We're Més. Fly Us?

There was a time, pre-Podemos, when Més was making a very good case for becoming a strong, third political force in Mallorca. Set against the repeated nonsenses emanating from the PP and the irrelevance of PSOE, here was an alternative, and it was doing quite nicely in opinion polls and being treated nicely by a media which was discovering that it might actually have something to offer. Then Podemos came along, feasted modestly on right-wing PP support and gorged themselves on a smorgasbord of preferences for leftist parties. As an example of how the left are consequently being squeezed around the political dining-table, a poll for the Council of Mallorca elections has Més losing at least one councillor, while Podemos are matching PSOE. Alas poor Més.

Responding to Podemos has not been easy for any party, but for one which might be considered to be similar ideologically it is a tough task. Perception is of course everything. Podemos differ in many ways to Més, but the public will find it hard to see where clear blue water of the Mediterranean might exist between them. For Més, with its environmentalist agenda, it will lie in making the water bluer still, but then aren't Podemos signed up to this as well? Probably, possibly, who knows for sure.

Més is its own range of tapas within that leftist smorgasbord buffet, though maybe, in keeping with the "new Europe" that has been born in Greece, it should be a meze. With dishes of Greens and of Mallorcan tradition, here is a feast of leftism but one in which the largest platter is that of the PSM: the Mallorcan socialists with their Mallorcan nationalist philosophy. This nationalism is a button for Més to press but good old Podemos (in the Balearics) seem to also believe in the same sort of self-government and Catalan linguistic immersion that Més espouses. No, it really isn't easy when some other lot come along and nick your reasons for being.

Undeterred, Més has announced various proposals which, rather than being bogged down in nationalist ideology, are more pragmatic. They are to do with generating employment and would, one presumes, be included in an election manifesto, and among them are a couple of proposals which are different (for the moment at any rate). One is that the regional government should establish an online system for the commercialisation of private holiday accommodation. This would naturally go down like a lead balloon with the hoteliers, but then Més believes that the PP "has governed for the hoteliers". It's hard to disagree.

Another proposal is the one that Més flagged up last November; that the Balearics should have its own airline. The proposal has been misinterpreted as it was originally (probably still is) not one for international flights. The principal reasoning behind it was in fact for inter-island flights plus perhaps some flights to Madrid and Barcelona. As such, it is now more difficult to make a case for such an airline than it was in November; Air Europa will enter the inter-island flights market in May and has announced that it will be competing hard on price with Air Nostrum. Més now says that an airline would lengthen the tourist season and would mean less dependency upon a few principal markets. Which is a pretty vague statement. Does it refer to existing, overseas airlines, to the current limited amount of off-season tourism from these principal markets, to domestic tourism, or what exactly?

Whatever it is that Més has in mind, it is the suggestion that public funds might go towards such an airline that probably renders the proposal a non-starter. There are several pitfalls with such a proposal. Would it exceed powers under the statute of autonomy? Would the national competition commission not block it? Would Air Europa and Air Nostrum see them in court? And, ultimately, would Europe say no?

The EU does permit state aid to airlines but normally only in return for restructuring if an airline is in difficulty. Air Malta is a case in point. It may be government-owned (though there is a move to partially privatise it) but government money it has received has come with the strings of cuts being made to personnel (and routes) in order to establish profitability. But even rescue aid can fall foul of Europe. Cyprus Airways has been shut down because EU rules on aid were broken. Consequently, it's hard to see how a start-up, publicly-funded airline in the Balearics could be allowed.

I noted above that Més was making pragmatic proposals rather than ones driven by nationalist ideology. Mainly so, but is it nationalism driving a dubious vanity airline project? It might appeal to nationalist sentiment and be an attempt at making Més seem different, but the proposal will surely never fly.