On Constitution Day: Detestable behaviour

Constitution Day, which was last Saturday, is a day when politicians have a lot to say for themselves; more so than usual, as there is a constitution to be discussed and honoured and matters related to the Magna Carta to be aired. In recent times there has been a recurring theme in Constitution Day addresses. For example, in 2008 the then government delegate for the Balearics, Ramon Socias, had words to say about corruption. The current delegate, Teresa Palmer, was not lost for words on the same subject this year.

Six years ago Socias placed a great deal of emphasis on corruption. He said that "it is high time that we all take action in order that those who wish to take advantage of their status and of their presence in positions of power for their own benefit are expelled for being unworthy of the trust of citizens". A year later Socias used his Constitution Day address to attack the Unió Mallorquina (UM), which was part of the coalition government at that time. "It has cost us too much to be able to consolidate democracy" without some now looking to save their skins. He was referring to a charge levelled at the national government by the UM that Madrid was pushing prosecutors to investigate the party. Socias must have known or sensed what was going to happen. Within weeks UM leaders were being arrested or implicated and at the start of February 2010 the party was booted out of the coalition. Socias had got his expulsion.

On Saturday, Teresa Palmer did not mince her words. "The confidence of the public has been decimated in recent times by the numerous cases of dark, reproachable and detestable behaviour by politicians who provoke repulsion, sick-and-tiredness, annoyance and a deep sense of unease." Palmer is a Partido Popular politician. What she had to say was one of the strongest condemnations of corruption and, by implication, of members of her own party that you are likely to hear.

It would be interesting to know how much, if at all, PP central office or indeed the PP locally, knew about Palmer's speech in advance. Perhaps it had the full knowledge and approval of Mariano Rajoy; let Palmer say things that he himself couldn't without potentially appearing hypocritical. Or perhaps there was an element of independence in her words, given the rather strange function that the government delegate has.

This is a position which is in the gift of the national government. The delegate is the government's highest representative in the Balearics and one who usually is appointed through a recommendation from the ruling party in the regional government, though this doesn't always happen. Socias was delegate from May 2004. He was appointed by the Zapatero PSOE regime after it won the election. The president in the Balearics at that time was the PP's Jaume Matas. It is a position which, in a sense, is above party politics though of course it cannot be. Nevertheless, as a voice of the "state", there is an element of detachment and of being a kind of über-presidential role. As there is nothing more symbolic for the "state" than the Constitution is why the delegate comes to make a speech on Constitution Day.

Palmer went on to add that the government of Mariano Rajoy was the "most ambitious" in combating corruption, something which the former Zapatero government might disagree with as it was that government which created the anti-corruption prosecution service, so her political colours were clearly flying. Nonetheless, the picture she painted by reference to "numerous cases" was in contrast to what the PP's general secretary, María Dolores Cospedal, said on television on Saturday evening. On corruption she stated that there was "less than ever", an assertion that many might find hard to accept.

That the PP has been rattled by the spate of cases which have come to light recently and that the party is on the run in the face of the publicity surrounding these cases is undeniable. Palmer's words may, therefore, have been no more than an indirect party political broadcast for the PP and for Bauzá in the Balearics in particular; make a full and frank admission of the problem but add that there is an "ambitious" programme to tackle it, and the electorate will look on the PP more kindly. But this overlooks (or rather doesn't overlook) the two elephants in different corners of the room - Podemos and the Luis Bárcenas ledgers. Cospedal, referred to, like Rajoy, as an alleged recipient of benefits via the Bárcenas accounts, was not sure if Bárcenas was a "compulsive liar". And that is what everyone would like to know.

"Ambitious programme" but "numerous cases" and decimated public confidence. In a further six years time will the government delegate still be forced to address corruption on Constitution Day?