Hopes For Esperança Run Out

What is it exactly with female ministers in the Balearic government who are called Camps? Of our ladies of the fields, José Ramón presented us with Joana Maria, seemingly paraded for the sole purpose of entertaining us richly with her malapropisms (among other things) but who in truth was a lamb from the field sent to the eventual slaughter and carnage of JR's trilingual teaching debacle and expected to ministerially supervise something for which, as an estate agent, she wasn't best qualified.

If Joana was the unfortunate victim of Joe Ray's preference for stooges who wouldn't say nay to him, the same can't be said for Esperança of the Camps ilk. Esperança, if you need reminding, and you almost certainly will do because no one's heard a peep out of her (which is part of the problem), secured the rag-tag portfolio of culture, participation and transparency. This ministerial and departmental invention of the Armengol politburo ended up in Esperança's lap partly on account of the government's quota system. This has two elements to it. One is that Més has to have its share of ministerial appointments. The second is that Menorca has to have its representation as well. Esperança is originally from Menorca. Joana was likewise from Menorca, a fact that led her to make numerous trips there on government business, all of which, a judge has decided, were perfectly above board, much to the disgust of her arch enemies, the Teachers' Assembly, which keeps attempting to drag her back into court.

Despite not actually being a politician as such - she had spent years being a political television journalist (in Valencia, which is pertinent) - Esperança was handed the keys to this new ministry, wherever and whatever it was. It was then that the problems started, as things seem to have gone downhill ever since. Not only is it alleged that Esperança hasn't actually done anything, it is also said that she doesn't talk to her senior officials, one of whom she apparently wishes to replace because he isn't political enough. It might be asked how she knows he isn't political enough if she doesn't speak to him.

More concerning for Esperança is the fact that the brother and sisterhood of Més seem to think that she isn't political enough in that she hasn't been issuing decrees mandating the use of Catalan and threatening death or labour camps (sic) to anyone who dares utter a word of Castellano. (The language thing apparently falls under culture and participation and quite possibly transparency as well.) And to make matters worse, the Més-ites (and non-Més-ites) have suddenly realised that Esperança has spent the past forty years or so spending most of her time in Valencia. "She is disconnected from the realities of the Balearics," an unnamed government person has said. Well, that should have been transparent. Shouldn't it?

All of which is causing sweet and friendly Frankie A. a bit of a headache. A cabinet reshuffle is in any event on the cards because the transport minister, Joan Boned (who was part of the Ibiza quota system), isn't a well man and is expected to drop out of frontline politics. But with the rumblings about Esperança starting to make the sound of an imminent volcano, the reshuffle is likely to be more far-reaching. This in itself is adding to Frankie's headache. Might Podemos decide this is the time to leap into the government and snaffle some ministerial jobs?