The gross domestic product of the Balearic Islands is around 27 billion euros - 27,000 million. This is roughly 12% the size of Catalonia's economy, which creates more than one-fifth of Spain's total GDP. If one wants other comparisons, Balearic GDP is lower than that of Sicily, of Sardinia and of the Canary Islands. By contrast, it is greater (by more than two times) than Malta.
In hypothetical terms, the Balearics could stand alone, but then one can say this for many regions in Europe. GDP reveals only so much. The nature of the economy is as important. The Balearics, and we are being constantly reminded of this, has an economic monoculture - tourism. Catalonia most definitely does not. Nor does Malta, what with, for example, its financial services; tourism's direct contribution to the Maltese economy is roughly a third of what it is in the Balearics.
Apart from a shared language, Catalonia and the Balearics form a fraternity based on perceived fiscal and financial injustice. Catalonia had wanted a different arrangement. It had wanted to be like the Basque Country (and Navarre). It had sought a system whereby it would keep all tax revenues - income tax and VAT - and then pay an agreed percentage to the state. Instead, it had to maintain the arrangement that exists for all Spain's regions, with the exception of the Basque Country and Navarre. Tax revenue is remitted to Madrid and is then paid back under the regional distribution system. The Balearics and Catalonia (and the Madrid region) lose out under this - they put more in than they receive. In other words, they help to subsidise the rest of Spain.
Setting aside all other considerations, Catalonia, in economic terms, is a viable state: very much a viable state. The same cannot be said for the Balearics. The numbers might look reasonable by comparison to, say, Malta, but they fail to hide the underlying weakness of the economy - it's that monoculture.
We have at present a collision of forces in the Balearics. One of these is the demand for diversification, a demand so old that it reinforces the questionability of how there can ever be meaningful diversification. The agitators provide absolutely no prescription. They argue in favour of a mostly blank sheet of paper. They offer no model to replace the apparently discredited model which obtains at present, save for vague allusions to new and information technologies.
The second force is sovereignty, or at least a force emanating from certain quarters - Més most obviously. David Abril, the chief promoter of a referendum of independence by 2030, says that 2030 is not far away. He's right, it isn't far away. He might hope that over this comparatively short timeframe the monoculture can be meaningfully diversified. Because if it isn't, any referendum would be predicated on dangerous economic grounds.
The third force is what has been happening in Catalonia, which has helped to motivate Més into issuing its clarion call for independence. Here is further fraternity, that of sovereignty of the components of the Catalan Lands, even if this fraternity is more mythical than real.
The last time that the Gadeso research foundation conducted a survey into identity was in September 2015. It discovered that 38% of respondents were in favour of the current system of autonomous government in the Balearics. This was the highest percentage of six options. Only four per cent were in favour of being given the chance to opt for independence. When asked whether they felt more Spanish or more Balearic, 51% rated this equally. Only Més and El Pi voters said they felt more Balearic than Spanish or just Balearic: El Pi is a sort of centre-right version of Més in terms of nationalist leanings. Neither party can point to high levels of popular support: Més 13.8% of the vote for the regional government in 2015; El Pi 7.96%.
The next question was island-specific. Do you identify most with the Balearics, your own island or with the Catalan Lands? Overwhelmingly, and in each case, it was with the individual island. Identity with the Catalan Lands was no more than two per cent.
These findings invalidate the Més proposition. Independence is not wished for. Being somehow beholden to Catalonia is most certainly rejected. The concept of the Balearics as a social entity is also highly questionable. The individual islands have long had their own identity. Even the granting of autonomy in 1983 didn't produce wild scenes of joy on the streets. Regional government is an administrative function as much if not more than any expression of identity.
A colossal change in attitude would be needed in the space of seventeen years if Més were to achieve its ambition. Just as significantly, there would need to be a major restructuring of the economic base by 2030 in order to make an independent Balearics even vaguely sensible as a separate economic entity. It's not going to happen.
Showing posts with label Balearic independence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balearic independence. Show all posts
Thursday, October 05, 2017
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Street Fighting Men: Balearic independence
The new year in Mallorca coincides with the celebration of the conquest of the island by Jaume I in 1229. On 31 December of that year, Jaume took what was then called Madina Mayurqa (Palma, as it is better known). It is a hugely symbolic date, and it is why it has been hi-jacked in the name of independence and by the arguments of language and the relationship with the Spanish nation.
The night of 30 December has become an annual event in which different sides of the arguments turn up in Palma to celebrate the conquest and in order to trade insults. This year things turned nasty. A pensioner and two police officers were injured when violence flared. There had been an indication of things to come. The building in Palma that houses the offices of the Fundación Nacional Círculo Balear, an organisation that, among other things, protests against the "imposition" of Catalan, had been daubed with graffiti. The organisation is now but one calling for political condemnation of independence activists who, during the demonstration, attempted to burn the Spanish flag.
The Círculo Balear's offices were targeted because it had said that it would participate in this year's Jaume celebrations. This was a red rag to the bull of its opponents who took none too kindly to the foundation's claim that the celebrations were being "Catalanised" and to a further claim that there is a growth in "nationalist violence".
The Círculo Balear was probably right when it came to denouncing violence, as this is what it got. As to the Catalanisation, there is a slight illogic to the argument. Jaume, though not from Catalonia, was instrumental in the introduction and promotion of the Catalan language. A Catalanised Jaume celebration seems entirely reasonable. Otherwise, though, reason seemed to be chucked out the window, or at least chucked across a square together with chairs from a café.
The demonstrators, the pro-Catalanists that is, combined behind the slogan "som una nació" (we are a nation), by which they mean the Balearics. Their ranks were swelled by the usual suspects of the nationalist-inclined left of local politics and groups such as the Maulets, an independence- and revolutionary-minded organisation. Their cause, in 2010, had been fuelled by the Spanish Supreme Court's denial of Catalonian nationhood and the rumpus inspired by the language policy of the Partido Popular in the Balearics.
Does the call for Balearic independence have any real substance? In terms of popular support, you would have to think that it doesn't. The prevailing mindset in Mallorca is conservative. There was little evidence of support, other than political, for Catalonia when the Supreme Court made its decision back in the summer which made it clear that Catalonia could not be a "state".
Nevertheless, there does appear to be a growing radicalisation. It is one that the Círculo Balear has drawn attention to, and a target of its concerns is the Obra Cultural Balear. The OCB, says Círculo Balear, has received over four million euros in grants from regional and central government during the past three years. Grants, it claims, with which the OCB "gives cover to the violent".
The president of the OCB, in a recent interview, said that he believed a Balearic state would be something from which much could be gained, not least from keeping all the "riches" that accrue from tourism and from having its own voice within a group of independent Catalan states. He is probably right when he also says that politically there is a bias towards the notion of independence. Only two parties, the Partido Popular and the Unión Progreso y Democracia, would be dead against it.
But you come back to the question as to whether there is sympathy within the public at large. The OCB is now rolling out a new campaign to try and generate such sympathy. Entitled "Mallorca m'agrada" (I like Mallorca), this is intended to create a "collective self-esteem" in promoting elements of identity that characterise the Mallorcan people. It remains to be seen what impact this might have.
While the notion of a Balearic state as part of a group of Catalan states may not be an issue that excites that many Mallorcans, there is another matter which just might. And that is the whole question to do with language. This spring's local elections could see the Partido Popular coming into power under its leader José Ramón Bauzá, someone who has so far proved to be capable of dividing not just the general public but also his own party where it comes to the Catalan-Castilian debate.
What Bauzá might do is to turn back decades of linguistic policy. It is potentially highly dangerous in terms of what it would represent symbolically. It is this issue that has the power to give the OCB, the Jaume I demonstrators and the independence activists the ammunition they need. For this reason, the local elections in May could prove to be highly significant. What occurred on the night of 30 December might, just might, be a precursor of what else could occur.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The night of 30 December has become an annual event in which different sides of the arguments turn up in Palma to celebrate the conquest and in order to trade insults. This year things turned nasty. A pensioner and two police officers were injured when violence flared. There had been an indication of things to come. The building in Palma that houses the offices of the Fundación Nacional Círculo Balear, an organisation that, among other things, protests against the "imposition" of Catalan, had been daubed with graffiti. The organisation is now but one calling for political condemnation of independence activists who, during the demonstration, attempted to burn the Spanish flag.
The Círculo Balear's offices were targeted because it had said that it would participate in this year's Jaume celebrations. This was a red rag to the bull of its opponents who took none too kindly to the foundation's claim that the celebrations were being "Catalanised" and to a further claim that there is a growth in "nationalist violence".
The Círculo Balear was probably right when it came to denouncing violence, as this is what it got. As to the Catalanisation, there is a slight illogic to the argument. Jaume, though not from Catalonia, was instrumental in the introduction and promotion of the Catalan language. A Catalanised Jaume celebration seems entirely reasonable. Otherwise, though, reason seemed to be chucked out the window, or at least chucked across a square together with chairs from a café.
The demonstrators, the pro-Catalanists that is, combined behind the slogan "som una nació" (we are a nation), by which they mean the Balearics. Their ranks were swelled by the usual suspects of the nationalist-inclined left of local politics and groups such as the Maulets, an independence- and revolutionary-minded organisation. Their cause, in 2010, had been fuelled by the Spanish Supreme Court's denial of Catalonian nationhood and the rumpus inspired by the language policy of the Partido Popular in the Balearics.
Does the call for Balearic independence have any real substance? In terms of popular support, you would have to think that it doesn't. The prevailing mindset in Mallorca is conservative. There was little evidence of support, other than political, for Catalonia when the Supreme Court made its decision back in the summer which made it clear that Catalonia could not be a "state".
Nevertheless, there does appear to be a growing radicalisation. It is one that the Círculo Balear has drawn attention to, and a target of its concerns is the Obra Cultural Balear. The OCB, says Círculo Balear, has received over four million euros in grants from regional and central government during the past three years. Grants, it claims, with which the OCB "gives cover to the violent".
The president of the OCB, in a recent interview, said that he believed a Balearic state would be something from which much could be gained, not least from keeping all the "riches" that accrue from tourism and from having its own voice within a group of independent Catalan states. He is probably right when he also says that politically there is a bias towards the notion of independence. Only two parties, the Partido Popular and the Unión Progreso y Democracia, would be dead against it.
But you come back to the question as to whether there is sympathy within the public at large. The OCB is now rolling out a new campaign to try and generate such sympathy. Entitled "Mallorca m'agrada" (I like Mallorca), this is intended to create a "collective self-esteem" in promoting elements of identity that characterise the Mallorcan people. It remains to be seen what impact this might have.
While the notion of a Balearic state as part of a group of Catalan states may not be an issue that excites that many Mallorcans, there is another matter which just might. And that is the whole question to do with language. This spring's local elections could see the Partido Popular coming into power under its leader José Ramón Bauzá, someone who has so far proved to be capable of dividing not just the general public but also his own party where it comes to the Catalan-Castilian debate.
What Bauzá might do is to turn back decades of linguistic policy. It is potentially highly dangerous in terms of what it would represent symbolically. It is this issue that has the power to give the OCB, the Jaume I demonstrators and the independence activists the ammunition they need. For this reason, the local elections in May could prove to be highly significant. What occurred on the night of 30 December might, just might, be a precursor of what else could occur.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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