opprobrium. There is so little money, and that tourism promotion budget had previously been wasted on the stupid. You were not wrong in this regard. Nor were you wrong in attempting to drive modernisation and renewal of hotels and resorts. Nor were you wrong in moving promotional efforts to greater use of new technologies. This use was in your tourism plan. It looked very impressive. You were not wrong, but we haven't seen any evidence. Nor have we seen any evidence of improvements to winter tourism. Do you remember these? True, the two-to-three years are not yet up, but the meagre spends on promotion were going to reap some benefit and your plan for winter tourism was the first ever such plan for winter tourism. Wasn't this what you told us?

Now you have gone, where are you going? Do you have a nice job in business somewhere? It must be good in order for you to leave politics and not just the tourism ministry. You had so much ambition. Two times you had tried to become leader and two times you had missed out. First to Rosa Estaras and then to your chum José Ramón Bauzá. Or is he your chum? Rival? It's hard to say, but many say that it was you, and not José Ramón, who was the driving-force in the party. What will he do now that you have gone?

And what can we expect of your successor? Jaime Martinez. "Square man". Isn't this the nickname he has? Something like this. He clearly enjoys a good lunch anyway. What will he do now that you have gone? You had at least been mayor of Calvia before you became minister. Calvia, town of Magalluf, Santa Ponsa, Peguera, Illetes, Palmanova. Town of so much tourism. More than any other town in Mallorca. More than mostly any town in Spain. Yes, you must have known about tourism. But what of Jaime? He was an architect. He worked with you at the town hall and then he became director-general at the ministry. Now he has your job. What will he have learned from you? What will he know of tourism other than drawing up architects' plans for hotel developments? Oh, possibly quite a lot. How you praised his efforts in putting together the tourism law, the one with so much for the hotels and so little for others.

Farewell, Carlos. Mallorca's politics will not be the same without you. The deer's balls, the girlfriend's job, the slur on the Guardia. And there was also your saying that the Costas Authority were useless (maybe we didn't completely disagree with you on this one) and the business with your personal trainer, his sister and the 800 grand. Whatever that was all about. With your going, we lose not just entertainment but also interest. You were never boring, put it that way. Maybe we also lose some honesty and consistency. Why were people so taken aback by your policies? You had spoken of them before the elections in 2011. We knew what you thought. We might not have agreed, but you said what you believed in and, for the most part, you did not veer from saying what you believed in.

And I have lost a prime character in the Mallorcan play. In the Mallorcan political pantomime. You have been my Prince Charming, my Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, my Carlos Slim. Or simply, Carlos. Your Christian name alone was enough. We knew who you were. We shall indeed miss you.

The Power Behind Balearics Trilingualism

What has the teachers strike got to do with Carlos Delgado? The Balearics tourism minister had been quiet on the subject until the other day. His silence was wholly appropriate. Education is not a matter for a tourism minister, but then Delgado is no ordinary tourism minister.

In March 2011, two months before the last regional election, Delgado gave an interview, having been through one of those spells of which he makes a habit and when he appears to have disappeared. He was asked which ministerial post he would like. He had two preferences. One was tourism, the other was education. Where education was concerned, he wanted to see a situation by which parents could choose the language in which their children were taught, the choice being between Castellano and Catalan and one that was indeed established after the election. In the end, he got his wish for tourism, even though the hoteliers had tried to persuade Bauzá not to give him the job. Commenting on his preferences, I observed that "Bauzá has himself become divisive in a way that does not bode well for what should be within his grasp, the presidency of the Balearics. If he bows to Delgado's ambition for education, the divisions are likely to widen. But then who actually makes the decisions and who actually wields the power?"

I was fearful of divisions in Mallorcan and Balearic society that might come with a Bauzá presidency. They had not manifested themselves in quite the way that they have over the past few weeks, but the teachers strike is the consequence of this divisiveness. Concerted industrial action was going to happen at some point, and it now has. Had Delgado been made education minister in 2011, the chances are that it would have happened very much sooner and it would have been a lot bloodier.

One commentator in the Spanish press referred to Delgado recently as "education minister number one". By so doing, a point was emphasised that was widely thought to be the case before the 2011 elections; Delgado was the power to which I referred then, his anti-Catalanism was more vociferous than Bauzá's and had been well-chronicled before Bauzá was plucked from Marratxí obscurity to head the Balearics PP.

The tourism minister's silence over the strike has now been broken, and he has chosen to attack members of his own party: mayors of PP-led towns who do not fully support TIL. These mayors had met with the person who is the education minister, Joana Maria Camps, and had, in essence, called on her to back track. Among them were Sa Pobla's Biel Serra and Pollensa's Tomeu Cifre, mayors of towns with very identifiable Catalan and indeed Catalanist traditions. Delgado wants disciplinary sanctions against mayors who do not follow the party line. What does he propose? That they are thrown out of the party in the same way that Antoni Pastor of Manacor was for refusing to go along with PP anti-Catalan policy?

It has been suggested that it was Delgado who pushed for the removal of the former education minister Rafael Bosch, who was believed to be a moderate and so therefore a "Catalanist". It really is no coincidence that Bosch went very shortly after the original TIL bill was approved in April and was replaced by someone who would do as she was told. The question is, though: told by whom?

It may not ultimately matter who is wielding the power behind the scenes, but by calling for sanctions against mayors, Delgado is adding to the divisiveness that TIL is causing, and one is left to wonder if this is a divisiveness that has been craved. The unions have rejected accusations that they have embarked on a political strike, but their rebuttals do not convince. In turning down Camps' offer to make TIL voluntary for this year at secondary level and demanding instead that it be voluntary at primary level as well, they have tried to stick to the educational knitting, but have undermined their position by demanding also that the "law on symbols" (which covers inter alia the display of the Catalan flag) be withdrawn. What else is this but political?

Had TIL been purely educational there would not be a strike. The chances are that, were educational issues the only ones that mattered, TIL would not even have cropped up, but had it, then its implementation and its preparation would have been very different. It is a policy driven by a political agenda, one driven by Delgado and Bauzá and one that was inevitably going to lead to conflict and division. And the unions have been only too happy to oblige.

The Consortium For Building And Knocking Down

Mallorca loves consortiums. The Balearics tourism ministry has various consortiums and one of these is the Consortium for the Tourist Accommodation Fund, a somewhat misleading title as accommodation is not its main reason for being, unless one counts accommodation it is planning on paying for in order for it to be demolished.

This particular consortium, in addition to the tourism ministry itself, comprises representatives of Sa Nostra bank, the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and the Mallorcan hotel chains group, two unions and the Council of Mallorca. It is a consortium which, unlike some other parts of the tourism ministry, for instance that which deals with promotion, has a reasonable amount of money at its disposal. It has recently announced a budget into next year of 7.5 million euros.

Not everyone in the consortium is happy with the way that the budget will be divvied up. Thirteen projects are envisaged, five of which, representing around 30% of the budget, will involve investments in one municipality: Calvia, whose former mayor, Carlos Delgado, is now the tourism minister.

This might seem as though investment is somewhat skewed in favour of Carlos's old patch and, up to a point, it is. In August 2011, as an example, Calvia registered almost 1.6 million overnight stays. The total for the whole of Mallorca for that month was 7.8 million, meaning that Calvia accounted for only a fifth of the island's tourism. But, it would be a 10% quibble to suggest that Calvia shouldn't demand a greater percentage slice of the investment cake; the municipality also happened to be, in that month of August, among the top three destinations in the whole of Spain in terms of overnight stays. The other two? Barcelona and Madrid.

When you place Calvia's tourist volume in context, you realise just how important the town is not just for Mallorca's tourism but also Spain's. This is a place with little more than 50,000 permanent residents vying for top tourism spot with the might of the El Clasico cities. So, if Calvia is awarded greater investment than anywhere else by the Consortium, this seems perfectly reasonable.

However, this is not how some members of the Consortium see things. There should be more of an even distribution across the island, suggests the hotel chains' group representative. Well, possibly so, but there is one hotel chain that may beg to differ, and Delgado has argued that investment the Consortium is making should take account of investment activities by the private sector, i.e. the hotels, and especially Meliá. One of the Calvia projects will be the boulevard in Magalluf to connect the various Meliá complexes which the company has been upgrading.

While criticisms of the level of investment heading Calvia's way seem a little churlish, there have been wider criticisms for the one project to do with accommodation - the demolition one. And this is the abandoned Rocamar hostel in Port de Soller.

The controversy surrounding this hostel took a further turn last summer when it emerged that the Consortium had come to an agreement to acquire and demolish it. At the heart of this turn in the controversy was who would in fact end up with the money: not the owner, but Jaume Ensenyat, a local businessman and the father of the head of inspection at the tourism ministry. He had loaned the owner almost a million euros in 2005 in return for a mortgage guarantee. The valuation placed on the acquisition and demolition was some 19,000 euros lower than this loan.

In itself, and despite the obvious connection to the head of inspection, the fact that the payment would go to someone else other than the owner also doesn't seem unreasonable. The problem is, and hence the wider criticisms, that an official valuation made by an architect (contracted by the tourism ministry) in February 2012 set the valuation at under 300,000 euros. Two months later, two reports emanated from ministry technical experts which disputed this and placed a valuation 241% higher - not far short of a million.

The socialist PSOE party intends to press for a commission of inquiry to be established to look into what it has said is the lack of a "plausible explanation" from Carlos Delgado as to why there has been an agreement to pay this higher valuation. It might note, though, that members of the Consortium were apparently unanimous in agreeing the budget for the Rocamar. Maybe they were right to be, but while there has been disagreement about the level of investment that is going to Calvia, the silence as to a spend way over the valuation given by the ministry's own architect is ever so slightly deafening. 


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Carlos And The Torrent Of Abuse

My guess would be that few of you will have heard of the film character José Luis Torrente. He is an interesting character in that, other than being a policeman (I think he has moved on to being an ex-policeman), he is also a racist, a Francoist, a fascist, a sexist, a frequenter of prostitutes, a heavy drinker and, as if this wasn't bad enough, a fan of Atlético Madrid.

Torrente was/is a character dreamt up by Santiago Segura, an actor and film producer. In what has since become a series of four Torrente films, he first appeared in the 1998 "Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley", which translates as "Torrente, the stupid arm of the law".

Segura's Torrente franchise has suddenly been propelled stage centre into a new Mallorcan political drama. Carlos and the Torrente of abuse. Well, Torrente (or torrent) of abuse is rather overstating things, but it sounds good as a title and it does allude to what the master of the foot firmly in it, tourism minister Carlos Delgado, has had to say about the Guardia Civil, and specifically about a report by the Guardia into matters at Radio Calvia when Carlos was mayor. This report forms the basis of a Guardia request to a judge to subpoena Delgado so that he has to make a declaration in respect of the awarding of contracts at the radio station. By implication, the Guardia believes he may have a case to answer.

What is now being referred to as the "caso Radio Calvia" first came to light in March when the Guardia raided Calvia town hall, which was pretty dramatic stuff in itself. The Guardia was acting on a complaint lodged against Delgado by the PSOE party in Calvia. This alleged irregularities in respect of the awarding of contracts, and PSOE said that there could be evidence of "bribery, embezzlement, abuse of public office and the peddling of influence". Also named in PSOE's complaint were the current mayor, Manuel Onieva, and the current and former managers of the station. It went on to suggest that irregularities related to a period from 2005 to 2011.

At the time of the raid, Delgado insisted that the contracts were in accordance with the law governing awards in the public sector. He accused PSOE of "malicious misrepresentation" but said that if he were to be indicted (i.e. subpoenaed), he would abide by the ethical code of the Partido Popular, meaning that he would place himself in the party's hands. It could choose to relieve him of his position as tourism minister or not.

In fact, if the judge does decide to indict him, the PP would face no alternative than to force him to resign. To do anything else would make a mockery of its ethical code. Its spokesperson, Nuria Riera, has said that Delgado has the party's full support, but whether he would still have it, were the judge to accede to the Guardia's petition, must be open to doubt.

Delgado doesn't believe that he will be indicted. And he said so at a press conference, which is where the reference to Torrente comes into the story. Among other things, Carlos reckoned that the Guardia's investigation was "typical of Torrente". In English, we would say that it was like something out of a Torrente movie. At the press conference, Delgado highlighted what he claimed were inconsistencies and contradictions in the Guardia investigation report (getting dates mixed up or wrong, for instance). This might not have been so bad, but it was the terms in which he dissed the report and so therefore the Guardia which has really produced the drama.

Just look back at Torrente's character and at the title of his first film. I rest my case, m´lud might be the words of a prosecutor defending the Guardia's honour. It must be remembered that in Spain there are certain institutions you do not go around disrespecting, and the Guardia is most definitely one of them. It is not above criticism, but disrespect is taken a dim view of, and the Guardia is not happy that its professionalism has been challenged in the way that it has been.

Delgado has had his moments of gaffe, none more so than the photo of him with the deer's testicles on his head. It didn't exactly do him any favours, but that was more a case of him being opened up to potential ridicule rather than it having been a resignation matter. Now, however, and regardless of whether he is indicted or isn't, he may find it hard not to resign. If he had stuck to the inconsistencies line and that alone and left it to the judge to decide if there are indeed inconsistencies in the investigation report, then calls for him to go would not necessarily be being made pre-emptively. But he didn't. And worse still, he has picked an institution of which it makes little sense to make an enemy.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Mallorca's Political Radio Times

My guess would be that there is a fair amount of schadenfreude knocking around at Carlos Delgado's expense. The Balearics tourism minister is not universally liked,  and those who have taken a dislike to him (which will include some members of his party, the Partido Popular) will probably be taking a certain delight in his latest predicament.

Previous Delgado embarrassments have really only been embarrassments - the appointment of his girlfriend to a well-paid job in the ministry and the deer's testicles incident. This one isn't so much embarrassing as potentially serious.

Last week, Guardia Civil officers raided Calvià town hall. Acting on a complaint from the PSOE socialist party, they took away documents related to contracts for the town's radio station. The legal complaint now presented to a judge implicates Delgado when he was mayor of Calvià, the current mayor, Manu Onieva, the former head of press relations at the town hall and the two people who were running the radio station between 2005 and 2011. The complaint accuses these five of crimes of fraud, corruption, abuse of public office and the misappropriation of public funds. What it boils down to is the fact that the appointments for the management of the radio station were made without a public tender having been offered and without the contracts being advertised. The value of the contracts amounted to over one million euros.

This is an odd case, as it isn't new. For example, during Delgado's time as mayor, there was an investigation at the end of which a judge declared that, though there had been defects with the tender process, there had been no indication of any illegality. Delgado insists that the awarding of contracts were in line with the law on such contracts in the public sector. The previous decision by a judge may have suggested that they weren't totally in accordance with the law, but a further legal decision, one made last October, dismissed another complaint made by the PSOE party in Calvià.

The PSOE representatives say that it was their duty and responsibility to make a new complaint. There may be new evidence that points to wrongdoing - that's something for the police, the prosecutors and the judge - but otherwise, why has this complaint come up again?

When the raid on the town hall occurred, the secretary-general of the PP in the Balearics, Miguel Ramis, alluded to a sense in which the PP was being picked on. He was clear in respecting that the law had to be followed and that the agents of the law were doing as they should, but this was not the first time that a member of the PP had suggested that the party was being singled out. It may be a touch of paranoia, while it should be said that the PP is far from having been singled out, but I can understand Ramis's point. Of course, there may be very good grounds for the latest investigation, but I am not alone in feeling uneasy at the way in which the political process becomes mired in legal complaints.

Let's be clear. There have been and may well still be very legitimate reasons for lodging such complaints, but when one political party in effect initiates legal proceedings against another, or against individuals in another party, are there not grounds for feeling that the legal system is being used for political advantage?

It was certainly the case that the PP and the old Unió Mallorquina felt that they were victims of such attempts of gaining advantage. But then previous complaints have been shown to have had substance. They also led, however, to the current president intimating that if evidence were found of wrongdoing by the previous PSOE administration in the Balearics, he would not hesitate in calling in the legal people. It smacked of tit for tat and it emphasised, yet again, that the political system is far from being one of any harmony. When the law is resorted to, it is not possible for there to be harmony.

The Calvià town hall raid may yet prove to be another example of a spectacular, one played out in the full glare of the media who seem to always be invited along, but which comes to very little. Or maybe it will prove otherwise. Either way, there is something less than satisfactory about this constant involvement of police, prosecutors and judges in the political process.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Calvià town hall raided by the Guardia Civil

Agents from the Guardia Civil have raided Calvià town hall. In response to a legal complaint raised by PSIB (the Balearics wing of PSOE), a judge authorised the action in order to obtain documents related to contracts for the management of Radio Calvià during the time that Carlos Delgado, now the Balearics tourism minister, was mayor. PSIB had specifically lodged a complaint against Delgado, the Guardia acting on allegations of abuse of public office and misappropriation of public funds.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

Smelling Rats: Deer's balls and Artur Mas

There's a smell around. It's a not unfamiliar one. It's the smells of rats. I smell rats. At least two of them. One rat is a rat that isn't a deer, the smell of the other rat has wafted across from Catalonia.

I don't know what to make of the Delgado photos. In that, I don't know why they have appeared when they have, i.e. now. Their appearance may simply be because they were delivered to the press out of the blue. Possibly. But the press tend to have these things hanging around, waiting for an opportune moment. As I suggested yesterday, coming so soon after the Bosch-Company diving affair, there is a hint of more than mere coincidence. Not that I don't take great delight in the Partido Popular thrashing around in embarrassment - I do - but when photos of the type that embarrass Delgado and the PP are as old as they are (at least eighteen months), it is very reasonable to ask why now and to wonder if they have indeed just turned up out of the blue.

The photos have gone international. The "Daily Mail" has featured them, reiterating the bad image line that the local press has hammered home and provoking not untypical, British readership Spain-is barbaric-and-cruel-to-animals comments. The "it-sets-back-animal-rights" argument that is being trotted out locally is one of righteous indignation without any pause to raise the question of the timing. It is an argument that is also wrong. It sets animal rights forward. A photo of a stupid politician with a deer's balls on his head should work far greater wonders in shifting Spanish opinion than any demo outside a bullfight.

Delgado should be congratulated for making an idiot of himself and for promoting animal rights. He should also be congratulated, and of course all the righteousness entirely misses this point, for providing one of the most hilarious examples of politician berkdom that one is ever likely to encounter, even in a country blessed with as many capable of such berkdom as Spain has. The image with the balls on his head is one destined no doubt for "Have I Got News For You" or a similar show; it is a comedian and satirist's dream. It might be one that means Spain (or more accurately, Mallorca) being poked fun at, but Delgado is the one who should be the butt of the jokes.

While I smell a rat at the timing of the release of the photos, the smell is nothing like as strong as that coming from Catalonia. A few days ahead of the election which may give Artur Mas the mandate to possibly stage a referendum on Catalonian independence, what happens? Out of the blue comes what is said to be a police report in which Mas is implicated for taking kickbacks for public works contracts. The report is odd, as neither the prosecutor nor the judge in charge of the case into contractual wrongdoings in Catalonia appears to be aware of it. The public's attention to the existence of this report came in the right-wing "El Mundo", no great fan of Mas's independence ambitions therefore. Mas is going to sue.

Whatever the truth might be of what "El Mundo" has to say, and former president Jordi Pujol is also named by the paper and is also taking legal action, the timing has to be queried. The suspicion is of an attempt, and a possibly crude one at that, to blacken Mas's name just prior to the election.

The press is all about getting scoops. Of course it is. But I have commented before on the degree to which the media is influenced by political parties in Spain. This sort of influence is exerted elsewhere - as we know - but in Spain, it is the case that you have to consider much of what appears in the media in terms of motive. And whose motive, more to the point.

The two stories - Delgado and the deer, Mas and the alleged kickbacks - are very different. The first should be treated for what it is, the story of a politician who has provided a moment of high but warped comedy; the second, if the story proves to be without foundation (and there may be some foundation), is far more serious. Spain is a country that might fall apart because of Mas and Catalonia. It still has an immature and undeveloped sense of real democracy, one that would be enhanced by Catalonia staying where it is, i.e. inside Spain, but being a constant thorn in the state flesh to ensure that this democracy is one day truly demonstrated. But within this immaturity there is a fourth estate which has yet to demonstrate that it might genuinely one day claim to be independent. For now, too many rats can be smelt, and too often.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Deerhunter: Carlos and the cojones

Spain does have something of an issue when it comes to hunting. Because of a desire to open fire on wildlife and deprive it of life, it succeeds in conveying an impression of being less than animalistically correct. Not so long ago there was the poor old monarch taking a blunderbuss to elephants in Botswana and getting himself stripped of the title of honorary president of the Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund as a result. Now we have the Balearics tourism minister. Carlos Delgado went and topped a monarch of the glen and in celebration placed the deer's testicles on top of his head. The King shoots Dumbo and Carlos shoots Bambi.

It really isn't a particularly pleasant picture, the one of Carlos with the cojones: a smiling, nay euphoric Delgado, victory-V signs with both hands, blood trickling down his happy fizzog and the two veg of the stag lying on a garnish of tourism minister hair. There are certain things that I might place on my head, a cap for example, but personally I would draw the line at Bambi's bollocks. Carlos, evidently, is not quite so squeamish. I wonder where the balls are now.

As you can probably imagine, the image of the triumphant tourism minister with his testicular trophies hasn't gone down well with some people: the animal rightists, for instance. This is no image for a tourism minister to be displaying. What will people think of Mallorca if its tourism minister can shoot defenceless creatures, remove their tackle and turn it into headgear? Resign! Resign!

It isn't an especially endearing image it has to be said. But it is an image with a bit of history. It's not as if Carlos went off last week and hunted his prey. He did so when he was still mayor of Calvià, i.e. before he became minister. The photo dates back eighteen months or longer. Which does rather beg the question as to why it has now only surfaced.

In an interview with the IB3 television channel, Delgado has said that the photo (photos in fact) were in an album in his former home. He is of course separated from his wife, a fact that became evident when he appointed his girlfriend to a post in the ministry and then had to remove her because of the outcry. Someone, he said in the interview, had passed the photos to a newspaper. And the newspaper which published the photos is one that has its own issue - one with Delgado.

The opposition parties are, naturally enough, having a field day. It's an example of politicians indulging in pastimes which make them appear to be laughing at the people of the Balearics when they are suffering so badly because of economic crisis. This has echoes of the King's elephantine error in Botswana. A similar thing was said about him swanning off on a hunting trip when the people of Spain were heading towards a state of penury, if they hadn't already arrived at it.

A further criticism that the opposition has levelled is a broader one of the composition of the Balearic Government's cabinet. It is male and male alone and has been since the health minister (the first one, that is) resigned; the second one was male, as is the third. So, Delgado and his hunting trip is indicative of a male-dominated government. Or something like this. I confess that I don't quite follow the logic, but then it is the logic of the female-dominated PSOE. I suppose the logic is that were the cabinet full of women, rather than going on hunting trips, they would all be out on shopping trips buying shoes. Or maybe jackets made with deer hides.

There is of course a serious side to this. The photo doesn't convey a good image, and it is no use Delgado or the government pretending that it does. Moreover, coming on top of various mishaps and personal embarrassments that the government and individual ministers have experienced recently, this latest one simply adds to the embarrassment. One does, however, wonder as to the timing of the photo's emergence into the public domain so soon after ministers Bosch and Company were found to have been off on allegedly private diving trips at public expense.

But then, there is a different serious side to the whole affair. Delgado is minister for sport as well as tourism. Hunting is considered to be a sport, though some might disagree. It may not be huge business, but there is international tourism to be gained from hunting. In the mountains above Alcúdia, the quality of the goats is first-rate, and certification awarded a few years ago says so. This is goat quality for quality huntsmen to take aim at. Perhaps, therefore, Delgado's photo is not all bad news and all bad image. Mind you, I don't know what they do with goats' testicles.

* If you want to see the photo of Delgado, which I'm not reproducing because of copyright as opposed to any sensitivity, then go here for example:http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/noticia/noticias/local/diputado-animalista-avisa-foto-delgado-los-testiculos-del-ciervo-dana-marca-espana.html


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Delgado lashes out at Grupo Serra

Tourism minister Carlos Delgado yesterday launched an attack on newspaper and media company Grupo Serra during a parliamentary session which seemingly left members of his own party, the Partido Popular, taken aback. What caused this were reports in "Ultima Hora" regarding what the paper claimed were payments to Delgado's personal trainer while he was mayor of Calvià. Delgado says that this is all the consequence of a personal vendetta against him on behalf of Pedro Serra, president of the company. The bad blood between Delgado and Serra is known about in media circles, and now it is well and truly out in the open.

"Ultima Hora", on its website, makes no mention of this attack by Delgado. "El Mundo" (and it might be noted that it has been a fierce critic of Pedro Serra) highlights one of Delgado's swipes at Grupo Serra, namely that it received almost five million euros from the previous government between 2007 and 2011. 

See more: Diario de Mallorca, 
El Mundo

MALLORCA TODAY - Delgado and his personal trainer

The subject of tourism minister Carlos Delgado and his personal trainer flared up while Delgado was still mayor of Calvià, and it has come up again. The trainer, Younes Ouriaghli, has been appointed as consultant to the Balearics School of Sport (Delgado is also minister responsible for sport), and "Ultima Hora" has revealed that Ouriaghli and his sister, through a company operated by his sister, received some 800,000 euros from Calvià town hall for various projects between 2007 and 2011.

This revelation comes after the recent controversy surrounding Delgado's appointment of his girlfriend to a post in the tourism minister, which was later reversed because of the outcry.

See more: Ultima Hora

MALLORCA TODAY - Delgado's girlfriend loses her job at tourism ministry

Lourdes Reynés, the girlfriend of Balearics tourism minister Carlos Delgado, has been removed from her post as technical advisor in the ministry, only days after her appointment was received with outrage and calls for Delgado to resign. The parliamentary spokesperson for the Partido Popular has admitted that the appointment was an error, but has said that her removal (resignation in fact, or so it would appear) was not on account of any ethical code having been broken.

Our Tourism Lady Of Lourdes

I don't think there are many Saint Bernadettes wandering around the Balearic tourism ministry. I imagine there aren't many ladies called Lourdes there either. Notably though, there is one. The apparition of a lady called Lourdes has been possible since she was named as a technical advisor at the ministry.

The appointment of Lourdes Reynés would not have caused there to be a moment's notice were it not for the fact that she has an intimate relationship with someone whose apparition in the tourism ministry has been more obvious for the past few months. Carlos Delgado, the tourism minister, and la belle Reynés are an item.

The news of the appointment and of Delgado and Reynés' relationship is manna from heaven. Well, it is to the likes of myself, and should be to many a Spanish journalist as it is of course to the opposition parties. But there is, and not the first time, a slight curiosity. Delgado's girlfriend, as a subject, appears to be being avoided by one newspaper group. Why? Well, I do know why, but I'm not going to tell you. Suffice it to say that, for various reasons, local newspapers are sometimes reluctant to engage in scrutinising the affairs (of different types) of politicians and others.

Not all newspapers, though. The "Diario de Mallorca", not normally cowed, has offered its opinion, and so shall I, if only via this blog. The affair is a bloody disgrace. There, I've said it.

I couldn't care less about Delgado's personal relationship with Reynés, though he did go on record as saying as recently as last summer that he was happily married, only to seemingly soon not be. It would also seem that he didn't know Reynés last summer. Well, he does now.

Be this as it may, the appointment should be an acute embarrassment. Here is a government that has made much of turning its back on sleaze (where have we heard this sort of thing before?) and is in the process of squeezing the life out of the people of the Balearics, out of jobs, out of the health service, out of you name it, and a minister goes and gives a job to his partner.

Reynés, so we are told, is eminently suited to the post to which she has been appointed, and there is no reason to believe that she isn't. What the post actually is, I'm not entirely sure. Technical advisor, but much is being made of the fact that she is a journalist and speaks five languages, so I think we can assume it's something to do with communication.

But on these criteria, as I am also a journalist and speak different languages and know a hell of a lot about tourism, I should be given the job. Go on, Carlos, gis a job. I am willing to do it for less than the 46 grand that Lourdes is going to trouser.

The salary forms part of the Delgado defence. How about this for spin? Because Lourdes was getting a few grand more in a previous post with the Playa de Palma consortium, a post that now no longer exists, her new appointment represents a saving to the ministry. Brilliant. Unfortunately, it completely misses the point, which is that Carlos has made an almighty great gaffe. Qualified for the job or not, she's his bloody girlfriend. Can't he see that this is a PR error? He should speak to Lourdes if he doesn't, given that she is an expert in communication.

Not only does Carlos not seem to get it nor also does his party. The PP upper echelons see nothing wrong with the live-in being handed the best part of 50,000 euros by a senior minister. It sees nothing wrong because it doesn't want to see anything wrong. See no evil etc. Not that there is anything evil. Of course there isn't. Just very poor public relations.

The opposition has demanded Delgado's head. It is natural at such times for resignation to be called for. It is most unlikely to happen. Nor should it. But Carlos should do the honourable thing and find Lourdes some other gainful employment. One feels sure that he is in a position to swing it for her somewhere, so long as it isn't in the tourism ministry. The point is that, despite certain criticisms of the new tourism law, Delgado seems to be doing a reasonable job at tourism. And for him to go now, just as the new bill is heading towards parliament, would be unfortunate. But this doesn't excuse him. The appointment is a mistake, and if he doesn't realise that it is, then his political judgement is badly compromised.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Call for Delgado to resign over girlfriend appointment

Opposition parties have today demanded the resignation of Balearics tourism minister Carlos Delgado following the appointment as a technical adviser within the tourism ministry of his girlfriend, Lourdes Reynés. The tourism ministry has issued a statement in which it explains that the position had fallen vacant and that Reynés will be remunerated to the tune of 46,200 euros per annum, which is less than she had been receiving in a post with the Playa de Palma consortium.

Promoting Shanty Towns

Arenal, despite its current-day association with German tourism, wasn't always German-dominated. It was the first resort in Mallorca that I had any experience of. This was at the end of the 1960s. I can't say I remember much about the place, other than the sight of what was like a shanty town next to the hotel.

Today's Arenal is one of those resorts that doesn't, you might believe, need much promoting. It is synonymous among many a German visitor with Mallorca, those for whom Peguera and Cala Ratjada aren't synonyms. It's as well if it doesn't need much promoting because the municipality in which Arenal is located - Llucmajor - is scrapping its tourism trust, i.e. tourism board.

The trust was spending around 170,000 euros a year. This went on a few tourism fairs to publicise the different attractions of Llucmajor as a whole and not just Arenal and for a director who took a salary of 34,000 euros. Neither the spend nor the salary was in any way excessive.

The thinking where Llucmajor town hall, boracic like all other town halls, is concerned is that, as it now no longer receives any grants for promotion from the government, there is no point in having a tourism promotion operation. Couldn't the town hall manage without these grants? No. Because, or at least this is what the town hall is saying, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado has told them to stop the local tourism trust and to concentrate efforts on Mallorca and the Balearics that are operated by the ATB (Balearics Tourism Agency).

This is a strange explanation. Strange because other town halls are continuing to arrange their own promotion. Pollensa, for instance, has reserved 300,000 euros for this purpose. It is even stranger as Delgado had appeared to "get it" about promotion. He has said that promotion of a generic Balearics brand wasn't a particularly good idea, and he was absolutely right. In fact, it has always been a lousy idea because there is no recognisable Balearics brand as such. Indeed, Delgado had gone so far as to suggest that rather than just promotion of the individual islands, which do carry brand recognition, it was sensible for there to be promotion of specific parts of the islands, as in resorts for instance.

So has Delgado performed a U-turn or is Llucmajor inventing Delgado's instruction? Hard to say. Whatever the situation, there is no questioning the fact that money for tourism promotion is in desperately short supply whether it be for the islands or for the resorts, but there is also little doubt that Delgado's apparent enlightenment was correct; individual towns and resorts should benefit from their own promotion because there is no such thing as a "Mallorca" which embraces the whole island. Arenal, for example, is most certainly not Puerto Pollensa.

To make matters worse, Llucmajor's internet activities appear to have ground to a complete halt; even a Facebook page is not being updated. But Facebook, apart from being a powerful tool, is also extremely cheap. Indeed, it doesn't cost anything, apart from, in the case of a commercial operation, which Llucmajor is in a tourist sense, the cost of paying someone to maintain the page. Surely to goodness they can find a couple of grand a year for this if nothing else.

Abandoning even a basic internet presence such as Facebook is incredibly short-sighted, but so is abandoning promotion full stop. Let's be clear once again. Tourism is what Mallorca does. It is what many of its towns do. The expectation that Germans will just turn up in Arenal is similar to what I spoke about the other day with regard to British tourists being taken for granted. Yes, they probably will just turn up, but acting as though these tourists don't really exist in curbing communications so much that they are curbed out of existence is a sure way in the long term, or even the short to medium term, of making tourists wonder if they are wanted.

Llucmajor is Mallorcan tourism promotion in microcosm. It has all but given up, especially where the major markets are concerned. But as there aren't the funds for grand advertising campaigns, then at least some should be found for the social networks. Delgado has, after all, alluded to finding more flexible and creative ways of stretching limited budgets. So have I. Repeatedly. Returns on Facebook and other social media are likely to be good. But they won't be if no one can be bothered.

At the end of the sixties, Arenal could have been anywhere. It meant nothing. We were going to Madge-orca. That was all that mattered. We are no longer in the sixties. But you wonder sometimes. Are things so bad? Maybe there are shanties again.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Delgado backs down on tourism law

Pressure from town halls has led to tourism minister Carlos Delgado accepting a modification to the proposed new tourism law for the Balearics which will give the town halls the final say in respect of changes of use of hotel accommodation. There are also to be a series of controls related to the quality of service in all-inclusive hotels, though what these are, over and above preventing the taking of food and drink out of hotels (as already contained in the draft legislation), is not clear.

Burying The Hatchet: Tourism law

Idioms and colloquialisms cross cultures and languages. "To bury the hatchet" originates from America, and it found its way into common usage thanks to the tomahawk of the Iroquois Indians being literally buried as a gesture of the ending of hostilities.

The Spanish also bury the hatchet, though being Spanish, they do it in a different language: "enterrar el hacha". The hacha has been buried by the tourism sector, which had been at war over proposals contained in the regional government's draft tourism law. The war had been waged between the hotels and the so-called complementary offer sector, most notably the restaurants and entertainment/nightclub providers, and the burying of the hatchet is intended to demonstrate a united front in the tourism sector, albeit that the complementary offer is still decidedly hacked off with the tourism minister Carlos Delgado. Hacked off it may be, but hacking him to pieces is no longer an option, if it ever was.

What had agitated the complementary offer in particular was the fact that hotels might, under the new law, have ended up becoming "total" hotels, offering pretty much everything that is available outside their walls or grounds, to the competitive disadvantage of the wider tourism sector, be it restaurant, disco or whatever.

The hatchet buried, the peace pipe is due to be passed around at future pow-wows between the hotels and the complementary offer as they form their alliance against (or is it with?) the Great White Chief, namely Delgado. Against or with is a good question to pose, as the the fact is that the hotels will probably still end up being "total" hotels, if they so wish. There seems to be have some acceptance by the hotels that the "secondary activities" that the law would permit have to be limited so as not to cause unfair competition. But how limited might limited be? For how long will this ending of hostilities last? You wouldn't bank on the ceasefire being broken, and broken quite quickly, by the hotels.

It is not as if the hotels have previously shown that they are that well-disposed to accommodating the complementary sector by limiting what could be described as unfair competition. There have certainly been noises from the hoteliers that are far more conciliatory, but the history of the all-inclusive does not act as a great example for a future, more co-operative approach.

The complementary offer has been keen to press for standards of quality when it comes to all-inclusives. This may sound like the restaurants and the other components of the complementary offer are like turkeys in North American forests voting for Christmases of the Iroquois hoteliers with their axes, but the acceptance of the need for greater standards is about all the complementary offer has in its defences. By pressing for greater quality, it hopes that some hotels will be unable to comply with standards and so have to abandon all-inclusive.

The hotels are said to be broadly in agreement with this, but for it to stick would require more than just a broad agreement. It would need to be in black and white with many an i dotted and t crossed and enshrined in law. The draft tourism law is currently mute on the subject. Redrafting in order to embrace this quality standard would take forever. It is hugely doubtful whether it could even be drafted as law. But if it weren't, then how could it ever be made to stick? Moreover, standards that are currently meant to be met seem to have typically been given the ok by tourism ministry inspectors when it is highly questionable as to whether they have been met.

It may be in the hotels' best interests for there to be high quality standards, but there are the interests of others, i.e. different classes of tourists and of course the tour operators. The latter also want the highest of standards, but tourism comes in all shapes and sizes with all sorts of sizes of wallet. To insist on standards of quality that would be beyond some hotels runs the risk of putting these hotels out of business.

The government is determined to raise quality as a means of raising tourism competitiveness. This is laudable, but the practicality is another issue. I can think of hotels that would seriously struggle to be able to meet standards of service that might be contemplated. Ultimately, the hoteliers, as a group, will defend its members, regardless of what peace accords are arrived at with the complementary offer. The hatchet may have been buried, but it can just as easily be dug up again.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

If Mallorca's Tourism Was Like Football

Rather like no one believes the beleaguered football team manager (and a manager is always "beleaguered" when under pressure) when he fronts up before the camera and states that the lads in the dressing-room are all pulling together, so no one believes politicians when they claim that there are no splits or divisions in the ranks.

For once, it isn't the island's great leader, the president, who is beleaguered. It is instead the island's tourism minister, Carlos Delgado. The mercurial, the enigmatic Delgado seems to have lost the dressing-room of the tourism law.

The challenges to the guvnor's authority have been coming in both fast and furious; heavy, two-footed lunges from the defenders of institutional and municipal authority and responsibility. They are all part of the democratic nature of the process of finalising the law, suggests the boss. The lads can have their say, but I'm still the guvnor. We can anticipate a vote of confidence from chairman Bauzá being issued soon from the Consolat de Mar boardroom.

There are no splits in the PP dressing-room, says Delgado. But if not, then where had he been for a few weeks? Had he been diplomatically manoeuvred into the background while all the flak was flying? Not so, unless medical treatment can be considered diplomatic, as at the end of last year he had to go in for an operation on his back. Had someone stabbed him in it?

But what of the gathering at Bellver Castle of the various worthies who have formed Palma's premier league tourism foundation and who chose the castle as the venue to launch it? There was no ashen-faced Delgado to be seen anywhere. Surely this was indeed evidence of a split. Palma's mayor Mateo Isern had thought he was going to turn up, but he didn't.

No, this was also not indicative of any division. The non-appearance was due to getting back on the training ground after that incident with the knife. The guv was hard at work on tactics and moving the players around on his Subbuteo pitch as he figured out how they would all slot in once he had taken account of the democratic nature of the tourism law transfer window period.

Fully restored, manager Delgado has taken himself off to the Spanish tourism championship tournament in Madrid, otherwise known as the Fitur tourism fair. He was there for the presentation of the teams to Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia. But his presence hasn't stopped the murmurings. Joey Bartons of the PP have been tweeting that not all is right in the camp and especially between the guv and the Palma premier league of Isern.

Why might they have fallen out? Could it be that Delgado sees the Palma tourism foundation as a threat to the hegemony of his tourism FA? Sees it as an upstart big-city club creaming off tourism promotion funds from major sponsors when the FA has to get by with promotional scraps from the government?

Not to be outdone, Delgado has unveiled some new players at the Fitur championship. Well, newish. He's been meeting with the Abramoviches of Spanish tourism, the Russian tour operators. And he's planning on a scouting trip to Moscow in March in search of even more faces to add to the Mallorcan and Balearics squad. Aware of what chairman Bauzá has said at Fitur regarding tourism being the locomotive of economic recovery, the guv is looking to pack his side with Russian and Ukrainian midfield dynamos, be they from Lokomotiv Moscow, Dynamo Kiev or wherever. The PP Joey Bartons had better watch out.

Results are all that counts though, and while manager Delgado can count on the Brits and the Germans to be packing the terraces once more this year, he knows that tourism is a game of two halves: the season and the off-season. Can he ever get the lads to perform in the off-season? In summer, when they cross the white line, any divisions in the dressing-room can be set aside.

He hopes that the tourism law might mean a change to the long ball and a longer season, but can he take the lads with him? Chairman Bauzá will be wanting him to, as he has his own divisions to worry about away from the pitch. But if the fans' clamour for Delgado grows so loud he can't ignore them, there's one replacement he won't be offering the job to - the one-time Real Mallorca defender Pastor and currently manager of Manacor. He doesn't need any more heavy, two-footed lunges from defenders to have to contend with.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Gloves Off: Dissent in the PP

Not unexpectedly the gloves have come off. The divisions in the Partido Popular in the Balearics have been laid bare by the party's dissenter-in-chief Antoni Pastor. The gathering for a press conference of the mayor of Manacor and leaders from all other parties in the town displayed a most unusual unity of right and left as Pastor led the attack on the linguistic policies of President Bauzá.

It has been coming of course. It's just that it has arrived some eighteen months after the fracture within the party caused by language and attitudes towards regionalism became evident. Pastor insists that his stance, in particular the rejection of the regional government's removal of Catalan speaking as being a pre-requisite for employment in the public sector, is nothing personal and is not aimed at any specific individual. He would say this, though. There are two people at whom this is all aimed: President Bauzá and the architect of the drive to "castellanizar" the Balearics and of anti-regionalism, Carlos Delgado.

On Monday there is to be a meeting in Binissalem of the party's regional directive. Pastor is banking on getting support from important figures within the party, and it is being admitted that the euphoria surrounding the PP's victory at the regional election in May last year has all but evaporated as concern grows regarding Bauzá's leadership.

And leadership could well be the key to the disaffection. If there were to be a leadership challenge to Bauzá, where might it come from? Manacor in all likelihood.

Why, though, is this all coming to the surface now? One reason is that changes to language law run counter to what was once agreed as policy by the PP at a party congress. Delgado, who lost the argument then, is said to be behind a redefinition of the local party's ideology. But why should there be any surprise? It was clear before the regional election that the party was heading in a particular direction, and plenty within the party, including Pastor, were happy enough to stand for election.

To me, none of this comes as a surprise. It was clear in 2010 that there were divisions and that it was simply a matter of time, once the election was won, that they came into the open.

A problem for Pastor and for other dissenters is that there are more important issues that should be concerning the party and therefore the government. Fighting battles over language policy may not sit well with the public who would rather energies were devoted to tackling the economy. There again, the same could be said for Bauzá and Delgado.

The handling of the economy has not been raised by the dissenters, but after some seven months in office, what has Bauzá achieved? Other than to pursue cost-cutting, very little. In terms of stimulating the local economy, the government has put all its eggs into the one basket of tourism law reforms. But, with the obvious exception of the hoteliers, pretty much any organisation that matters, plus the likes of Palma town hall, has voiced objections to the law.

It says something for the democratic process that the law is open to challenges and to suggestions, but it also says something about the draft itself and quite possibly about attitudes towards its architect. It is, after all, Delgado's law. Were the law enjoying something like smooth passage towards being adopted and were there some indication that the government had any other notion as to how to get the economy going, then dissent of a linguistic nature would seem petty.

The lack of economic initiative and the arguments over language notwithstanding, Pastor and those who might support him run a great risk. It is one of being styled as being out of date. Bauzá has himself been styled as conducting an experiment in the Balearics, one that is more in tune with circumstances as they now exist, and one such circumstance is the degree to which regionalism, as it is currently practised, is sustainable.

Furthermore, Bauzá has sought, and largely achieved, a transformation of the PP. He has gone to great lengths to make sure the party is clean and that its image is not tarnished by the corruption of the past. In challenging the new broom, therefore, his opponents run the risk of being associated, even inadvertently, with the past.

Here is the risk for Pastor, therefore. But he obviously considers it a risk worth taking. For Bauzá the stakes are higher. Can he manage to keep his party together?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.