From Banbury Cross To Extremadura

Extremadura is a region of Spain north of Andalusia that nestles next to Portugal. The name comes from "extremo", the generally accepted view being that it was the land furthest from Castile and Leon at the time of the re-conquest and so the furthest but also first line of defence against the Islamic occupation. It is at the extremity of Spain, which implies a certain remoteness and distance, and, more than just geographically, it is. This is a land which is one of the poorest regions of Spain. Its population is roughly similar to that of the Balearic Islands (around 1.1 million), yet its area is vastly greater. Its economy is predominantly services based and great strides are being made to develop its tourism - it is actually one of the more innovative and proactive regions of Spain in this regard. But it is also agricultural, known for the production of tobacco and charcuterie. And its farmers have found themselves in the middle of one almighty great political spat.

Miquel Ensenyat, the president of the Council of Mallorca, was born in Banbury. It is unlikely that the infant Miquel ever became familiar with the competing versions of the Banbury Cross rhyme, but had he, then he would have known the one involving Tommy buying a penny white loaf, a penny white cake and a two-penny apple pie. In the rural Oxfordshire of the eighteenth century, they wouldn't have been reliant on handouts through a redistributive system of tax income, but were the rhyme to be updated and placed in a Spanish context, Tommy would be buying his penny white loaf with a penny derived from Balearic tax revenue, and Tommy, moreover, would have relocated: to Extremadura.

While the children of the Balearics go to school with colouring crayons of thirty-year vintage, the children of Extremadura arrive at their schools with brand new tablets. This was an observation made by Miquel in an interview for "El Mundo" which has blown up in to that almighty great spat. A further one had to do with the farmers of Extremadura. They get paid salaries so that they can go and sit in a bar. This was not an original observation, as some years ago the leader of the UDC (Catalonia Democratic Union), Josep Antoni Duran, had said this of the Extremaduran farmers.

In one respect, drawing on a remark by Duran, might seem odd. The UDC is not what you would call left-wing, unlike Miquel and his party (Més, aka the PSM, Mallorcan Socialists), but the UDC is a Catalonian nationalist party, and it is this nationalism which forms part of the row and the exchanges of opinion between Ensenyat and the PSOE president of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, to which have been added the views of any number of other politicians, both in the Balearics and Extremadura.

The spokesperson for the Extremadura government, Isabel Gil Rosiña, has referred to the creation of "unnecessary tensions" raised by people who want to "separate", by which she means nationalism and independence - Catalonian independence, something which Ensenyat favours, as he also favours a political federation of the Catalan Lands of which the Balearics would be a part.

At the heart of all of this, as it has been for years and so since Duran made his original remark about the Extremadura farmers, is money. Nationalism aside, it is the system of financing which is what Ensenyat was referring to, one under which the Balearics (and Catalonia) end up in effect subsidising regions of Spain such as Extremadura. The Balearics, with an almost identical population, raises vastly more in revenues than Extremadura does.

Vara, for his part, says that the children's tablets are not paid for with Balearic money but with the region's own finances, part of which come from the fact that, for all that it isn't that wealthy, it creates more energy than it needs. It benefits from the tax pot, but it gives back in a different way. Regardless of this and regardless also of nationalism, the system of regional financing is one that generates considerable heat, which is why President Armengol is so keen to pursue a better deal from Mariano Rajoy.

Armengol and PSOE have been embarrassed by Ensenyat's comments, though they are saying very little about them. Biel Barceló of Més has said they were "unfortunate" but prefers to attach the blame to Madrid. The people of Extremadura and the Balearics are not responsible for conflict or disputes over financing, Madrid is.

The fallout from the spat is unlikely to claim Ensenyat, although Xavier Pericay of the anti-nationalist Ciudadanos has said that he should resign. Jesus Jurado of Podemos, represented at the Council of Mallorca, has been equivocal in his support of Ensenyat, but he says of him that he doesn't mince his words. Perhaps not, but sometimes they might be chosen with greater care.