Bloc-Heads

Politics in Mallorca are never exactly dull. Scandal, crisis, division, these are the almost daily staples of political fare served with a Mallorcan flavour. We now have the situation in which members of the ruling coalition at the Mallorca Council have resigned; they are all from the Unió Mallorquina (UM) nationalist party. It, the UM, forms (or should that be, formed) a pact with the socialists, the PSOE (that of the national president, Zapatero), and the so-called Bloc, comprising the Mallorcan socialists - PSM - and others to the left of centre. This coalition is mirrored at regional government level, i.e. the Balearics Government. Its president, Francesc Antich (PSOE), has looked to try and smooth over the problems at the Council, created, so it would seem, by differences with its own president, Francina Armengol (also PSOE). I trust, by the way, that you're following all this, as I'll be testing you later.

The consequence of the resignations at the Council is that what remains of the coalition now forms a minority. Chief among the accusations coming from the UM is that the Council has become a "dead institution" and a vehicle of "false marketing" (whatever that refers to). It should, the UM maintain, revert to what it is meant to do, namely undertake projects and investment. It's handy that the UM should make this point. There must be many who have no idea what the point of the Council actually is, set, as it is, betwixt the regional government and the town halls.

Setting aside the relevance or not of the Council (though this is a legitimate subject for debate in its own right), the fractiousness is an indictment not only of an inability of those of different political persuasions to work together in the name of the common good but also of the very nature of coalition politics. The UM is a centre-right party; it is not a naturally sympathetic partner for either the PSOE or the Bloc. But partner it is, or has been, as a means of getting some hold on the reigns of power and of making up the numbers to actually form a government. The UM says that it is not planning a rival pact with the conservative Partido Popular (PP), one that might be able to take over the running of the Council for the remainder of the current legislature. Yet, the PP would be a more natural ally. Both have similar political philosophies, apart from the obvious nationalist dimension of the UM and therefore also the language question.

Into all of this strides "The Bulletin" with a call to Antich to declare an election; an election, that is, at regional government level. Why? The Council is an entirely different body. Moreover, it is, as the name makes clear, a body for Mallorca and not the Balearics. It is, however, true to say that the regional government has stumbled into its own crises, in which the UM often appears to be the common factor. There was, for instance, an issue with the former tourism minister (UM) who had to be jettisoned and replaced by the current incumbent, Miquel Nadal (also UM), himself implicated in a scandal.

Were there to be an election, who is to say that the status quo would not be the result? That the same partners would not have to coalesce? Where would this get anyone? Perhaps the problems at the Council are at least in part due to a certain atrophy, that "dead institution", brought about by the horse-trading of a coalition of differing political colours. It is not that coalition politics cannot work. They do in Germany, for example, albeit that consensus politics there leads to a lack of radicalism the country has long needed. Germany now has a more natural coalition of the conservatives and the free-market liberals, one that may well provide the stimulus for change. But the philosophy of seeking consensus is one that seems to be lacking in Mallorca, one that places political party power above a desire to act in tandem for the common good. It is the maturity of the political mindset, or the lack thereof, that creates the problems for sound government in Mallorca. Not the system per se.

A mid-term election would serve no real purpose, unless the problems at the Council do repeat themselves at regional government level, though the feeling is that they do not exist there. Perhaps so; perhaps not. Either way, a solution lies in a greater humility and maturity. Or maybe there's another one - if it is indeed moribund, then scrap the Council altogether.


QUIZYesterday's title - U2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590ljQM08H0. Today's title - one letter's missing of course; this is not an Ian Dury thing, but a film question. Who were they?

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