You wouldn't really have described Biel Company as a company man. Not politically. Elevated to supremo of the mega environment-agriculture-land ministry of José Ramón Bauzá's government, he took office as an independent. Biel knew about farming more than politics. His company background was that of the agricultural enterprise, not the organisation of a political party. He was of the Mallorcan heartland, born in Sant Joan, where they talk of nothing other than farming because there's nothing else to concern them, and talk about it in an impenetrable Mallorquín brogue. Perish the thought you would ever speak Castellano in this rural backwater.
When Biel was appointed, the farming community voiced its approval and, oddly enough for a businessman, there were warm comments from the unions. He may have ceased being an agricultural man of the soil with his hands thrust into the Mallorcan earth, but he was salt of that earth. He appreciated farming from both sides, and he did so with his roots in a conservative community, one that found appealing the politics that was to emerge when regional government commenced. Biel was 20 when another Biel, Gabriel Cañellas, became president. The party was to become the Partido Popular, and Cañellas gave it its definition: its regional definition, its Mallorcan and Balearic definition.
Once in government, Company was given the opportunity to prove that he was a company man. He took it and became a card-carrying member of the PP. As minister he did a fairly good job. He had his scrapes, such as the one to do with marine oil prospecting, but for the most part he kept his head down, stayed out of trouble and got on with his job.
It was perhaps that previous independence which should have been a warning to Bauzá. As Company, in his generally efficient manner, acquired a good reputation, his stock rose. But he wasn't ever the full company man: not Bauzá's anyway. One could argue that he acted with ingratitude when he turned on Bauzá, but then all the ingredients why he did could have been foreseen: they were in the soil of Sant Joan.
Company has said that he would never have introduced trilingual teaching - not in the way it was, anyway - and nor would he have promoted the Law of Symbols and so the removal of the Catalan "senyera" flag from public buildings. As part of a government which did both, then this might seem a bit rich, but increasingly it became clear over Bauzá's time as president that he was not collegiate. He did things his way. It was he, Bauzá, who was not the company man; rather an autocratic and domineering entrepreneur crafting a new venture, a risk enterprise colliding with a culture of regionalism and of Catalan tolerance. Woe betide the CEO who tries to alter a company's culture without having the adept skills and charisma to persuade others to change. Bauzá didn't. Instead he charged headlong into change for which there was way too little support, and eventually the rebellion occurred, with Company at the head of the legion of the company of dissenters.
In being the first of the former cabinet to come out and say what he did last week, Company was voicing what many have thought. Despite the austerity, despite the advance of Podemos, had it not been for the anti-regionalism and for the assault on Catalan, the PP might still have won the last election, or at least not been as demolished to the extent that it was in losing fifteen parliamentary seats. He says that the party got themselves into too many "puddles". That's a literal translation. Holes would be more appropriate. And they were ones that could have been avoided, but Bauzá chose not to, and in so doing he neglected the roots of Cañellas's conservative, tolerant regionalism in the soil of places like Sant Joan. Company, ironically, might yet become the perfect company man. He's likely to become the next full-time leader of the PP.
Index for August 2015
Aligi Sassu and the horse sculpture - 12 August 2015
All-inclusives: what is the regulation? - 5 August 2015
Bad weather in August - 19 August 2015
Balearic Government: policies and finance - 13 August 2015
Beach no-go areas - 6 August 2015
British police in Magalluf - 17 August 2015
Cala Varques, Manacor - 24 August 2015
Calas de Mallorca and all-inclusives - 1 August 2015
Catalonian nation - 28 August 2015
Cilla Black - 7 August 2015
Demons and politics - 27 August 2015
Embala't fiesta, Sencelles - 9 August 2015
Fiestas - who are they for? - 11 August 2015
Fun and the meaning of holidays - 4 August 2015
Gabriel Company - 31 August 2015
Jazz and politicians - 14 August 2015
Mallorca overwhelmed by tourism - 15 August 2015
Moors and Christians - 2 August 2015
Nepotism and health service - 10 August 2015, 18 August 2015
Podemos and its Balearic females - 3 August 2015
Prehistory and culture - 30 August 2015
Ramon Llull - 20 August 2015
Saint Bartholomew lanterns in Alcúdia - 23 August 2015
Squares - 16 August 2015
Tourist eco-tax - 8 August 2015, 21 August 2015, 22 August 2015, 29 August 2015
Tourist satisfaction - 25 August 2015
Tribute acts - 26 August 2015
Showing posts with label Gabriel Company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gabriel Company. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Company Law: Balearics farming legislation
Of ministers in the regional government, there is one who has been spent the period of this administration going about his business in a generally quiet and effective manner. Gabriel Company, minister for the environment, agriculture and land, has not courted attention, yet he has been responsible for laws with far-reaching consequences which are, for the most part, sound in their drafting and to be welcomed. These are the laws for land, fishing and farming.
It hasn't all been plain sailing for Company. He became embroiled in the controversy of the supposedly private trip to Cabrera with former education minister Rafael Bosch which benefited from public money and during which lobster and champagne were consumed; an extravagance which gave opponents a target at which to aim and one that they fired at with relish. He was criticised over the maintenance of forests following the Andratx fire last year, and more recently he failed to convince a sceptical public and opposition that the regional government was unaware of test soundings for oil in Balearic waters. A minister's life is never smooth, but on balance he has been doing a good job, so much so that he has been dubbed "untouchable"; the one minister who Bauzá could ill afford to lose or be prepared to move on.
This untouchability was put to the test over those oil tests. It appeared to many that Company was being hung out to dry by a president eager to distance himself from any hint of regional complicity in oil prospecting. The relationship between the two was already strained, but Bauzá would have appreciated that Company, with his remit for reform on several fronts, had to be held onto. These reforms, while they may have lacked the headlining qualities of those to do with education or tourism, have been central to the government's deregulatory philosophy (where it has suited the government to de-regulate).
The farming law has now finally received full parliamentary approval. It isn't without its controversies, but it is a law which, unusually for Balearics legislation, has been greeted with satisfaction by elements that typically might be expected to oppose Partido Popular legislation regardless of what it contains. The farmers' union has backed it, as has a former agriculture minister, Mateu Morro, who is a member of the PSM socialists, a party with a close association with the green and environmentalist lobby.
The main thrust of the law is to make agricultural land more productive through diversification. Over 60% of Mallorca's land is categorised as being for farming purposes, yet agriculture is a sector which contributes a mere 1.1% of Gross Value Added to the economy and employs a similarly meagre percentage of the workforce, 2.4%. And this workforce is one characterised by its age: there are far too few younger workers in the industry. The diversification, aimed at increasing productivity and at providing new opportunities for business and employment, envisages new activities, such as the opening of hostels for tourists, of shops and of sports facilities with an essentially rural flavour; the sports would, therefore, be related to equestrianism as well as to cycling and hiking. There is even provision for short-term camping. This only allows farms to host a maximum of ten people for two nights, but it is a measure which represents something of a breakthrough for an activity - camping - which has been repressed for too long.
There is a good deal of joined-up governmental thinking. The law will expand rural tourism, though this hasn't met with the full approval of hoteliers as it is farm proprietors who will benefit from this additional tourism. In order to remove any potential objections from the hotel sector, the tourism decree has recognised the changes in use of farming land and brought these within the scope of the tourism ministry's granting of permissions for rural tourism.
There may yet be a challenge to an aspect of the law to do with tree felling. The Balearics association of environment agents, i.e. professionals who work in forestry and the broader environment and is a self-styled environmental police, believes that permissiveness with regard to felling and logging will endanger certain species and increase risks of fires (because of the residue from felling). It is considering a challenge to the law, arguing that it conflicts with state law on natural spaces and the protection of species.
Objections from environmentalist groups are to be expected and are understandable, but this isn't a law that has been greeted with the full force of environmentalist ire. And a reason why may well lie with Company's credibility. He enjoys the confidence of the farming community and of opposition politicians because he comes from the agriculture industry. He was brought into the regional government as an independent precisely because he understood the industry. Other ministerial appointments might benefit from a similar profile.
It hasn't all been plain sailing for Company. He became embroiled in the controversy of the supposedly private trip to Cabrera with former education minister Rafael Bosch which benefited from public money and during which lobster and champagne were consumed; an extravagance which gave opponents a target at which to aim and one that they fired at with relish. He was criticised over the maintenance of forests following the Andratx fire last year, and more recently he failed to convince a sceptical public and opposition that the regional government was unaware of test soundings for oil in Balearic waters. A minister's life is never smooth, but on balance he has been doing a good job, so much so that he has been dubbed "untouchable"; the one minister who Bauzá could ill afford to lose or be prepared to move on.
This untouchability was put to the test over those oil tests. It appeared to many that Company was being hung out to dry by a president eager to distance himself from any hint of regional complicity in oil prospecting. The relationship between the two was already strained, but Bauzá would have appreciated that Company, with his remit for reform on several fronts, had to be held onto. These reforms, while they may have lacked the headlining qualities of those to do with education or tourism, have been central to the government's deregulatory philosophy (where it has suited the government to de-regulate).
The farming law has now finally received full parliamentary approval. It isn't without its controversies, but it is a law which, unusually for Balearics legislation, has been greeted with satisfaction by elements that typically might be expected to oppose Partido Popular legislation regardless of what it contains. The farmers' union has backed it, as has a former agriculture minister, Mateu Morro, who is a member of the PSM socialists, a party with a close association with the green and environmentalist lobby.
The main thrust of the law is to make agricultural land more productive through diversification. Over 60% of Mallorca's land is categorised as being for farming purposes, yet agriculture is a sector which contributes a mere 1.1% of Gross Value Added to the economy and employs a similarly meagre percentage of the workforce, 2.4%. And this workforce is one characterised by its age: there are far too few younger workers in the industry. The diversification, aimed at increasing productivity and at providing new opportunities for business and employment, envisages new activities, such as the opening of hostels for tourists, of shops and of sports facilities with an essentially rural flavour; the sports would, therefore, be related to equestrianism as well as to cycling and hiking. There is even provision for short-term camping. This only allows farms to host a maximum of ten people for two nights, but it is a measure which represents something of a breakthrough for an activity - camping - which has been repressed for too long.
There is a good deal of joined-up governmental thinking. The law will expand rural tourism, though this hasn't met with the full approval of hoteliers as it is farm proprietors who will benefit from this additional tourism. In order to remove any potential objections from the hotel sector, the tourism decree has recognised the changes in use of farming land and brought these within the scope of the tourism ministry's granting of permissions for rural tourism.
There may yet be a challenge to an aspect of the law to do with tree felling. The Balearics association of environment agents, i.e. professionals who work in forestry and the broader environment and is a self-styled environmental police, believes that permissiveness with regard to felling and logging will endanger certain species and increase risks of fires (because of the residue from felling). It is considering a challenge to the law, arguing that it conflicts with state law on natural spaces and the protection of species.
Objections from environmentalist groups are to be expected and are understandable, but this isn't a law that has been greeted with the full force of environmentalist ire. And a reason why may well lie with Company's credibility. He enjoys the confidence of the farming community and of opposition politicians because he comes from the agriculture industry. He was brought into the regional government as an independent precisely because he understood the industry. Other ministerial appointments might benefit from a similar profile.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Company joins the PP
Balearic Government environment, agriculture and transport minister Gabriel Company, who was appointed as an independent to the government given in particular his links to the farming sector, has now officially joined the Partido Popular. It is believed that this move will help to make the PP seem more "regionalist", a source of the government's problems having been that it is looked upon as being anti-regionalist.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
In Good Company: Agriculture
While Carlos Delgado has attracted most of the attention among the appointments as José Bauzá's ministers, there are others who have dipped below the radar. One of them is the agriculture minister, Gabriel Company.
To be more accurate, Company is to head a super-ministry of agriculture, the environment and land. But it is the agriculture element of this trinity of responsibilities that is the most interesting. It is a post to which Company is eminently suited.
The president of Asaja-Balears, the agriculture business association, Company was a fierce critic of the previous administration of Francesc Antich. In this capacity, he has not always enjoyed the best of relationships with the farmers' union. Nevertheless, the union has said it is happy with his appointment for the very good reason that Company knows the industry.
All the talk of a "professional" heading the tourism ministry overlooked the fact that other ministries might similarly need to be blessed by some independent talent. One reason for neglecting agriculture was that it had, as a ministry, been downgraded by President Antich and been placed within the department of the presidency. The move was designed as a cost-saving one, yet it seemed like a strange one because of what is perceived as the importance of agriculture to Mallorca and the Balearics.
Tourism is by far Mallorca's biggest industry, accounting for roughly 80% of gross domestic product. A professional in charge of the tourism ministry, if you were to appoint one to any ministry, would have made sense, not that he or she could probably have been afforded, as I have said previously.
Agriculture now has one. Company, not actually a member of the Partido Popular, had been fèted at one point by the Unió Mallorquina for a position at the Council of Mallorca, but now he has been placed firmly at the centre of government decision-making, albeit in a ministry which will demand he pays attention to other areas of responsibility as well.
At the time of the election, Company left Bauzá in no doubt that he felt that the PP would be making a mistake in not restoring agriculture as a key ministry. Perhaps he knew something. Whatever, the ministry has indeed been restored, and he is in charge of it.
You may think this is all very sensible. Key industry and all that; there needs to be a dedicated ministry. Everyone knows that Mallorca has its potato and vegetable growing, its almonds, its olives, its vineyards and so on. It has its fairs devoted to the fruits of the land. However, what everyone might not know is that agriculture, which once - back in the early '50s - represented some 40% of the island's economy, now amounts to rather less. 1.7%, if you are being particularly liberal; it is in fact less.
The agriculture spin in Mallorca does not, therefore, quite match up to reality. The industry is still important, but it is not as important as some might think.
Yet, as we know from the fact that TUI keeps banging on about it, there is a relationship between this small industry and the island's chief wealth generator of tourism. It is not just that agriculture helps to maintain tradition and to give a visual appeal, it is also, apart from local consumption generally and export, a source of local supply to the tourism industry.
An issue for Company will be how he might facilitate a growth in the agriculture industry. If demand for local produce is indeed meant to increase as a consequence of sustainable tourism (and were exports to grow), then the industry may face a brighter future after decades of decline.
And Mallorca has land that could be made to be more productive, as opposed to having been allowed to become idle. Last year, for example, there was the case of land in Capdepera that was being looked at for re-cultivation. Furthermore, new forms of agrarianism have been promoted as a way forward for Mallorca, such as by Jerry Mander of the International Forum on Globalization and by an Australian expert on permaculture, Darren Doherty.
Company will seek to reverse what he has called a period of "ignorance, inefficiency and zero interest" in respect of government agricultural policy. Despite agriculture's currently small contribution to the island's economy, it could become, with the right person driving a purposeful strategy, an area of growth. And Company may well be this right person.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
To be more accurate, Company is to head a super-ministry of agriculture, the environment and land. But it is the agriculture element of this trinity of responsibilities that is the most interesting. It is a post to which Company is eminently suited.
The president of Asaja-Balears, the agriculture business association, Company was a fierce critic of the previous administration of Francesc Antich. In this capacity, he has not always enjoyed the best of relationships with the farmers' union. Nevertheless, the union has said it is happy with his appointment for the very good reason that Company knows the industry.
All the talk of a "professional" heading the tourism ministry overlooked the fact that other ministries might similarly need to be blessed by some independent talent. One reason for neglecting agriculture was that it had, as a ministry, been downgraded by President Antich and been placed within the department of the presidency. The move was designed as a cost-saving one, yet it seemed like a strange one because of what is perceived as the importance of agriculture to Mallorca and the Balearics.
Tourism is by far Mallorca's biggest industry, accounting for roughly 80% of gross domestic product. A professional in charge of the tourism ministry, if you were to appoint one to any ministry, would have made sense, not that he or she could probably have been afforded, as I have said previously.
Agriculture now has one. Company, not actually a member of the Partido Popular, had been fèted at one point by the Unió Mallorquina for a position at the Council of Mallorca, but now he has been placed firmly at the centre of government decision-making, albeit in a ministry which will demand he pays attention to other areas of responsibility as well.
At the time of the election, Company left Bauzá in no doubt that he felt that the PP would be making a mistake in not restoring agriculture as a key ministry. Perhaps he knew something. Whatever, the ministry has indeed been restored, and he is in charge of it.
You may think this is all very sensible. Key industry and all that; there needs to be a dedicated ministry. Everyone knows that Mallorca has its potato and vegetable growing, its almonds, its olives, its vineyards and so on. It has its fairs devoted to the fruits of the land. However, what everyone might not know is that agriculture, which once - back in the early '50s - represented some 40% of the island's economy, now amounts to rather less. 1.7%, if you are being particularly liberal; it is in fact less.
The agriculture spin in Mallorca does not, therefore, quite match up to reality. The industry is still important, but it is not as important as some might think.
Yet, as we know from the fact that TUI keeps banging on about it, there is a relationship between this small industry and the island's chief wealth generator of tourism. It is not just that agriculture helps to maintain tradition and to give a visual appeal, it is also, apart from local consumption generally and export, a source of local supply to the tourism industry.
An issue for Company will be how he might facilitate a growth in the agriculture industry. If demand for local produce is indeed meant to increase as a consequence of sustainable tourism (and were exports to grow), then the industry may face a brighter future after decades of decline.
And Mallorca has land that could be made to be more productive, as opposed to having been allowed to become idle. Last year, for example, there was the case of land in Capdepera that was being looked at for re-cultivation. Furthermore, new forms of agrarianism have been promoted as a way forward for Mallorca, such as by Jerry Mander of the International Forum on Globalization and by an Australian expert on permaculture, Darren Doherty.
Company will seek to reverse what he has called a period of "ignorance, inefficiency and zero interest" in respect of government agricultural policy. Despite agriculture's currently small contribution to the island's economy, it could become, with the right person driving a purposeful strategy, an area of growth. And Company may well be this right person.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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