If a report is issued by a union - the UGT in this instance - you might be inclined to think that any negative findings would be the result of political bias. However, when another report appears simultaneously from a bank or at least a bank's foundation - BBVA's - then you might be inclined to revise your opinion. What both reports highlight is that public services in the Balearics are, by comparison with almost everywhere else in Spain, underfunded - and underfunded by some distance.
Education. This has the lowest funding per head of population of all the regions of Spain. At 793 euros per head, it is a quarter lower than spending by the top-rated region, the Basque Country. Health. The Balearics has the second lowest financing but only by one euro - Valencia is worse off at 1,079 euros. Social services. Second to bottom here as well: less than 61 euros per person.
That the BBVA Foundation, in collaboration with the Valencia Institute of Economic Research, can come up with virtually identical results to those of the union makes these results hard to dispute. They also make for potentially grim reading for the Partido Popular. With the election on its way, disclosure as to such low levels of financing gives opponents plenty of ammunition and the electorate - many of them anyway - cause for concern and for possible reconsideration of voting choice. They reinforce criticism of cuts in public spending by the Bauzá administration and a perception that government policy has been one of pushing the public towards the private sector in both education and health.
If the UGT's report had not got the support it has, the government would have wriggle room, but the BBVA report makes any attempts to argue with the findings less plausible. It will be interesting to see how the PP tries to spin them, though it might prefer to try and ignore them. Other parties, however, won't allow them to, and the fact that two of the sectors - education and health - have been the ones for which there has been ministerial upheaval over the course of the Bauza administration will merely add fuel to their arguments: both ministries have had three ministers in the past four years.
When it comes to health, it can safely be said that the second of these ministers, Antoni Mesquida, resigned because he didn't agree with government policy. This may well have been the reason why the first, Carmen Castro, also left the post. She, though, went under the explanation of "personal reasons", never to be heard from again; Mesquida was not quite so taciturn. The third one, Martí Sansaloni, just did as he was told, though tellingly, he is not on the PP list of candidates for parliamentary deputies on 24 May. Sansaloni was left to defend the chaos that broke out in the health service towards the end of last year when local health centres were unable to meet patient appointments because of lack of doctors and nurses. Sansaloni attributed this to a computer error in not assigning staff to cover for absence and holidays. No one really believed him, and when the finance minister had to dig into the coffers to give the health service some money to see it through to the end of the year, this disbelief was confirmed.
Education policy, as I suspect we are all only too painfully aware, has been dominated by the trilingual teaching (TIL) fiasco. It was one that claimed the first minister, Rafael Bosch, because he wasn't an enthusiastic advocate, and the second, Joana Camps, because she wasn't any good. But TIL has obscured the cuts in spending on a public education service which consistently turns in poor performance results when compared with other Spanish regions. There is, though, a telling factor in these comparative figures, and it is linked to TIL. The Basque Country is the only region of Spain to have a properly established three-language teaching system. Nowhere else has really attempted to have one (a full-on one), except the Balearics over the course of the Bauza administration. Education funding that is 25% greater than that of the Balearics must surely tell a story. In addition to its three-language system of Basque, Castellano and English, the Basque Country is a consistently good education performer, as revealed by the student assessment measures.
Of course, the government may well try and justify the findings by blaming them on the raw-deal financing that the Balearics receives through the redistribution of revenues from the national government, and it may well be justified in doing so. However, perceptions, as always are what count rather than simply quoting numbers, and while there is a perception of cuts as a means of promoting the private sector, such justification will fall on many a deaf ear. These reports are not good news for the PP.
Showing posts with label Funding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Funding. Show all posts
Thursday, May 07, 2015
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
The Missing Funds For Resort Modernisation
Resort modernisation was one of the key themes behind the Balearics tourism law of 2012. One of the measures included in the law was the payment of a tax equivalent to 5% of the value of reconstruction or rehabilitation of a hotel that underwent a change of use. This change of use referred to the establishment of tourist condo hotels or a complete alteration to residential apartments for sale. Such conversions, and in the build-up to the passing of the 2012 law they were one of the most publicised aspects, have thus far been few and far between. Yet the pre-law publicity hinted that they would be many and close between and, moreover, that many 5% levies would find their ways into the coffers of different town halls who would then be able (obliged) to use the money for infrastructure modernisation in the vicinity of the converted hotel.
It all seemed, therefore, like a fairly decent scheme. But as conversion has been only fractionally more than zilch, it now seems like less of a decent scheme. Why hasn't there been a dash to convert? Finance almost certainly, but was there ever the demand for condos (or cash available to buy them) and is there not already a surplus of apartments for sale in tourist areas? And why might someone wish to buy an apartment in a tourist area from a former hotel. Not as a holiday rental private apartment, surely?
Conversion fever being absent, additional funds for town halls are also absent and so modernisation of resorts or parts thereof is being starved of additional funds. Yet these funds are badly needed. There are old, all but obsolete hotels in Mallorca and there are old, all but obsolete parts of resorts as well. Forty or fifty years on from the great boom times, the coastal urban areas of the island are showing their age and looking tired.
The regional government is hugely dependent upon the private sector to assist with this resort modernisation. The funds it receives by way of project investment from Madrid are laughably small - some 70 odd million euros in 2014 - and those which it can afford to allocate are similarly paltry and determined by a lack of cash and an inability to raise credit, even if banks were willing to extend it.
The tourism ministry has announced a series of projects that will commence in 2014 and run into 2015. The funds available amount to a little over 12.5 million euros. The government may be able to find some more cash and may also be able to announce more than the 15 projects that it has, but 12.5 million does not go a long way when one considers the scale of modernisation that needs to be undertaken across the island.
What is interesting about this 12.5 million, though, is that it is a sort of special fund. It comes from the hoteliers. Not because they have been disposing largesse but because they were liable under an agreement drawn up in 2009 to hand over 4,000 euros for every hotel place that had to be "regularised". There were, or supposedly there were, a whole load of hotel places that were illegal.
The then tourism minister Miguel Nadal and the Council of Mallorca reckoned that there were 50,312 hotel places that required regularising, though they weren't In fact all hotel places. Roughly a half related to tourist apartments of the type which hoteliers operate. Whatever the type of accommodation, there was an apparently large discrepancy between what these 50,000 or so places should have generated and what the government at the time anticipated receiving - up to 70 million euros. There is now an even greater discrepancy. Since 2009, the total number of places that have been regularised is less than 10% of the 2009 figure, and the amount raised has totalled only a bit more than 18 million euros, 12.5 million of which is now earmarked for the 15 projects.
So whatever happened to the 50,000 places and what, therefore, ever happened to the funds that were going to be raised? Both seem like pretty legitimate questions, but neither have an obvious or satisfactory answer. Perhaps the tourism ministry got the figures wrong back in 2009. Who can say? The process of regularisation and so the period for which the government receives funds are due to end in 2015, so 50,000 places are most certainly not going to be regularised.
The shortfall on the 2009 estimate potentially gives a lie to the government's belief in the private sector contributing to modernisation and also to the rapidity with which this might be undertaken. Though modernisation was a tenet of the 2012 tourism law, the legislative framework for the regularisation, the raising of funds and yes, modernisation, was, remarkably enough, established under the 1999 tourism law. Which all goes to prove how slowly things can proceed and how, even once they do proceed, they do not proceed as might have been anticipated. Modernisation? It'll take years.
It all seemed, therefore, like a fairly decent scheme. But as conversion has been only fractionally more than zilch, it now seems like less of a decent scheme. Why hasn't there been a dash to convert? Finance almost certainly, but was there ever the demand for condos (or cash available to buy them) and is there not already a surplus of apartments for sale in tourist areas? And why might someone wish to buy an apartment in a tourist area from a former hotel. Not as a holiday rental private apartment, surely?
Conversion fever being absent, additional funds for town halls are also absent and so modernisation of resorts or parts thereof is being starved of additional funds. Yet these funds are badly needed. There are old, all but obsolete hotels in Mallorca and there are old, all but obsolete parts of resorts as well. Forty or fifty years on from the great boom times, the coastal urban areas of the island are showing their age and looking tired.
The regional government is hugely dependent upon the private sector to assist with this resort modernisation. The funds it receives by way of project investment from Madrid are laughably small - some 70 odd million euros in 2014 - and those which it can afford to allocate are similarly paltry and determined by a lack of cash and an inability to raise credit, even if banks were willing to extend it.
The tourism ministry has announced a series of projects that will commence in 2014 and run into 2015. The funds available amount to a little over 12.5 million euros. The government may be able to find some more cash and may also be able to announce more than the 15 projects that it has, but 12.5 million does not go a long way when one considers the scale of modernisation that needs to be undertaken across the island.
What is interesting about this 12.5 million, though, is that it is a sort of special fund. It comes from the hoteliers. Not because they have been disposing largesse but because they were liable under an agreement drawn up in 2009 to hand over 4,000 euros for every hotel place that had to be "regularised". There were, or supposedly there were, a whole load of hotel places that were illegal.
The then tourism minister Miguel Nadal and the Council of Mallorca reckoned that there were 50,312 hotel places that required regularising, though they weren't In fact all hotel places. Roughly a half related to tourist apartments of the type which hoteliers operate. Whatever the type of accommodation, there was an apparently large discrepancy between what these 50,000 or so places should have generated and what the government at the time anticipated receiving - up to 70 million euros. There is now an even greater discrepancy. Since 2009, the total number of places that have been regularised is less than 10% of the 2009 figure, and the amount raised has totalled only a bit more than 18 million euros, 12.5 million of which is now earmarked for the 15 projects.
So whatever happened to the 50,000 places and what, therefore, ever happened to the funds that were going to be raised? Both seem like pretty legitimate questions, but neither have an obvious or satisfactory answer. Perhaps the tourism ministry got the figures wrong back in 2009. Who can say? The process of regularisation and so the period for which the government receives funds are due to end in 2015, so 50,000 places are most certainly not going to be regularised.
The shortfall on the 2009 estimate potentially gives a lie to the government's belief in the private sector contributing to modernisation and also to the rapidity with which this might be undertaken. Though modernisation was a tenet of the 2012 tourism law, the legislative framework for the regularisation, the raising of funds and yes, modernisation, was, remarkably enough, established under the 1999 tourism law. Which all goes to prove how slowly things can proceed and how, even once they do proceed, they do not proceed as might have been anticipated. Modernisation? It'll take years.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Still The Palace Of Follies?: Palma's Palacio de Congresos
Despite renewed optimism for the future of the convention centre, there remain doubts as to the whole project's viability. Funding is one issue, another is who might end up managing either or both the Palacio and the hotel. It was because the viability was brought into question that Palma town hall looked into what it might cost to demolish the structure - 28.6 million euros, so it was reported in February.
Demolition would be an extreme measure, and it can almost certainly be dismissed. But assuming funds can be raised to allow completion, the town hall is still no nearer finding a company to operate the site. Yet another tender process is underway, with Hilton, which has expressed an interest, likely to make a further offer, but the tendering has thus far been shambolic. Either no interest has been shown or interest that has been shown comes with a price tag below what the town hall has been putting on the Palacio.
One Mallorcan company which has bid is Meliá, but when its offer in July last year was turned down (it had been the only bidder), work on the Palacio promptly stopped. Meliá's submission was declared void, primarily, it would seem, because a bond of eight million euros wasn't paid which would have secured the contract. The town hall, via the company it has to oversee the Palacio, determined that tender conditions had not been met, but it was revealing that Meliá might have been reluctant to have parted with a sizable amount and also that it was the only bidder, and this despite there having been a reduction in the bond.
Though Meliá had looked as though it might have stepped in and given the boost to allow work to continue, the company was presumably playing hardball, and this might not have been altogether surprising. The reluctance on behalf of Mallorcan companies to get involved before the Palacio and hotel are actually finished was stated by the president of the Mallorcan hoteliers federation at the end of last month. He said that the Palacio was in a "bad location". In other words, its siting makes it too expensive and does not guarantee sufficient profitability. The president, Aurelio Vázquez, explained that "hotel chains know which projects are profitable and those which are not". Now that Hilton, not a Mallorcan company, knows what the Mallorcan hoteliers think of the project, might it now think again?
Vázquez's statement came a couple of weeks after the spokesperson for the Més grouping at the town hall, Antoni Verger, had declared that the Palacio was a "ruin". He made the same point as Vázquez - that no local business was willing to commit itself - and pointed also to the fact that the value placed on the sale of the hotel alone was below the investment that will ultimately have been put into it.
Against this background, there has at least been some good news for Palma town hall. Representatives of TUI and its subsidiary operation, Hotelbeds, have been talking up the part that the Palacio can play in eating away at tourism seasonality. TUI is in for some 100 grand as a sponsor of Palma's 365 Foundation, so it has an interest in seeing that a project which might actually realise tourism 365 days a year (or close to 365) goes ahead. It has said that it will promote Palma via Hotelbeds and other websites and at travel fairs.
But even if the Palacio is seen as being key to the success of Palma 365, then TUI's people have made it clear that it has no intention of becoming involved in the actual business of the convention centre. Indeed, why should it? As such, it is making a similar point to that made by Aurelio Vázquez, which is that once (if) the Palacio and hotel are finished, then, and only then, will businesses get involved. And it is going to take some 40 million euros more to ensure that the project is finished; 40 million euros that will have to be found from a public purse.
* Photo: the semi-built Palacio de Congresos from "Ultima Hora".
Friday, February 08, 2013
Spain's Other Football: Rugby
Spain have taken part in the finals of Rugby World Cup once and once only. In 1999, they were officially the worst team in the tournament, their performances in their three preliminary group matches placing them twentieth out of twenty. They scored 15 points in losing to Uruguay and scored only three more points in the tournament, against South Africa. They registered nil against Scotland.
1999 wasn't a humiliating failure, however. Neither South Africa nor Scotland broke the 50 points barrier (though both came close), and Spain were hailed for having put in valiant displays against their betters. Being ranked the worst team of that tournament doesn't tell the whole story though, because which team was one place above them in nineteenth? Italy. And the following year, Italy joined the other five nations to make what there now is - the Six Nations Championship.
The history of rugby union in Spain is almost identical to that in Italy in that the two countries have both played internationals since the late 1920s. Indeed, the first officially recognised international that Spain played was against Italy (it was also Italy's first international), and Spain won 9-0. The clearest divergence in the development of rugby in the two countries was that which occurred in the 1980s when leading foreign players and coaches joined the Italian championship; it was this foreign influx which contributed to advances in the Italian game and which eventually led to admission to the Six Nations.
Italy has, therefore, been something of a model for Spanish rugby, but the model has not proved to be strong. Foreign players and coaches have come into the Spanish game, but the national championship has never acquired a similar standing to that of the Italian championship and nor have the likes of David Campese or John Kirwan played for Spanish sides.
While Italy (as of 4 February) occupy ninth position in the International Rugby Board's rankings, Spain are twentieth. Immediately above Spain are, in ascending order, Russia, Romania, Georgia, USA, Japan and Canada, some of these more regular participants in World Cup finals than others. Spain are, therefore, part of a group of rugby-playing nations below the top echelon but with ambitions of joining it, and the most immediate ambitions extend to the next World Cup finals in 2015.
The qualifying games for the tournament in England are being held over a two-year period and they started recently, Spain losing their first match, away against Russia, by 13-9. Spain will hope for an improvement tomorrow when they play Belgium (one place below them in the IRB rankings) in Brussels. The top two sides from what is in effect a junior Six Nations tournament will qualify automatically for the 2015 tournament.
Spain are hampered, however, by various factors. The pool of registered players in Spain is under 30,000 (in Italy there are almost 75,000). There are few full-time professionals and there is a woeful lack of funding. The national side has a New Zealand coach, Bryce Bevin, and a greater concentration of genuinely Spanish players than has been the case in recent years, but the overall absence of professionalism is what is likely to hold Spanish rugby back. It is this professionalism which marks the greatest contrast with how Italy were able to develop the sport. Spain are also not helped by Sevens tournaments coinciding with the qualifiers. Because of the limited talent pool, Spain have included some leading players in these rather than in the 15-man side.
It is clear, though, that there is no lack of enthusiasm and of interest in rugby. While the sport's heartlands have traditionally been around Madrid and in Catalonia and the Basque Country, its popularity has widened. An indication of this are the reports in the "Majorca Daily Bulletin". The Balearics are just one region where rugby has gained in popularity.
But unless there were to be a real initiative to create a strong professional domestic game, it is hard to see Spain realising ambitions of emulating Italy. The IRB should probably be taking more of a lead in helping these ambitions (and not just in Spain), but as with cricket, international administrators at times appear contrary when it comes to developing their minor nations. The ICC's ridiculous attitude towards associate members participating in cricket's 2015 World Cup, one on which it has since backed down, is a prime example.
Despite the obstacles, Spain could yet secure themselves a place in the 2015 tournament. Unlike the football team or the men's handball team (which won the recent world championship), Spain's rugby team will not become world champions, but it could become competitive. If only there was the funding.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
1999 wasn't a humiliating failure, however. Neither South Africa nor Scotland broke the 50 points barrier (though both came close), and Spain were hailed for having put in valiant displays against their betters. Being ranked the worst team of that tournament doesn't tell the whole story though, because which team was one place above them in nineteenth? Italy. And the following year, Italy joined the other five nations to make what there now is - the Six Nations Championship.
The history of rugby union in Spain is almost identical to that in Italy in that the two countries have both played internationals since the late 1920s. Indeed, the first officially recognised international that Spain played was against Italy (it was also Italy's first international), and Spain won 9-0. The clearest divergence in the development of rugby in the two countries was that which occurred in the 1980s when leading foreign players and coaches joined the Italian championship; it was this foreign influx which contributed to advances in the Italian game and which eventually led to admission to the Six Nations.
Italy has, therefore, been something of a model for Spanish rugby, but the model has not proved to be strong. Foreign players and coaches have come into the Spanish game, but the national championship has never acquired a similar standing to that of the Italian championship and nor have the likes of David Campese or John Kirwan played for Spanish sides.
While Italy (as of 4 February) occupy ninth position in the International Rugby Board's rankings, Spain are twentieth. Immediately above Spain are, in ascending order, Russia, Romania, Georgia, USA, Japan and Canada, some of these more regular participants in World Cup finals than others. Spain are, therefore, part of a group of rugby-playing nations below the top echelon but with ambitions of joining it, and the most immediate ambitions extend to the next World Cup finals in 2015.
The qualifying games for the tournament in England are being held over a two-year period and they started recently, Spain losing their first match, away against Russia, by 13-9. Spain will hope for an improvement tomorrow when they play Belgium (one place below them in the IRB rankings) in Brussels. The top two sides from what is in effect a junior Six Nations tournament will qualify automatically for the 2015 tournament.
Spain are hampered, however, by various factors. The pool of registered players in Spain is under 30,000 (in Italy there are almost 75,000). There are few full-time professionals and there is a woeful lack of funding. The national side has a New Zealand coach, Bryce Bevin, and a greater concentration of genuinely Spanish players than has been the case in recent years, but the overall absence of professionalism is what is likely to hold Spanish rugby back. It is this professionalism which marks the greatest contrast with how Italy were able to develop the sport. Spain are also not helped by Sevens tournaments coinciding with the qualifiers. Because of the limited talent pool, Spain have included some leading players in these rather than in the 15-man side.
It is clear, though, that there is no lack of enthusiasm and of interest in rugby. While the sport's heartlands have traditionally been around Madrid and in Catalonia and the Basque Country, its popularity has widened. An indication of this are the reports in the "Majorca Daily Bulletin". The Balearics are just one region where rugby has gained in popularity.
But unless there were to be a real initiative to create a strong professional domestic game, it is hard to see Spain realising ambitions of emulating Italy. The IRB should probably be taking more of a lead in helping these ambitions (and not just in Spain), but as with cricket, international administrators at times appear contrary when it comes to developing their minor nations. The ICC's ridiculous attitude towards associate members participating in cricket's 2015 World Cup, one on which it has since backed down, is a prime example.
Despite the obstacles, Spain could yet secure themselves a place in the 2015 tournament. Unlike the football team or the men's handball team (which won the recent world championship), Spain's rugby team will not become world champions, but it could become competitive. If only there was the funding.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Bravery Of Joan Valent
Pollensa's festival was able to go ahead last year thanks almost exclusively to the efforts and the contacts of its artistic director, Joan Valent. It was festival-lite as there wasn't any money. Valent is the Catalan word for brave. Joan Valent was brave to have taken on the task of organising the music and cultural festival. Indeed, he was more than that. If one can describe the organisation of a festival as heroic - and to be realistic, one can't - then brave Valent was a hero. So what does he get for his trouble? In his words, humiliation.
In order to stage the festival, Valent called in favours from his many friends in the arts world, including the British composer and pianist Michael Nyman. He also needed to get substantial financial and sponsorship assistance from the private sector, which he did; from the Camper foundation, for example. However, there was one slight snag with this amassing of private sector funds. They couldn't, for bureaucratic reasons, be paid directly to Pollensa town hall under whose auspices the festival is organised. Instead, this private money went to an association that was set up by Valent expressly for the purpose of receiving the funds. It is this association that is now at the centre of a row that threatens not just Valent's future participation in the festival but possibly also the festival's continuation.
The town hall is going to open up the management of this year's festival, assuming it does happen, to tender. This is in response to "anomalies" that have arisen from the arrangements made for the 2012 festival. These anomalies do not mean any wrongdoing. They relate, so says the town hall's report, to a lack of detailed documentation and a problem with transparency and correct control of funds for public activities caused by the system that was put in place last year.
The trouble is that as soon as the word "anomalies" gets mentioned, it can be interpreted in a way that isn't intended. It is for this reason that Valent feels humiliated.
What is staggering about the whole affair is that Malena Estrany, ostensibly the number two to mayor Tomeu Cifre, despite the total current confusion at the town hall regarding councillor roles, was and maybe still is responsible for both culture and finance. The Pollensa festival clearly brings these two responsibilities together. Yet Sra. Estrany says that last year she and the town hall didn't know about the association until the festival was underway.
This beggars belief. How can the town hall not have known how the funds were being accounted for? If councillors genuinely didn't know, then questions must be raised as to, at minimum, their curiosity. Even if they did know, how else were the funds meant to have been organised, given, as Valent has pointed out, they couldn't go directly to the town hall?
The news of the report regarding the "anomalies" was badly managed. And to make matters worse, and so make Joan Valent even more upset, were remarks about the issuing of free tickets. Too many were given away, it has been alleged. Valent has come back on this one, referring specifically to the ten tickets (rather than the usual four) given to Sir Norman Foster, his family and friends. Foster was the guest of honour at the opening concert, one dedicated to him by Valent. Foster had paid for these people to come to Mallorca and for their stay. Valent, rightly enough, has queried how or why, under such circumstances, he should have refused the six additional free entrances.
And it wasn't only Norman Foster who was paying for his own travel. Valent himself says that he spent upwards of 30,000 euros of his own money in organising the festival, one which, in the end and despite the private-sector generosity of Camper, Barceló and others, was run on a shoestring.
Prior to the town hall's announcement of the tender for this year's festival and to the release of the critical report, Valent had been making progress in contacting various figures from the arts world to participate in this year's festival. One of these is the British author Ian McEwan. Now, arrangements for this year have been thrown into confusion.
There is one final point to make on this affair. Malena Estrany has been at pains to refer to "transparency" in connection with funding. Yet she is a councillor at a town hall which is consistently accused of a lack of transparency. Her argument smacks of expedience, the result of the current turmoil at the town hall, and perhaps it is one that is intended to deflect questions as to why she wasn't more aware of what was happening last year.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
In order to stage the festival, Valent called in favours from his many friends in the arts world, including the British composer and pianist Michael Nyman. He also needed to get substantial financial and sponsorship assistance from the private sector, which he did; from the Camper foundation, for example. However, there was one slight snag with this amassing of private sector funds. They couldn't, for bureaucratic reasons, be paid directly to Pollensa town hall under whose auspices the festival is organised. Instead, this private money went to an association that was set up by Valent expressly for the purpose of receiving the funds. It is this association that is now at the centre of a row that threatens not just Valent's future participation in the festival but possibly also the festival's continuation.
The town hall is going to open up the management of this year's festival, assuming it does happen, to tender. This is in response to "anomalies" that have arisen from the arrangements made for the 2012 festival. These anomalies do not mean any wrongdoing. They relate, so says the town hall's report, to a lack of detailed documentation and a problem with transparency and correct control of funds for public activities caused by the system that was put in place last year.
The trouble is that as soon as the word "anomalies" gets mentioned, it can be interpreted in a way that isn't intended. It is for this reason that Valent feels humiliated.
What is staggering about the whole affair is that Malena Estrany, ostensibly the number two to mayor Tomeu Cifre, despite the total current confusion at the town hall regarding councillor roles, was and maybe still is responsible for both culture and finance. The Pollensa festival clearly brings these two responsibilities together. Yet Sra. Estrany says that last year she and the town hall didn't know about the association until the festival was underway.
This beggars belief. How can the town hall not have known how the funds were being accounted for? If councillors genuinely didn't know, then questions must be raised as to, at minimum, their curiosity. Even if they did know, how else were the funds meant to have been organised, given, as Valent has pointed out, they couldn't go directly to the town hall?
The news of the report regarding the "anomalies" was badly managed. And to make matters worse, and so make Joan Valent even more upset, were remarks about the issuing of free tickets. Too many were given away, it has been alleged. Valent has come back on this one, referring specifically to the ten tickets (rather than the usual four) given to Sir Norman Foster, his family and friends. Foster was the guest of honour at the opening concert, one dedicated to him by Valent. Foster had paid for these people to come to Mallorca and for their stay. Valent, rightly enough, has queried how or why, under such circumstances, he should have refused the six additional free entrances.
And it wasn't only Norman Foster who was paying for his own travel. Valent himself says that he spent upwards of 30,000 euros of his own money in organising the festival, one which, in the end and despite the private-sector generosity of Camper, Barceló and others, was run on a shoestring.
Prior to the town hall's announcement of the tender for this year's festival and to the release of the critical report, Valent had been making progress in contacting various figures from the arts world to participate in this year's festival. One of these is the British author Ian McEwan. Now, arrangements for this year have been thrown into confusion.
There is one final point to make on this affair. Malena Estrany has been at pains to refer to "transparency" in connection with funding. Yet she is a councillor at a town hall which is consistently accused of a lack of transparency. Her argument smacks of expedience, the result of the current turmoil at the town hall, and perhaps it is one that is intended to deflect questions as to why she wasn't more aware of what was happening last year.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Tourism ministry slammed over Pollensa festival
The Alternativa per Pollença party has criticised the Balearic Government tourism ministry and Carlos Delgado the tourism minister in particular for its "lies" in respect of funding that was due to have been made available for the Pollensa Music Festival this year. The festival had been set to receive 180,000 euros of emergency funding, assistance that the ministry seemed happy to grant on account of what it described as the important promotional role that the festival plays. However, a "contest" established by the ministry to arbitrate on the value of different artistic events has not "scored" the festival highly enough for it to merit the full award, so Pollensa town hall is being left to foot much of a bill that it seemed unable to meet prior to the ministry saying that it would help. It was aid from the ministry that helped to stage this year's festival, which, at one point, looked as though it might not take place. The funding crisis for the festival and the ministry's stance add to uncertainty surrounding the future of the festival.
Monday, August 01, 2011
The Train That Ran Away
"The runaway train went over the hill and she blew." Fat chance. The train won't be going near the hills of Artà any time soon. It has run away and hidden. Wagons for the Manacor-Artà line had already been bought. They are in storage, and they are likely to stay there.
Why, in the name of financial common sense, were wagons purchased before the line was anything like completed? Sure, it had been anticipated that the line might be ready this year (this was initially the plan), but the development, ever since it was embarked upon, has been only a sudden halt from ramming into the buffers.
Crisis has well and truly done for former President Antich's "age of the train", one that he announced on becoming president in 2007. First, the Alcúdia extension was scrapped, and now the Artà line, which had been intended to eventually go on to Cala Rajada, is paralysed. Whether it will ever be reactivated, who can tell.
The regional and central governments are bust. We know this. President Bauzá, desperate to reduce the Balearics massive debt, has ordered the freezing of projects. Central government has been only too happy to support him, by stating that it will not forward any more funds for the Artà line.
Something had to give. Clearly it had to. Boracic, the Balearics Government can't afford to indulge in major projects. However, at the same time as the announcement was being made as to the halting of the Artà line, Vice-President Aguiló (and overseer of finance and business) was saying that the Palacio de Congresos in Palma was "fundamental in order to reactivate the Balearic economy". It will continue to receive funding.
How is it fundamental? The palacio is essentially a conference centre, one designed in the hope of a strand of tourism - the business conference tourism market - becoming a significant part of Mallorca's tourism mix. But on what evidence?
Plenty of other cities in Spain have similar palacios. Perhaps this was the impulse to create Palma's. If others have got them, then so should we. It could indeed prove to be important in economic reactivation, but the suspicion is that it is a vanity project. It will be heralded, as such developments tend to be, as "iconic". A railway line, on the other hand, wouldn't merit such hyperbole. It is functional and presumably is not considered fundamental to anything.
Furthermore, the palacio couldn't just be abandoned. Its structure exists. For it to not be finished would make for an appalling eyesore, which is what it might turn out to be anyway, uncomplementary as it will be to other Palma seaside architecture, the Cathedral for instance. It's an easier option to crack on with the centre than it is with a railway line for which vast tracts of land - out of sight of Palma - have already been churned over, dug up and levelled.
The total cost of the Artà line is said to be 150 million euros. But there is a mystery about its funding. In 2009, 92 million euros were supposed to have been diverted from the abandoned Alcúdia project. What happened to them? In June, it was reported that 112 million euros for the Artà line were lacking.
Is the government so wrong, though, to have put a halt to the line? The mayors of towns which would have been connected, Sant Llorenç and Son Servera, believe so. One who doesn't is Antoni Pastor, mayor of Manacor (Partido Popular). There again, Manacor already has the crucial connection - that to Palma. Moreover, Manacor's resorts would not potentially have benefited. The line would have run close to Cala Millor, a resort that falls under two administrations - Sant Llorenç and Son Servera.
The Chamber of Commerce in Mallorca has come up with a telling finding. According to its own report, the volume of traffic that the line would have generated would have been roughly a third of that considered by the government to make it viable. This governmental figure appears to be one that the previous administration came up with. If the discrepancy is accurate, then why was the line ever contemplated?
However, the Artà line would have brought benefits other than those directly from passenger sales. The eastern part of the island needs development. Improved connections with Palma would have brought secondary benefits, hard though these might be to quantify.
Similarly though, there is a conference centre being built in Palma, the benefits of which have not been quantified. It goes ahead because of what it is and because of where it is. The train to Artà is in another world.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Why, in the name of financial common sense, were wagons purchased before the line was anything like completed? Sure, it had been anticipated that the line might be ready this year (this was initially the plan), but the development, ever since it was embarked upon, has been only a sudden halt from ramming into the buffers.
Crisis has well and truly done for former President Antich's "age of the train", one that he announced on becoming president in 2007. First, the Alcúdia extension was scrapped, and now the Artà line, which had been intended to eventually go on to Cala Rajada, is paralysed. Whether it will ever be reactivated, who can tell.
The regional and central governments are bust. We know this. President Bauzá, desperate to reduce the Balearics massive debt, has ordered the freezing of projects. Central government has been only too happy to support him, by stating that it will not forward any more funds for the Artà line.
Something had to give. Clearly it had to. Boracic, the Balearics Government can't afford to indulge in major projects. However, at the same time as the announcement was being made as to the halting of the Artà line, Vice-President Aguiló (and overseer of finance and business) was saying that the Palacio de Congresos in Palma was "fundamental in order to reactivate the Balearic economy". It will continue to receive funding.
How is it fundamental? The palacio is essentially a conference centre, one designed in the hope of a strand of tourism - the business conference tourism market - becoming a significant part of Mallorca's tourism mix. But on what evidence?
Plenty of other cities in Spain have similar palacios. Perhaps this was the impulse to create Palma's. If others have got them, then so should we. It could indeed prove to be important in economic reactivation, but the suspicion is that it is a vanity project. It will be heralded, as such developments tend to be, as "iconic". A railway line, on the other hand, wouldn't merit such hyperbole. It is functional and presumably is not considered fundamental to anything.
Furthermore, the palacio couldn't just be abandoned. Its structure exists. For it to not be finished would make for an appalling eyesore, which is what it might turn out to be anyway, uncomplementary as it will be to other Palma seaside architecture, the Cathedral for instance. It's an easier option to crack on with the centre than it is with a railway line for which vast tracts of land - out of sight of Palma - have already been churned over, dug up and levelled.
The total cost of the Artà line is said to be 150 million euros. But there is a mystery about its funding. In 2009, 92 million euros were supposed to have been diverted from the abandoned Alcúdia project. What happened to them? In June, it was reported that 112 million euros for the Artà line were lacking.
Is the government so wrong, though, to have put a halt to the line? The mayors of towns which would have been connected, Sant Llorenç and Son Servera, believe so. One who doesn't is Antoni Pastor, mayor of Manacor (Partido Popular). There again, Manacor already has the crucial connection - that to Palma. Moreover, Manacor's resorts would not potentially have benefited. The line would have run close to Cala Millor, a resort that falls under two administrations - Sant Llorenç and Son Servera.
The Chamber of Commerce in Mallorca has come up with a telling finding. According to its own report, the volume of traffic that the line would have generated would have been roughly a third of that considered by the government to make it viable. This governmental figure appears to be one that the previous administration came up with. If the discrepancy is accurate, then why was the line ever contemplated?
However, the Artà line would have brought benefits other than those directly from passenger sales. The eastern part of the island needs development. Improved connections with Palma would have brought secondary benefits, hard though these might be to quantify.
Similarly though, there is a conference centre being built in Palma, the benefits of which have not been quantified. It goes ahead because of what it is and because of where it is. The train to Artà is in another world.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
The New Model Fiesta
The rumours had been circulating, and for once they proved to have substance. Puerto Pollensa's summer fiesta of Virgen del Carmen will have neither a firework display nor a beach party. The fireworks that finish off Pollensa town's Patrona fiesta in August are a likely further victim of the financial crisis at Pollensa town hall. What else? Will Cala San Vicente, treated as a sideshow anyway, have any sort of a fiesta this summer?
It comes as no great surprise, other than that it has taken till this year for reality to bite. The funding shortages have been there for ages. They existed B.C. (before crisis), but no one thought to do much about them, ever reliant on government funds or taking on extra debt that town halls are now forbidden from doing.
In 2009, cuts to fiesta budgets did start to come in. In Pollensa, for instance, there was supposed to have been a reduction of up to 25%. If there indeed was, and the main targets were said at the time to be the autumn and wine fairs rather than the fiestas, then it wasn't necessarily obvious.
If there are to be cuts to the fiestas, and there have to be, then what should their priorities be, who should pay for them and who indeed should organise them? Is a firework display, for instance, a priority? It depends on how much it costs, and getting to that information isn't always straightforward.
One town, Felanitx, cut its budget for fireworks by 2,000 euros in 2009, so that it cost 3,000 euros. My guess is that displays in resorts such as Can Picafort and Puerto Pollensa require a far larger wedge. Upwards probably of 10,000 euros. More possibly.
In itself, this doesn't sound like a lot. In the context of this year's budget for fiestas in Puerto Pollensa of 30,000 euros, then it is. But note that it is fiestas and not fiesta. The budget was for both Virgen del Carmen, now stripped of its fireworks and beach party, and the Feria del Mar and Sant Pere fiesta just gone. Yet, the main fiesta is Virgen del Carmen. Sant Pere may not cost a lot by comparison, but why didn't they just scrap it? Why have two fiestas three weeks apart? And on the religious angle, Sant Pere, or rather his image, gets dragged out during the Virgen celebrations, so what's the point of the earlier event?
The argument goes that the fiestas bring in tourists. I'm not convinced that they do, except those which occur out of season. There may be some tourists who book holidays expressly with the fiestas in mind, but how many is some? I'm sure no one has bothered to find out. But as there is so much entertainment being laid on, then maybe those who enjoy it, whether specifically attracted by fiestas or not, should contribute to the cost.
I don't have a good suggestion as to how you would create a mechanism for doing so, but assuming one could be dreamt up and let's say you have five thousand tourists knocking around, charge them all two euros a pop and bingo, there's the cost of your fireworks covered. And while you're at it, what about charging people from other towns? They don't pay the local taxes.
If not tourists paying, then what about the private sector? In the town of Dos Hermanas in the province of Sevilla, business has come to the rescue of the fiesta firework display. Put such a suggestion to businesses in Puerto Pollensa, and it would probably go down like a lead balloon, given the poor relations with the town hall and gripes about services for which taxes are paid, but the involvement of the private sector is common enough in other countries. In the USA, for example, the money for fireworks at fairs typically comes not from local authorities but from fundraising and from business.
And then there is the issue of who organises the fiestas. There has been talk of local people in Puerto Pollensa trying to stage the missing ingredients to the Virgen fiesta. In Inca, they have already looked to involve the locals in fiesta organisation. As a general principle, were the local citizenship charged with doing the organising, were it given a grant by the town hall (lower obviously than what it would otherwise spend), then this would not only give the local population greater "ownership" of the fiestas, it would also bring about a mix of private-public funding.
Perhaps we have to accept that the fiestas got too lavish for their own good and that a return to a more basic fiesta becomes the norm; DJs playing dance music isn't exactly traditional. Or perhaps we should now expect a different model for the fiestas, and one that isn't dependent upon the public purse.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It comes as no great surprise, other than that it has taken till this year for reality to bite. The funding shortages have been there for ages. They existed B.C. (before crisis), but no one thought to do much about them, ever reliant on government funds or taking on extra debt that town halls are now forbidden from doing.
In 2009, cuts to fiesta budgets did start to come in. In Pollensa, for instance, there was supposed to have been a reduction of up to 25%. If there indeed was, and the main targets were said at the time to be the autumn and wine fairs rather than the fiestas, then it wasn't necessarily obvious.
If there are to be cuts to the fiestas, and there have to be, then what should their priorities be, who should pay for them and who indeed should organise them? Is a firework display, for instance, a priority? It depends on how much it costs, and getting to that information isn't always straightforward.
One town, Felanitx, cut its budget for fireworks by 2,000 euros in 2009, so that it cost 3,000 euros. My guess is that displays in resorts such as Can Picafort and Puerto Pollensa require a far larger wedge. Upwards probably of 10,000 euros. More possibly.
In itself, this doesn't sound like a lot. In the context of this year's budget for fiestas in Puerto Pollensa of 30,000 euros, then it is. But note that it is fiestas and not fiesta. The budget was for both Virgen del Carmen, now stripped of its fireworks and beach party, and the Feria del Mar and Sant Pere fiesta just gone. Yet, the main fiesta is Virgen del Carmen. Sant Pere may not cost a lot by comparison, but why didn't they just scrap it? Why have two fiestas three weeks apart? And on the religious angle, Sant Pere, or rather his image, gets dragged out during the Virgen celebrations, so what's the point of the earlier event?
The argument goes that the fiestas bring in tourists. I'm not convinced that they do, except those which occur out of season. There may be some tourists who book holidays expressly with the fiestas in mind, but how many is some? I'm sure no one has bothered to find out. But as there is so much entertainment being laid on, then maybe those who enjoy it, whether specifically attracted by fiestas or not, should contribute to the cost.
I don't have a good suggestion as to how you would create a mechanism for doing so, but assuming one could be dreamt up and let's say you have five thousand tourists knocking around, charge them all two euros a pop and bingo, there's the cost of your fireworks covered. And while you're at it, what about charging people from other towns? They don't pay the local taxes.
If not tourists paying, then what about the private sector? In the town of Dos Hermanas in the province of Sevilla, business has come to the rescue of the fiesta firework display. Put such a suggestion to businesses in Puerto Pollensa, and it would probably go down like a lead balloon, given the poor relations with the town hall and gripes about services for which taxes are paid, but the involvement of the private sector is common enough in other countries. In the USA, for example, the money for fireworks at fairs typically comes not from local authorities but from fundraising and from business.
And then there is the issue of who organises the fiestas. There has been talk of local people in Puerto Pollensa trying to stage the missing ingredients to the Virgen fiesta. In Inca, they have already looked to involve the locals in fiesta organisation. As a general principle, were the local citizenship charged with doing the organising, were it given a grant by the town hall (lower obviously than what it would otherwise spend), then this would not only give the local population greater "ownership" of the fiestas, it would also bring about a mix of private-public funding.
Perhaps we have to accept that the fiestas got too lavish for their own good and that a return to a more basic fiesta becomes the norm; DJs playing dance music isn't exactly traditional. Or perhaps we should now expect a different model for the fiestas, and one that isn't dependent upon the public purse.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
The Party's Over: Fiestas
The threat of cuts to fiesta programmes is becoming a reality. Pollensa town hall is considering scrapping the street party of the night of 1 August that runs on into the early hours of 2 August, the day of the Moors and Christians battle that is the climax to the town's Patrona festivities.
Mayor Tomeu Cifre has said that something has to give. If not the street party, then other things would have to go, one possibility being the "marxa fresca" (the white party) that is normally held on the night before the street party.
You might ask what the difference is between these two parties. Both are, after all, held in the streets and squares of Pollensa. The marxa fresca is more an open-air disco in the Plaça Major, whereas the street party of 1 August involves three squares holding rock and dance music concerts. The cost alone of staging this street party, according to the mayor, is 40,000 euros; 40,000 euros the town hall simply hasn't got.
The funding crisis for cultural events in Pollensa nearly claimed this year's music festival. While the previous town hall administration was tardy, to blame it entirely for the disorganisation is unfair. The new tourism ministry has ridden to the music festival's rescue in providing emergency funds, the ministry of the last government having blocked funding.
The town hall was short of nearly two hundred thousand euros for the music festival, money that had traditionally been forthcoming from the government. Though the new tourism minister, Carlos Delgado, has assured his support for the music festival, he has also made it perfectly clear that an examination of grants to events from the government is going to be undertaken - in an as objective fashion as possible. In other words, there can be no guarantee that the music festival, along with any other recipient of government cash, will be helped out so generously in future, if at all.
In the case of the music festival, why has the tourism ministry been helping to fund it? I raised the question before. What does it really do for tourism? Well, come on, what does it do? Anyone able to give a firm answer? I would very much doubt it. If any ministry should be putting its hands into its pockets, then it should be that for culture.
In terms of the economic resources directed towards fiestas or festivals and of the direct economic benefits from tourism, to justify funding in the name of tourism is sophistry.
In Pollensa the mayor has also said that the budget for this year's fiestas, well down in any event on what is needed, will see 30,000 euros directed towards the fiestas in Puerto Pollensa, both the recent "feria del mar" and the upcoming Virgen del Carmen.
The town hall has 130,000 euros in all at its disposal. Patrona in the old town gets the lion's share of the budget (100,000 euros), yet, with the exception of the Moors and Christians battle, Patrona doesn't necessarily attract huge numbers of tourists. The events in the port, on the other hand, do, for the very good reason that this is where most of the tourists are to be found.
This underlines the fact that, for all the talk of fiestas as traditional events which appeal to tourists, tourists are not the primary target. They are events for the local population; as is the case with the music festival as well. There is nothing at all wrong with this, but, and despite the music festival being a different category of event to fiestas, Delgado is absolutely right to be taking a hard look at grants. If by doing so, he sends out a message to town halls that they need to apply greater realism, then he will have done a great service.
To come back to the street party, there is a further reason for its possibly being scrapped, and that is the problems it causes. Increasingly, it has become an excuse for an almighty great piss-up - a botellón - and the ambience is less than pleasant. Calls have been made, for instance, for people to desist from using the streets as toilets.
In Sa Pobla they dropped their own street party last year. Similar reasons were cited to those in Pollensa where there has been disquiet expressed as to the fact that the fiestas have lost their sense of tradition among young people and simply become the launch pad for drunkenness and misbehaviour. So, Pollensa town hall has more than one agenda when it comes to abandoning the street party, but overriding this is the fact that the fiestas have needed to be scrutinised more intensely. It's a great shame that economic crisis has necessitated this, but it is long overdue.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Mayor Tomeu Cifre has said that something has to give. If not the street party, then other things would have to go, one possibility being the "marxa fresca" (the white party) that is normally held on the night before the street party.
You might ask what the difference is between these two parties. Both are, after all, held in the streets and squares of Pollensa. The marxa fresca is more an open-air disco in the Plaça Major, whereas the street party of 1 August involves three squares holding rock and dance music concerts. The cost alone of staging this street party, according to the mayor, is 40,000 euros; 40,000 euros the town hall simply hasn't got.
The funding crisis for cultural events in Pollensa nearly claimed this year's music festival. While the previous town hall administration was tardy, to blame it entirely for the disorganisation is unfair. The new tourism ministry has ridden to the music festival's rescue in providing emergency funds, the ministry of the last government having blocked funding.
The town hall was short of nearly two hundred thousand euros for the music festival, money that had traditionally been forthcoming from the government. Though the new tourism minister, Carlos Delgado, has assured his support for the music festival, he has also made it perfectly clear that an examination of grants to events from the government is going to be undertaken - in an as objective fashion as possible. In other words, there can be no guarantee that the music festival, along with any other recipient of government cash, will be helped out so generously in future, if at all.
In the case of the music festival, why has the tourism ministry been helping to fund it? I raised the question before. What does it really do for tourism? Well, come on, what does it do? Anyone able to give a firm answer? I would very much doubt it. If any ministry should be putting its hands into its pockets, then it should be that for culture.
In terms of the economic resources directed towards fiestas or festivals and of the direct economic benefits from tourism, to justify funding in the name of tourism is sophistry.
In Pollensa the mayor has also said that the budget for this year's fiestas, well down in any event on what is needed, will see 30,000 euros directed towards the fiestas in Puerto Pollensa, both the recent "feria del mar" and the upcoming Virgen del Carmen.
The town hall has 130,000 euros in all at its disposal. Patrona in the old town gets the lion's share of the budget (100,000 euros), yet, with the exception of the Moors and Christians battle, Patrona doesn't necessarily attract huge numbers of tourists. The events in the port, on the other hand, do, for the very good reason that this is where most of the tourists are to be found.
This underlines the fact that, for all the talk of fiestas as traditional events which appeal to tourists, tourists are not the primary target. They are events for the local population; as is the case with the music festival as well. There is nothing at all wrong with this, but, and despite the music festival being a different category of event to fiestas, Delgado is absolutely right to be taking a hard look at grants. If by doing so, he sends out a message to town halls that they need to apply greater realism, then he will have done a great service.
To come back to the street party, there is a further reason for its possibly being scrapped, and that is the problems it causes. Increasingly, it has become an excuse for an almighty great piss-up - a botellón - and the ambience is less than pleasant. Calls have been made, for instance, for people to desist from using the streets as toilets.
In Sa Pobla they dropped their own street party last year. Similar reasons were cited to those in Pollensa where there has been disquiet expressed as to the fact that the fiestas have lost their sense of tradition among young people and simply become the launch pad for drunkenness and misbehaviour. So, Pollensa town hall has more than one agenda when it comes to abandoning the street party, but overriding this is the fact that the fiestas have needed to be scrutinised more intensely. It's a great shame that economic crisis has necessitated this, but it is long overdue.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Losing Their Religion: Attitudes towards the Church
The Fundación Gadeso is probably an organisation you are unfamiliar with. But much of the information about social and economic issues in Mallorca comes from the foundation.
Gadeso (Gabinete de Estudios Sociales - office of social studies) was formed in 1975 and became a foundation in 2002. It has been an important source of monitoring social and economic activity since the collapse of the Franco regime. It is an uncontroversial organisation, but it does consider controversial issues, such as corruption. One of the few links from its website - www.gadeso.org - is to a blog called the observatory of corruption which lists everything that is currently happening in respect of corruption allegations in Mallorca.
Also on its website there is, at present, a reader poll inviting responses to the significance of Christmas. The possibilities range from a religious festival to signifying nothing. Gadeso has just undertaken a survey of religious attitudes in the Balearics. This survey, unsurprisingly enough, finds a divergence in opinion across age groups, but it is one, were attitudes not to change as Balearic youth enters adulthood, which highlights the waning dominance of Catholic religious orthodoxy: well under a half of those in the 16-20 age group say they are believers.
Religious belief is one thing, another is the attitude towards issues with a religious dimension. On every issue, a majority of the youth group agrees with divorce, sex outside marriage, passive euthanasia (meaning the refusal or withdrawal of treatment), gay marriage and adoption, and abortion. Only one of these issues, divorce, gets almost unanimous support across different age ranges, but there is a further, more obscure issue which receives very little support, regardless of age. A mere 27% of all those surveyed agree with the system of financing the Catholic Church.
In theory, the Church is meant to depend upon funding through the tax system, i.e. from a percentage of income tax that taxpayers opt to donate to the Church (0.7%). It does of course have sizable assets, being the second largest land and property owner after the state, but its, if you like, working capital comes from this percentage. Or does it?
As long ago as 1987, when the so-called "church tax" was introduced, the Church agreed to be self-financing within three years. It never happened. In 2006 the Zapatero administration announced, belatedly perhaps, that government subsidy of the Church would come to an end, but that the Church would benefit from an increase in the tax to the current level, so it was still not to be self-financing.
Another research organisation, the nationwide Europa Laica (Secular Europe), estimated last year that the Church receives, via different means, some six billion euros of funds from different governmental bodies. The organisation supplied a caveat to its estimate, owing to what was described as a lack of transparency on behalf of both the Church and the government. But its estimate included 3.8 billion euros for private schools that follow the national curriculum and which have Catholic religious education. It also included some 100 million euros that came from taxpayers who had opted not to pay the church tax but to divert the money for social and charitable purposes; there are a large number of Catholic charities. There was also the matter of some 900 million euros of lost tax income because of exemptions.
On this latter point, however, there may well now be a tightening of the tax noose. Three parish churches, those of Son Servera, Felanitx and Pollensa, were recently presented with a combined IVA (VAT) bill of 344,000 euros for building works, following a decision by the Balearics' Supreme Court.
What this all suggests though is that, despite other confrontations with the Church, the Zapatero government hasn't been as aggressive when it comes to funding. The implication of the Gadeso survey, however, is that perhaps it should have been. Whether it has the opportunity to be so in the future depends upon whether there is a future. The Partido Popular (PP) has vowed to turn back the secularism of Zapatero, and this may also include instituting a more favourable financial regime.
Though the Gadeso survey reveals differing attitudes among age groups, they show broad support for many of the government's social policies in the Balearics and echo support elsewhere in Spain. Gadeso is important in that it acts as a barometer of attitudes. Politicians, especially those from the PP, might do well to take some notice of them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Gadeso (Gabinete de Estudios Sociales - office of social studies) was formed in 1975 and became a foundation in 2002. It has been an important source of monitoring social and economic activity since the collapse of the Franco regime. It is an uncontroversial organisation, but it does consider controversial issues, such as corruption. One of the few links from its website - www.gadeso.org - is to a blog called the observatory of corruption which lists everything that is currently happening in respect of corruption allegations in Mallorca.
Also on its website there is, at present, a reader poll inviting responses to the significance of Christmas. The possibilities range from a religious festival to signifying nothing. Gadeso has just undertaken a survey of religious attitudes in the Balearics. This survey, unsurprisingly enough, finds a divergence in opinion across age groups, but it is one, were attitudes not to change as Balearic youth enters adulthood, which highlights the waning dominance of Catholic religious orthodoxy: well under a half of those in the 16-20 age group say they are believers.
Religious belief is one thing, another is the attitude towards issues with a religious dimension. On every issue, a majority of the youth group agrees with divorce, sex outside marriage, passive euthanasia (meaning the refusal or withdrawal of treatment), gay marriage and adoption, and abortion. Only one of these issues, divorce, gets almost unanimous support across different age ranges, but there is a further, more obscure issue which receives very little support, regardless of age. A mere 27% of all those surveyed agree with the system of financing the Catholic Church.
In theory, the Church is meant to depend upon funding through the tax system, i.e. from a percentage of income tax that taxpayers opt to donate to the Church (0.7%). It does of course have sizable assets, being the second largest land and property owner after the state, but its, if you like, working capital comes from this percentage. Or does it?
As long ago as 1987, when the so-called "church tax" was introduced, the Church agreed to be self-financing within three years. It never happened. In 2006 the Zapatero administration announced, belatedly perhaps, that government subsidy of the Church would come to an end, but that the Church would benefit from an increase in the tax to the current level, so it was still not to be self-financing.
Another research organisation, the nationwide Europa Laica (Secular Europe), estimated last year that the Church receives, via different means, some six billion euros of funds from different governmental bodies. The organisation supplied a caveat to its estimate, owing to what was described as a lack of transparency on behalf of both the Church and the government. But its estimate included 3.8 billion euros for private schools that follow the national curriculum and which have Catholic religious education. It also included some 100 million euros that came from taxpayers who had opted not to pay the church tax but to divert the money for social and charitable purposes; there are a large number of Catholic charities. There was also the matter of some 900 million euros of lost tax income because of exemptions.
On this latter point, however, there may well now be a tightening of the tax noose. Three parish churches, those of Son Servera, Felanitx and Pollensa, were recently presented with a combined IVA (VAT) bill of 344,000 euros for building works, following a decision by the Balearics' Supreme Court.
What this all suggests though is that, despite other confrontations with the Church, the Zapatero government hasn't been as aggressive when it comes to funding. The implication of the Gadeso survey, however, is that perhaps it should have been. Whether it has the opportunity to be so in the future depends upon whether there is a future. The Partido Popular (PP) has vowed to turn back the secularism of Zapatero, and this may also include instituting a more favourable financial regime.
Though the Gadeso survey reveals differing attitudes among age groups, they show broad support for many of the government's social policies in the Balearics and echo support elsewhere in Spain. Gadeso is important in that it acts as a barometer of attitudes. Politicians, especially those from the PP, might do well to take some notice of them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Surf's Up
Things you can't take to the beach - or shouldn't, must not: pets (goldfish presumably not, but mainly dogs); camping gear, cooking devices; boats, kites for surfing, jet-skis, super tankers, nuclear submarines - oh, and windsurf boards and sails. Or to clarify. Dogs are not irregular visitors to the beach, but no-one seems to much do anything about them; jet-skis, kitesurfs can be taken so long as they are in the "sports zones" or beaches set aside, such as - for kitesurfing - La Marina in Alcúdia and Es Comú in Playa de Muro. And also windsurfs.
On the beach in Playa de Muro three windsurfers were making their way back to shore. A lifeguard was on patrol. The whistle went and there ensued much gesticulation, discussion and talking into his two-way by the lifeguard. Plod arrived. Plod on water. Plod on a jet-ski, carefully brought into shore without the engine in full blast. More discussion.
Windsurfing, unlike jet-skis and kitesurfing is not particularly dangerous in terms of potential harm to other sea users. So long as there are not many of them and the windsurfer knows what he or she is doing. As soon as there are a load of them and those who don't know what they're doing, then there is the potential for harm. Hence, you cannot windsurf wherever takes your fancy. Them's the rules. Except for those who believe that the rules are there for others. It is not a uniquely Spanish thing, but there is a definite trait that says rules are for others - this manifests itself in various ways, one of which is bringing the windsurf board, the jet-ski or the kite to the beaches where they shouldn't be. Probably along with the dog as well.
The kitesurfing that occurs at La Marina has become something of a sightseeing spot. When the wind is blowing, as it often does there, the skies are full of colour and of Charlie Browners performing mobes. It is a spectacle. But unfortunately it is also quite dangerous. Not because of the kitesurfing per se, but because of the rubber-neckers, the Charlie Browners (kitesurfers) themselves and those drivers who just suddenly stop. The road here is a blackspot, which is why there are always floral tributes. The kitesurfers wander and run across the road to their cars; tourists pull up with little warning or poodle along too slowly. There's going to be an incident there.
Museum piece
More on museums. The Inca footwear museum controversy continues. The opposition Partido Popular at the town hall has denounced the extra costs of 800,000 euros for the museum. It says that it has been known for five years that extra funding would be needed and that the whole project has been a "botched job". Meanwhile, the projected new Pollentia museum in Alcúdia is to be funded courtesy of money from the central government. The sub-director for state museums, and there is such an individual, has promised the consortium (the town hall and agencies of the Mallorca Council and regional government) that the money will be forthcoming under budgets for 2011. So, work is unlikely to start till then. The level of funding has not been disclosed but is believed to be in the region of three million euros.
And still on local project funding. Threequarters of a million euros have been forked out to create the park by La Gola in Puerto Pollensa. This has been a colossal waste of money. It should have been reserved only to keep the water clean and free of the stagnation it has been prone to; the rest, pointless. Doubly pointless as the park is not being maintained properly. It is full of dog shit and litter and benches have graffiti. One has the impression that officialdom has washed its hands of the whole thing; there hasn't even been an official opening.
Palma bombs
Two bombs in bar-restaurants in Palma. No injuries. A third has gone off in the Plaza Mayor. There was a call purporting to come from ETA. The chief prosecutor for the Balearics believes that this indicates the likelihood of there being an ETA group on the island.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Shakira, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL0xp6XIp0Y. Today's title - one of the greatest songs ever.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
On the beach in Playa de Muro three windsurfers were making their way back to shore. A lifeguard was on patrol. The whistle went and there ensued much gesticulation, discussion and talking into his two-way by the lifeguard. Plod arrived. Plod on water. Plod on a jet-ski, carefully brought into shore without the engine in full blast. More discussion.
Windsurfing, unlike jet-skis and kitesurfing is not particularly dangerous in terms of potential harm to other sea users. So long as there are not many of them and the windsurfer knows what he or she is doing. As soon as there are a load of them and those who don't know what they're doing, then there is the potential for harm. Hence, you cannot windsurf wherever takes your fancy. Them's the rules. Except for those who believe that the rules are there for others. It is not a uniquely Spanish thing, but there is a definite trait that says rules are for others - this manifests itself in various ways, one of which is bringing the windsurf board, the jet-ski or the kite to the beaches where they shouldn't be. Probably along with the dog as well.
The kitesurfing that occurs at La Marina has become something of a sightseeing spot. When the wind is blowing, as it often does there, the skies are full of colour and of Charlie Browners performing mobes. It is a spectacle. But unfortunately it is also quite dangerous. Not because of the kitesurfing per se, but because of the rubber-neckers, the Charlie Browners (kitesurfers) themselves and those drivers who just suddenly stop. The road here is a blackspot, which is why there are always floral tributes. The kitesurfers wander and run across the road to their cars; tourists pull up with little warning or poodle along too slowly. There's going to be an incident there.
Museum piece
More on museums. The Inca footwear museum controversy continues. The opposition Partido Popular at the town hall has denounced the extra costs of 800,000 euros for the museum. It says that it has been known for five years that extra funding would be needed and that the whole project has been a "botched job". Meanwhile, the projected new Pollentia museum in Alcúdia is to be funded courtesy of money from the central government. The sub-director for state museums, and there is such an individual, has promised the consortium (the town hall and agencies of the Mallorca Council and regional government) that the money will be forthcoming under budgets for 2011. So, work is unlikely to start till then. The level of funding has not been disclosed but is believed to be in the region of three million euros.
And still on local project funding. Threequarters of a million euros have been forked out to create the park by La Gola in Puerto Pollensa. This has been a colossal waste of money. It should have been reserved only to keep the water clean and free of the stagnation it has been prone to; the rest, pointless. Doubly pointless as the park is not being maintained properly. It is full of dog shit and litter and benches have graffiti. One has the impression that officialdom has washed its hands of the whole thing; there hasn't even been an official opening.
Palma bombs
Two bombs in bar-restaurants in Palma. No injuries. A third has gone off in the Plaza Mayor. There was a call purporting to come from ETA. The chief prosecutor for the Balearics believes that this indicates the likelihood of there being an ETA group on the island.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Shakira, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL0xp6XIp0Y. Today's title - one of the greatest songs ever.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Always Shines On TV
The more I think about it, the more I think I might, were I in a position to worry about such things, be worried that this Top Gear Classic Car Rally thing might not be the wonderful advert for Mallorca some seem to believe that it will be. Put it this way - why are they coming to Mallorca, for this particular rally? Clarkson and the boys don't do veiled PR exercises for tourist authorities; they do taking the piss. And that, the more I think about it, is what might, perhaps should, worry some.
Oh that these were still the glory days of motoring - a sedate drive in the countryside, yer best girl by yer side, yer dashing moustache and yer Brylcreemed hair set in concrete against the open-topped breeze; the mountains in the background as yer pull up by a marina for a G and T stiffener with David Niven. Unfortunately, things aren't like that anymore. There is also the not inconsiderable factor of Clarkson's total absence of political correctness. This, as anyone who reads him will be aware, manifests itself in a variety of ways, such as the fact that he would be the last person who might be described as an environmentalism fellow traveller. Then there is the matter of killing wildlife.
I fear there may be this rather misguided impression that this is all going to be an advert for Mallorcan landscape and its wonderful environment. There may well indeed be landscape, but there will also be some serious pollution occurring. Those classic cars do about a kilometre to the gallon. Haring around the roads going into the Tramuntana could be bad news for local hares as well. Or indeed any other poor animal that happens to get in the way. A classic car rally is just about the single most environmentally damaging event that one could possibly dream up, which is probably part of the reason that they're taking part. Then there is the potential for, well, just taking the Michael, and there is no shortage of potential in this respect.
The Top Gear programme comes at a time when apparently there is to be some reality thing showing how expats here are coping, or not, with the credit crunch. Doubtless there will be some poor saps who put their hands up to take part and are made to look total idiots - for that is the way it is with TV. Take also this "Sun, Sea and A&E" reality docu (5 February: Murder On The Dancefloor). There have been three articles about this programme in "The Bulletin" over the past week. Why, do you suppose? Because it's news? I doubt it. Seems more like PR for the show, and moreover, if it has not received criticism for being patronising, then it should have; patronising because the message that has come out of the programme is that Mallorca has good health facilities - as if this should come as a big surprise. This is Mallorca, not some basket case bit of African jungle.
All these shows may, in some respects, be beneficial for Mallorca, but please don't let's be naïve in thinking that they exist just as a way of promoting the island.
Following on from yesterday's item about Brussels and Balearic money and fire runs and so on, a local councillor from Palma has apparently been impressing upon European commissioners that were it to be the case that fire runs were outlawed then legal action would probably be taken to reverse this. As I said before, how to win friends and influence bureaucracts. Here we have a councillor making a sort of threat while at the same time many - some other 149 or so - compatriots are attempting to extract money from the same political entity. Here's a scenario, a dilemma and a question for you to consider: You are a Mallorcan politician, you go to Brussels as part of a delegation to try and obtain a whole bunch more funding from the European piggy-bank. The Euro-meisters say, "ok, we'll give you the money, so long as you agree to stop setting fire to your streets and to conducting fire runs, and to following - to the letter - the European directive on pyrotechnics". Do you, as a Mallorcan politician, accept this as a reasonable compromise, dismiss it as a form of bribery or demand the money and the continuation of the tradition?
It's most unlikely that this scenario would occur, but there does come a point where you can't have your cake and set fire to it, too, which is what the 150 who have marched on Brussels would presumably want.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Deep Purple (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WX_4FNoto4). Today's title - for years I thought the lyric meant that the sun shone onto the television set.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Oh that these were still the glory days of motoring - a sedate drive in the countryside, yer best girl by yer side, yer dashing moustache and yer Brylcreemed hair set in concrete against the open-topped breeze; the mountains in the background as yer pull up by a marina for a G and T stiffener with David Niven. Unfortunately, things aren't like that anymore. There is also the not inconsiderable factor of Clarkson's total absence of political correctness. This, as anyone who reads him will be aware, manifests itself in a variety of ways, such as the fact that he would be the last person who might be described as an environmentalism fellow traveller. Then there is the matter of killing wildlife.
I fear there may be this rather misguided impression that this is all going to be an advert for Mallorcan landscape and its wonderful environment. There may well indeed be landscape, but there will also be some serious pollution occurring. Those classic cars do about a kilometre to the gallon. Haring around the roads going into the Tramuntana could be bad news for local hares as well. Or indeed any other poor animal that happens to get in the way. A classic car rally is just about the single most environmentally damaging event that one could possibly dream up, which is probably part of the reason that they're taking part. Then there is the potential for, well, just taking the Michael, and there is no shortage of potential in this respect.
The Top Gear programme comes at a time when apparently there is to be some reality thing showing how expats here are coping, or not, with the credit crunch. Doubtless there will be some poor saps who put their hands up to take part and are made to look total idiots - for that is the way it is with TV. Take also this "Sun, Sea and A&E" reality docu (5 February: Murder On The Dancefloor). There have been three articles about this programme in "The Bulletin" over the past week. Why, do you suppose? Because it's news? I doubt it. Seems more like PR for the show, and moreover, if it has not received criticism for being patronising, then it should have; patronising because the message that has come out of the programme is that Mallorca has good health facilities - as if this should come as a big surprise. This is Mallorca, not some basket case bit of African jungle.
All these shows may, in some respects, be beneficial for Mallorca, but please don't let's be naïve in thinking that they exist just as a way of promoting the island.
Following on from yesterday's item about Brussels and Balearic money and fire runs and so on, a local councillor from Palma has apparently been impressing upon European commissioners that were it to be the case that fire runs were outlawed then legal action would probably be taken to reverse this. As I said before, how to win friends and influence bureaucracts. Here we have a councillor making a sort of threat while at the same time many - some other 149 or so - compatriots are attempting to extract money from the same political entity. Here's a scenario, a dilemma and a question for you to consider: You are a Mallorcan politician, you go to Brussels as part of a delegation to try and obtain a whole bunch more funding from the European piggy-bank. The Euro-meisters say, "ok, we'll give you the money, so long as you agree to stop setting fire to your streets and to conducting fire runs, and to following - to the letter - the European directive on pyrotechnics". Do you, as a Mallorcan politician, accept this as a reasonable compromise, dismiss it as a form of bribery or demand the money and the continuation of the tradition?
It's most unlikely that this scenario would occur, but there does come a point where you can't have your cake and set fire to it, too, which is what the 150 who have marched on Brussels would presumably want.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Deep Purple (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WX_4FNoto4). Today's title - for years I thought the lyric meant that the sun shone onto the television set.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, February 20, 2009
Smoke On The Water, Fire In The Sky
The mayors' big away day. Look, I know it isn't that far - to Brussels, that is, when compared with, say, Australia - but who actually has coughed up for 40 mayors to turn up in the Belgian capital in order to harangue the European authorities into divvying up more dosh for the Balearics and into not stopping fire runs as part of a directive against pyrotechnics? If they have all paid out of their own pockets, then my apologies for the following, but I somewhat doubt it. How many mayors are needed to change a light bulb, or in this instance to change the level of funding? And to the mayors you can add various other politicians, businesspeople, artists, union representatives - 150 in all. One hundred and fifty! What on earth for? If you are going to argue a case for more funding, you should be a bit careful someone doesn't turn round and ask if some of the current funding is finding its way to pay for 150 people to come to Brussels for a couple of nights in a decent hotel plus flights and some nosebag. Furthermore, if a sizeable chunk of the Mallorcan and Balearic political population can piss off to Belgium on a midweek jolly, does this perhaps suggest that they don't really have enough to occupy them when back on the islands? I say to Brussels - keep your money and tell the mayors to get back and do a decent day's work.
Now, I don't know if one of the 40 was Pollensa's normally under-fire mayor, but had Joan Cerdà gone off for a day or two's respite from the normal attacks he is subjected to, one could have understood it. There is more trouble brewing, one suspects, in Puerto Pollensa. This time, it's the relocation of boat maintenance workshops, by which are meant - I think - the likes of Astilleros Cabanellas (there is in the report a reference also to Boquer, which seems a bit odd, given where it is, but there you go). There are, according to "The Bulletin", two options for siting the workshops, and I'm afraid I don't understand either of them; well, I don't understand the descriptions. One, it says, is a plot of land "on the left of the road running down to the wharf ... on the Gotmar country estate". The other is to the right of the new ring road, apparently. Anyone help here, because I've no idea. I know that not all work needs to be carried out in water, but I can't figure out whether these options are by the water or indeed where they are. But of course, the very mention of Gotmar will probably have the radicals of that part of Puerto Pollensa back on the trail of his mayorship. Things have gone rather quiet on that front. Too quiet, I'd say, if I were the mayor. Watch out! If he happens to be out of the country, it could be the moment for a coup d'état!
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHfoIfo_7A). Today's title - how can you not know this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Now, I don't know if one of the 40 was Pollensa's normally under-fire mayor, but had Joan Cerdà gone off for a day or two's respite from the normal attacks he is subjected to, one could have understood it. There is more trouble brewing, one suspects, in Puerto Pollensa. This time, it's the relocation of boat maintenance workshops, by which are meant - I think - the likes of Astilleros Cabanellas (there is in the report a reference also to Boquer, which seems a bit odd, given where it is, but there you go). There are, according to "The Bulletin", two options for siting the workshops, and I'm afraid I don't understand either of them; well, I don't understand the descriptions. One, it says, is a plot of land "on the left of the road running down to the wharf ... on the Gotmar country estate". The other is to the right of the new ring road, apparently. Anyone help here, because I've no idea. I know that not all work needs to be carried out in water, but I can't figure out whether these options are by the water or indeed where they are. But of course, the very mention of Gotmar will probably have the radicals of that part of Puerto Pollensa back on the trail of his mayorship. Things have gone rather quiet on that front. Too quiet, I'd say, if I were the mayor. Watch out! If he happens to be out of the country, it could be the moment for a coup d'état!
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHfoIfo_7A). Today's title - how can you not know this?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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