One of the oldest national ministries of Spanish government has the title "fomento". The word means development or promotion. It was created in 1832, its principal functions being, as they still are, transport and communications. In 1905 the ministry acquired a further responsibility - tourism, on account of the fact that the national commission for tourism was attached to the ministry. This commission was to evolve into what became the tourism directorate-general, directly responsible to the interior ministry. In 1951 this directorate-general became a ministry in its own right, sharing this with information. The best-known minister for information and tourism was Manuel Fraga, who held the position from 1962 to 1969. Arguably, he is still the best known of all ministers who have ever had tourism responsibilities.
Fraga, though he oversaw propaganda and censorship because of the information part of his remit, was one of Franco's more enlightened ministers. He certainly helped in getting the dictator (and the church and the Guardia Civil) to lighten up or to take a less strict line. His role in Spain's tourism development should not be underestimated.
Post-Franco, the ministry was wound up. The information element was no longer necessary, once censorship was officially done away with. Though this had clearly been an important ingredient for a dictatorial regime, it is possible to argue that the ministry, certainly once Fraga came in, gave tourism the greatest governmental prominence it has ever had. Tourism, thereafter, found itself tied in with trade, then transport and communication (back to the old days, therefore), the economy and finance and finally, in the current government, with industry and energy.
This list doesn't tell the whole story, though. For the entire period of José María Aznar's time as prime minister there was no actual tourism minister: tourism was subordinate to the wider economy in ministerial terms. There have long been calls for there to be a minister at cabinet level with sole responsibility, but it has never happened. Fraga, I would maintain, was the closest Spain ever got in this respect.
As tourism hovers around the 11% GDP mark for the country as a whole, it is legitimate to ask whether the industry merits a dedicated minister and ministry. But as has been said consistently in recent years, tourism has been crucial in helping the Spanish economy to recover. How often have we heard it being described as the driving force behind recovery? So it is obviously an important industry, but its importance varies. There are parts of Spain where tourism is vastly more important than others, and there is no region of the country where it is more important than the Balearics.
For the year 2013, tourism contributed 45.5% of Balearic GDP. The region which came closest was the Canaries (31.2%). In another sun-and-beach region, Andalusia, the percentage - 12.5% - wasn't that much greater than the national figure. Such wide variance goes some way to explain why the resignation of the tourism minister has not been greeted with tears in the Balearics.
José Manuel Soria came into his post as industry, energy and tourism minister with a background of having been a vice-president of the Canaries. With a tourism secretary-of-state, Isabel Borrego, being Mallorcan, it might have appeared that the two archipelagos could be assured of a good hearing in Madrid. Such an expectation proved to be a largely false one. Borrego has been widely vilified by the industry. Soria had a better reception by some parts of the industry but not in the Balearics. Gabriel Barceló, co-founder of the Barceló hotel group, said of Soria: "We have a minister for everything except tourism."
His views were echoed by other big hitters in the Mallorcan tourism industry. When it wasn't the founders of Barceló, Riu, Meliá and Iberostar taking him to one side, it was the former president of the hoteliers' federation. Aurelio Vázquez. Why was the IVA (VAT) rate for the industry not being reduced, as had been promised? Why were Aena being allowed to raise airport charges? But it was the oil business that really caused the anger, and so much so that Soria fell out with a PP colleague, former president, José Ramón Bauzá.
The soundings for oil off the Balearics (and also the Canaries) were unacceptable to the tourism industry and to all political parties. But Soria was in an awkward position. He was energy minister as well. It was his other responsibilities which led Gabriel Barceló to say what he did, and the question had to be asked as to why such a combination of duties was ever considered to have been a good idea.
That, though, is the fate of tourism at national level. Never on its own, it never has a sole voice to defend it, while for the Balearics - with such a high GDP dependence - ministers rarely, if ever, offer satisfaction.
Showing posts with label José Manuel Soria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label José Manuel Soria. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Sorrier Seems To Be The Hardest Word
So there was I, not for the first time, labouring under a misapprehension of pronunciation. Sorry, sorrier, sorriest. The latter two, to me at any rate, sound odd in English, even if they are legitimate usage. The middle one - sorrier - doesn't sound odd if applied correctly (roughly speaking as it were) to the name of the national government's pantomime villain, José Manuel Soria. José Manuel is more sorry. He is sorrier.
Except of course that he isn't. José Manuel is not for apologising. Instead, José Manuel is for saying that's how it is, and you can lump it, the latest example of this take-it-or-leave-it attitude being reflected in the small matter of 63 million euros that the Balearic government would rather like to get its hands on and fritter away on Playa de Palma.
The problem, partly, is that José Manuel is none too convinced that what meagre amounts of investment for tourism purposes that Madrid has felt benevolent enough to transfer to the Balearic government's bank account have been spent wisely in the past. He may of course have a point, but such detail is of no importance to the current Balearic leadership. We want, nay we demand, our 63 million, and we demand it now. And with it, Playa de Palma will become Magalluf Mark II. Or something like that.
If it were all a simple case of justifiable spending of the nation's money, then this 63 million spat might be resolved with relative ease and a touch of maturity. However, it isn't so simple. One has to stress the "partly" nature of the problem. There are other parts which are somewhat larger and all a bit immature.
President Armengol tarried long enough at the World Travel Market to hear Soria not say that he was sorry and to hear him deliver a lecture against the evils of the tourist tax. Once he was finished, La Presidenta was there to deliver her own lecture, a public handbagging for national government enemy number one (a position Soria vies for along with Rajoy and Montoro). While she was launching into him, behind the pantomime villain - he's behind you! - was El Vice-Presidente, Biel Barceló, smirking with an ironic smirk.
Were he to have to deal only with a PSOE-ist like Armengol, matters might be less fraught, but there are also the econationalists, i.e. Barceló, to contend with as well. Soria, solid Partido Popular citizen that he is, finds no common ground with such ecological self-governing tendencies, especially those that involve taxing tourists for whatever reason.
The withdrawal (or at best paralysing) of the 63 million smacks of being a punitive measure: a reprisal for the tourist tax. This may not be the reason, but perceptions suggest otherwise. And the one who did the withdrawing was Soria's number two, the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego, someone detested by the Balearic left and considered, how can one put it, rather ineffective by most of the tourism industry. Borrego seems to be the only aspect of Mallorcan and Balearic existence with whom or with which Soria can find common cause. In other words, he appears to have it in for the Balearics, regardless of which political party is in power.
This latest difference of opinion with the tourism supremo and his sidekick comes in the wake of several others, mostly all of which involved Soria butting heads with ex-president Bauzá. There is, therefore, form when it comes to Soria's dealings with the Balearic archipelago (and let it not be forgotten that he originates from a different set of sun-and-beach holidaying isles, i.e. the Canaries).
There was a time when Soria was declared persona non grata in the Balearics. He still is. This wasn't so much to do with tourism but with one of the other governmental hats he wears, that for energy. And energy means oil. The barrel of the gun that Bauzá pointed at Soria in having him firmly in his sights was principally one aimed at oil exploration off Balearic shores. However, there was more to it. Bauzá, it was widely suggested, also had Soria's job in his sights. This seems odd, now that Bauzá has been despatched to exile in the Senate chamber, but there was a time when he was a bit of a Madrid darling. So bad were relations between Soria and Bauzá that they once both contrived to avoid each other at the Berlin travel fair by pulling a sickie, having succumbed to the flu. The tourism industry was far from impressed by the fact that neither of them put in an appearance.
At least Soria was prepared to go to London (the flu season doesn't start for a couple of months yet), fully aware that the new guns of the Balearic government lay in wait to take a pop at him. Was he sorry or sorrier? No.
Except of course that he isn't. José Manuel is not for apologising. Instead, José Manuel is for saying that's how it is, and you can lump it, the latest example of this take-it-or-leave-it attitude being reflected in the small matter of 63 million euros that the Balearic government would rather like to get its hands on and fritter away on Playa de Palma.
The problem, partly, is that José Manuel is none too convinced that what meagre amounts of investment for tourism purposes that Madrid has felt benevolent enough to transfer to the Balearic government's bank account have been spent wisely in the past. He may of course have a point, but such detail is of no importance to the current Balearic leadership. We want, nay we demand, our 63 million, and we demand it now. And with it, Playa de Palma will become Magalluf Mark II. Or something like that.
If it were all a simple case of justifiable spending of the nation's money, then this 63 million spat might be resolved with relative ease and a touch of maturity. However, it isn't so simple. One has to stress the "partly" nature of the problem. There are other parts which are somewhat larger and all a bit immature.
President Armengol tarried long enough at the World Travel Market to hear Soria not say that he was sorry and to hear him deliver a lecture against the evils of the tourist tax. Once he was finished, La Presidenta was there to deliver her own lecture, a public handbagging for national government enemy number one (a position Soria vies for along with Rajoy and Montoro). While she was launching into him, behind the pantomime villain - he's behind you! - was El Vice-Presidente, Biel Barceló, smirking with an ironic smirk.
Were he to have to deal only with a PSOE-ist like Armengol, matters might be less fraught, but there are also the econationalists, i.e. Barceló, to contend with as well. Soria, solid Partido Popular citizen that he is, finds no common ground with such ecological self-governing tendencies, especially those that involve taxing tourists for whatever reason.
The withdrawal (or at best paralysing) of the 63 million smacks of being a punitive measure: a reprisal for the tourist tax. This may not be the reason, but perceptions suggest otherwise. And the one who did the withdrawing was Soria's number two, the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego, someone detested by the Balearic left and considered, how can one put it, rather ineffective by most of the tourism industry. Borrego seems to be the only aspect of Mallorcan and Balearic existence with whom or with which Soria can find common cause. In other words, he appears to have it in for the Balearics, regardless of which political party is in power.
This latest difference of opinion with the tourism supremo and his sidekick comes in the wake of several others, mostly all of which involved Soria butting heads with ex-president Bauzá. There is, therefore, form when it comes to Soria's dealings with the Balearic archipelago (and let it not be forgotten that he originates from a different set of sun-and-beach holidaying isles, i.e. the Canaries).
There was a time when Soria was declared persona non grata in the Balearics. He still is. This wasn't so much to do with tourism but with one of the other governmental hats he wears, that for energy. And energy means oil. The barrel of the gun that Bauzá pointed at Soria in having him firmly in his sights was principally one aimed at oil exploration off Balearic shores. However, there was more to it. Bauzá, it was widely suggested, also had Soria's job in his sights. This seems odd, now that Bauzá has been despatched to exile in the Senate chamber, but there was a time when he was a bit of a Madrid darling. So bad were relations between Soria and Bauzá that they once both contrived to avoid each other at the Berlin travel fair by pulling a sickie, having succumbed to the flu. The tourism industry was far from impressed by the fact that neither of them put in an appearance.
At least Soria was prepared to go to London (the flu season doesn't start for a couple of months yet), fully aware that the new guns of the Balearic government lay in wait to take a pop at him. Was he sorry or sorrier? No.
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Don't Go Near The Balearics Stand
Who would be King Felipe and Queen Letizia when you innocently get caught up in a political spat? Following the gathering of the great and good at the Fitur travel/tourism fair in Madrid, the media enjoy offering various Fitur perspectives - expectations for the coming season as revealed at the fair, general tendencies in the tourism industry, this type of thing. And there are also perspectives on who did what or who didn't do what, which is where the royals come in. Felipe and Letizia, regular holidaymakers in Mallorca, didn't drop by the Balearics stand at Fitur. This had never happened before: the Balearics pavilion is always graced with the presence of royalty. Cue, talk of some type of conspiracy.
As it turns out, there was another stand which the royals didn't go to, that for the Canary Islands. Two and two have been put together and the sum of four is that the royals had received orders from the ministry for industry, energy and tourism, José Manuel Soria, for them to not go to either of the stands. Orders!? A minister ordering the royals? Far-fetched though this might seem, a breaking with royal tradition had to be explained somehow. Hence, the Soria theory. And why would he be issuing "orders" to the royals? Because he wanted to punish both the Balearics and the Canaries owing to their opposition to oil prospecting. Remember that Soria does head a vast ministry with occasionally competing interests, such as oil and energy on the one hand and tourism where the waters are crystal clear and the horizons should never be sullied with the sights of oil platforms on the other.
In the Balearic parliament they were engaging in their own post-Fitur debrief (aka slanging match). Spokespeople from Més were convinced that there was no other explanation for the royals' apparent snub of the Balearics stand than the lousy relations between President Bauzá and Soria (indeed it had been reported that Bauzá was "furious" about the alleged veto of the Balearics stand). Clashes over oil prospecting aside, it was being suggested a year or so ago that Bauzá was after Soria's job, and they have studiously managed to avoid being photographed together ever since or even having to meet, as was the case at the large Berlin travel fair in March last year. Both managed to succumb at the same time to a dose of the flu which prevented their travelling.
Does it really matter if the royals give the stand a miss once in a while? Does it even mean a great deal for them to go to the stand? It probably does matter, especially for Balearics' promotion to the domestic tourist market, which is more likely to see photographic evidence of the visit than the international one. These little things might seem just that - little - but they do all add up. Moreover, it needs stressing that the Balearics and the Canaries combine with Catalonia in contributing 60% of all Spain's tourism. This is something which is deserving of royal acknowledgement and should indeed be deserving of political praise, but at present there is a tourism minister, Soria, who has fallen out with the Balearics and with his home islands of the Canaries, while there is a region - Catalonia - about which we are fully aware of governmental tensions. It isn't a terribly healthy state of tourism affairs.
Given that soundings off the Canaries, if not the Balearics as yet, have led Repsol to decide to discontinue exploration - the oil and gas is of insufficient quality to warrant actual drilling - it seems churlish that Soria might still harbour a grudge against the Canaries, one strong enough to issue instructions to the King as regards which stands he should visit or shouldn't. But then, who knows how far petty political vendettas might extend? Certainly not as far as the Canaries' largest hotel chain, Lopesan, which did receive the royals at its stand. And it was the large hotel chains in Mallorca to which Més also turned its parliamentary attention. These large groups dictate government policy on tourism, it was claimed, and so there needs to be a new "tourism model" for the islands. It is hard to disagree with the claim regarding hotelier power, but as for a new model of tourism, was this Més seeking to claim bragging rights on a change in direction after the next election?
They are lining up on the left of centre to be the initiators of such a change, whatever this might be. Should the large hoteliers be concerned? Not really, given the amount they invest in other parts of the globe. By Fitur 2016, will any change have been effected? Doubtful. But by 2017, you never know, Podemos might have scrapped the monarchy. Then no one could argue about which stands are being visited or not.
As it turns out, there was another stand which the royals didn't go to, that for the Canary Islands. Two and two have been put together and the sum of four is that the royals had received orders from the ministry for industry, energy and tourism, José Manuel Soria, for them to not go to either of the stands. Orders!? A minister ordering the royals? Far-fetched though this might seem, a breaking with royal tradition had to be explained somehow. Hence, the Soria theory. And why would he be issuing "orders" to the royals? Because he wanted to punish both the Balearics and the Canaries owing to their opposition to oil prospecting. Remember that Soria does head a vast ministry with occasionally competing interests, such as oil and energy on the one hand and tourism where the waters are crystal clear and the horizons should never be sullied with the sights of oil platforms on the other.
In the Balearic parliament they were engaging in their own post-Fitur debrief (aka slanging match). Spokespeople from Més were convinced that there was no other explanation for the royals' apparent snub of the Balearics stand than the lousy relations between President Bauzá and Soria (indeed it had been reported that Bauzá was "furious" about the alleged veto of the Balearics stand). Clashes over oil prospecting aside, it was being suggested a year or so ago that Bauzá was after Soria's job, and they have studiously managed to avoid being photographed together ever since or even having to meet, as was the case at the large Berlin travel fair in March last year. Both managed to succumb at the same time to a dose of the flu which prevented their travelling.
Does it really matter if the royals give the stand a miss once in a while? Does it even mean a great deal for them to go to the stand? It probably does matter, especially for Balearics' promotion to the domestic tourist market, which is more likely to see photographic evidence of the visit than the international one. These little things might seem just that - little - but they do all add up. Moreover, it needs stressing that the Balearics and the Canaries combine with Catalonia in contributing 60% of all Spain's tourism. This is something which is deserving of royal acknowledgement and should indeed be deserving of political praise, but at present there is a tourism minister, Soria, who has fallen out with the Balearics and with his home islands of the Canaries, while there is a region - Catalonia - about which we are fully aware of governmental tensions. It isn't a terribly healthy state of tourism affairs.
Given that soundings off the Canaries, if not the Balearics as yet, have led Repsol to decide to discontinue exploration - the oil and gas is of insufficient quality to warrant actual drilling - it seems churlish that Soria might still harbour a grudge against the Canaries, one strong enough to issue instructions to the King as regards which stands he should visit or shouldn't. But then, who knows how far petty political vendettas might extend? Certainly not as far as the Canaries' largest hotel chain, Lopesan, which did receive the royals at its stand. And it was the large hotel chains in Mallorca to which Més also turned its parliamentary attention. These large groups dictate government policy on tourism, it was claimed, and so there needs to be a new "tourism model" for the islands. It is hard to disagree with the claim regarding hotelier power, but as for a new model of tourism, was this Més seeking to claim bragging rights on a change in direction after the next election?
They are lining up on the left of centre to be the initiators of such a change, whatever this might be. Should the large hoteliers be concerned? Not really, given the amount they invest in other parts of the globe. By Fitur 2016, will any change have been effected? Doubtful. But by 2017, you never know, Podemos might have scrapped the monarchy. Then no one could argue about which stands are being visited or not.
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Political Infirmity
How have you been this week? Been feeling ok? Or have you had a touch of flu perhaps? Been confined to bed? Been unable to travel to Berlin? If your travel plans were indeed disrupted owing to illness, then you don't need to feel too guilty. You are in good company. Well, you are in company. Good or bad, that's for you to decide, the company being that of national minister for energy, industry and tourism, José Manuel Soria, and Balearics president, José Ramon Bauzá. The two Joes both came down with a bad dose of political infirmity.
Mallorca Joe, i.e. the president, had, even before seeking a refund from or rearrangement with Air Berlin (something that's probably not too difficult), put in a sick note and absented himself from the presidential seat in the Balearics Parliament. The empty chair was poignantly photographed next to a serious-looking vice-president, who probably wasn't serious on account of fearing for the presidential well-being but because he was pressing the parliamentary case for him and his fellow cabinet members enjoying a 25% increase in their salaries. Antonio Gómez, the vice-president, was mayor of Escorca in a former life, a task which entailed administering a municipality comprising one man, his dog and several hundred mountain goats. Had he not been reborn as the governmental VP, he might still be mayor of Escorca and be struggling to draw any form of salary in future, thanks to his friends in Madrid having changed the rules regarding salaries for mayors of municipalities with barely any inhabitants (other than the goats).
On a better earner therefore than he would have been on back in the mountains, the VP took issue with legal opinion on the small matter of the 25% salary rise. This legal opinion had been offered by the Balearics High Court, which had revoked the rise, but the VP was having none of it. The cabinet's own legal opinion begged to differ with m'luds at the High Court. Moreover, the rise was fair because the total salary bill for cabinet members had in fact gone down because there were fewer members than previously. Which is an interesting piece of logic and one that the VP might care to run past workforces which remain following major job losses and which have not experienced a rise; more likely, they have experienced a fall in wages and greater demands on their working hours and responsibilities.
As he was already on a sickie, Bauzá's change of travel plans might have been anticipated, but the ranks of the press massed at Berlin's ITB travel fair were none too impressed by both his absence and that of Canaries Joe, minister Soria. There are various sub-plots where the two Joes are concerned, one being that they don't see eye to eye other than for Bauzá to eye Soria up with a suggestive I'm-after-your-job look (or so it has been alleged). But the bigger sub-plot is the one to do with the oil exploration business, Soria having reported the content of a private conversation in which Bauzá admitted to knowing that there was nothing that Madrid could do to prevent exploration going ahead. The two Joes aren't the best of mates just at the moment, and they weren't about to kiss and make up in Berlin. Had they, then they would have passed on even more political infirmity bugs.
A press conference at which oil was going to feature large was, therefore, cancelled, leaving the hacks decidedly hacked off. A general view coming out of Berlin was that it was better to keep mum about the oil and not spoil the good news about even more thousands of Germans descending on Balearics beaches this summer. But, though Soria was away, nursing his ministerial malady, his second-in-command at tourism, the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego, hadn't succumbed to the virus that was decimating the political class. She was in Berlin and she spoke to tour operators and yes the O-word did crop up together with the G-word. Much to everyone's astonishment, she said that all this prospecting that might take place off the Balearics wasn't for oil after all. Only for gas. So, there we are. No worries about any oil being washed up on the beaches, because the secretary-of-state for tourism has said so.
Mallorca Joe, i.e. the president, had, even before seeking a refund from or rearrangement with Air Berlin (something that's probably not too difficult), put in a sick note and absented himself from the presidential seat in the Balearics Parliament. The empty chair was poignantly photographed next to a serious-looking vice-president, who probably wasn't serious on account of fearing for the presidential well-being but because he was pressing the parliamentary case for him and his fellow cabinet members enjoying a 25% increase in their salaries. Antonio Gómez, the vice-president, was mayor of Escorca in a former life, a task which entailed administering a municipality comprising one man, his dog and several hundred mountain goats. Had he not been reborn as the governmental VP, he might still be mayor of Escorca and be struggling to draw any form of salary in future, thanks to his friends in Madrid having changed the rules regarding salaries for mayors of municipalities with barely any inhabitants (other than the goats).
On a better earner therefore than he would have been on back in the mountains, the VP took issue with legal opinion on the small matter of the 25% salary rise. This legal opinion had been offered by the Balearics High Court, which had revoked the rise, but the VP was having none of it. The cabinet's own legal opinion begged to differ with m'luds at the High Court. Moreover, the rise was fair because the total salary bill for cabinet members had in fact gone down because there were fewer members than previously. Which is an interesting piece of logic and one that the VP might care to run past workforces which remain following major job losses and which have not experienced a rise; more likely, they have experienced a fall in wages and greater demands on their working hours and responsibilities.
As he was already on a sickie, Bauzá's change of travel plans might have been anticipated, but the ranks of the press massed at Berlin's ITB travel fair were none too impressed by both his absence and that of Canaries Joe, minister Soria. There are various sub-plots where the two Joes are concerned, one being that they don't see eye to eye other than for Bauzá to eye Soria up with a suggestive I'm-after-your-job look (or so it has been alleged). But the bigger sub-plot is the one to do with the oil exploration business, Soria having reported the content of a private conversation in which Bauzá admitted to knowing that there was nothing that Madrid could do to prevent exploration going ahead. The two Joes aren't the best of mates just at the moment, and they weren't about to kiss and make up in Berlin. Had they, then they would have passed on even more political infirmity bugs.
A press conference at which oil was going to feature large was, therefore, cancelled, leaving the hacks decidedly hacked off. A general view coming out of Berlin was that it was better to keep mum about the oil and not spoil the good news about even more thousands of Germans descending on Balearics beaches this summer. But, though Soria was away, nursing his ministerial malady, his second-in-command at tourism, the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego, hadn't succumbed to the virus that was decimating the political class. She was in Berlin and she spoke to tour operators and yes the O-word did crop up together with the G-word. Much to everyone's astonishment, she said that all this prospecting that might take place off the Balearics wasn't for oil after all. Only for gas. So, there we are. No worries about any oil being washed up on the beaches, because the secretary-of-state for tourism has said so.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Persona Non Grata: Persona nonsensical
Can you name any well-known people who were declared persona non grata? If not, then let me offer you a few (well, three anyway): Kurt Waldheim (allegations of Nazi war crimes and so given persona non grata status in the US among other countries); Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain (the Italians booted her out in 1942 because she had sympathies with the Allies); Jörg Haider (the Israelis declared him non grata for fairly obvious reasons).
Persona non grata is used in diplomatic circles. The Vienna Convention says that a state may "at any time and without having to explain its decision" declare a member of diplomatic staff persona non grata, a declaration that usually leads to expulsion from a country. Persona non grata, by definition (diplomatic definition at any rate), has to apply to someone from another country. It cannot apply to someone from one's own country. Except in Spain, or specifically the Balearics, where it does.
When countries engage in a spot of non-grata-ing, there is usually a tit-for-tat response. You make our chap persona non grata, we'll make your chap persona non grata. So there. The Balearic Parliament has managed to introduce the same principle, substituting left and right for country X and country Y. Even by its pretty low standards, the parliament has plumbed even greater depths of stupidity by entering into a tit-for-tat non-grata-ing carry-on.
The background is of course oil, the subject which dare not speak its name with any modicum of measured debate, and the last place you will get any measured debate is the parliamentary playground. David Abril is the leader of the merged Iniciativa d'Esquerres (initiative of the lefts) and Els Verds de Mallorca (greens). This merged entity forms part of the Més per Mallorca coalition. Eco-socalism is an ideology to which David is partial and as such you would imagine - and you would be right - that he isn't overly keen on oil companies drilling ruddy great holes in the seabed near to the Balearics. As part of the parliamentary debate (if one can call it that) about oil exploration, David called for national energy minister José Manuel Soria to be declared persona non grata.
Having done so, the tit-for-tat started, the Partido Popular's spokesperson, Mabel Cabrer, calling for not one, not two, but three politicians from the left to also be declared persona non grata. They were, in descending order of importance, former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former president of the Balearics, Francesc Antich, and ex-minister for the environment in the Balearics, Gabriel Vicens. Why was she picking on this triumvirate? Because it's all their fault, this oil malarkey. Nasty, horrid socialists that they are. Nothing to do with us in the PP or with nice Sr. Soria. And in fingering Vicens, Mabel struck a deep wound in David's eco-socialist heart, as Gabriel is of a similar bent and a member of the PSM Mallorcan socialists, one part of the Més fraternity.
What neither David nor Mabel was able to explain was quite how persona non grata status might work in practice, especially where Antich and Vicens are concerned. As they both live in Mallorca, would it be the intention to force them into exile to Benidorm or somewhere? But of course, silly me, persona non grata doesn't really mean what it normally means (at least I don't think it does). It is a yah-boo, sucks to you, we're going to ignore you type of persona non grata; a sending to Coventry persona non grata, always assuming that Coventry doesn't invoke the Vienna Convention.
In fact, the resort to the non-grata mechanism is pretty common; so common that it is utterly meaningless. Just as an example, President Bauzá and agriculture/environment/transport ministerial supremo Gabriel Company both copped for some non-grata-ing from the train platform in Mallorca's Llevant region last year. This wasn't an actual platform because there are no platforms and there are no trains, which was the whole point; a group (the platform) in favour of the train that will not run from Manacor to Artà wanted Bauzá and Company to be declared personas non gratas, which presumably meant that they would get a frosty reception were they to set foot in Son Servera, Sant Llorenç or Artà ever again.
The calls in parliament were, as with other similar demands for persona non grata, pretty puerile and they also obscured whatever sensible discussion there may have been on the oil business. But as we know, there is very little that is sensible, just name-calling and tit-for-tat posturing in what - the parliament - is supposed to be the islands' premier debating chamber. That it is not, and so lamentable is its attempts at debate that perhaps the whole lot of them should be declared persona non grata.
Persona non grata is used in diplomatic circles. The Vienna Convention says that a state may "at any time and without having to explain its decision" declare a member of diplomatic staff persona non grata, a declaration that usually leads to expulsion from a country. Persona non grata, by definition (diplomatic definition at any rate), has to apply to someone from another country. It cannot apply to someone from one's own country. Except in Spain, or specifically the Balearics, where it does.
When countries engage in a spot of non-grata-ing, there is usually a tit-for-tat response. You make our chap persona non grata, we'll make your chap persona non grata. So there. The Balearic Parliament has managed to introduce the same principle, substituting left and right for country X and country Y. Even by its pretty low standards, the parliament has plumbed even greater depths of stupidity by entering into a tit-for-tat non-grata-ing carry-on.
The background is of course oil, the subject which dare not speak its name with any modicum of measured debate, and the last place you will get any measured debate is the parliamentary playground. David Abril is the leader of the merged Iniciativa d'Esquerres (initiative of the lefts) and Els Verds de Mallorca (greens). This merged entity forms part of the Més per Mallorca coalition. Eco-socalism is an ideology to which David is partial and as such you would imagine - and you would be right - that he isn't overly keen on oil companies drilling ruddy great holes in the seabed near to the Balearics. As part of the parliamentary debate (if one can call it that) about oil exploration, David called for national energy minister José Manuel Soria to be declared persona non grata.
Having done so, the tit-for-tat started, the Partido Popular's spokesperson, Mabel Cabrer, calling for not one, not two, but three politicians from the left to also be declared persona non grata. They were, in descending order of importance, former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former president of the Balearics, Francesc Antich, and ex-minister for the environment in the Balearics, Gabriel Vicens. Why was she picking on this triumvirate? Because it's all their fault, this oil malarkey. Nasty, horrid socialists that they are. Nothing to do with us in the PP or with nice Sr. Soria. And in fingering Vicens, Mabel struck a deep wound in David's eco-socialist heart, as Gabriel is of a similar bent and a member of the PSM Mallorcan socialists, one part of the Més fraternity.
What neither David nor Mabel was able to explain was quite how persona non grata status might work in practice, especially where Antich and Vicens are concerned. As they both live in Mallorca, would it be the intention to force them into exile to Benidorm or somewhere? But of course, silly me, persona non grata doesn't really mean what it normally means (at least I don't think it does). It is a yah-boo, sucks to you, we're going to ignore you type of persona non grata; a sending to Coventry persona non grata, always assuming that Coventry doesn't invoke the Vienna Convention.
In fact, the resort to the non-grata mechanism is pretty common; so common that it is utterly meaningless. Just as an example, President Bauzá and agriculture/environment/transport ministerial supremo Gabriel Company both copped for some non-grata-ing from the train platform in Mallorca's Llevant region last year. This wasn't an actual platform because there are no platforms and there are no trains, which was the whole point; a group (the platform) in favour of the train that will not run from Manacor to Artà wanted Bauzá and Company to be declared personas non gratas, which presumably meant that they would get a frosty reception were they to set foot in Son Servera, Sant Llorenç or Artà ever again.
The calls in parliament were, as with other similar demands for persona non grata, pretty puerile and they also obscured whatever sensible discussion there may have been on the oil business. But as we know, there is very little that is sensible, just name-calling and tit-for-tat posturing in what - the parliament - is supposed to be the islands' premier debating chamber. That it is not, and so lamentable is its attempts at debate that perhaps the whole lot of them should be declared persona non grata.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
We Are The World, We Are The Tourists
Today is a good day to be a tourist. If you are, then consider yourself well and truly a part of World Tourism Day. This, dear tourist, is your day. Moreover, this is your day when you also contribute to sustainable energy. You are a tourist in the brave new world of environmental and resource righteousness. Let the words of Ban Ki-moon, the secreatry-general of the UN inspire you: "tourism is especially well placed to promote environmental sustainability, green growth and our struggle against climate change through its relationship with energy". (Oh and if you're wondering about the "secreatry" bit, this is how it is spelt on the World Tourism Day website; never mind, eh.)
What happens on World Tourism Day? Do tourists the world over join hands, form a global human chain and partake in a worldwide karaoke? To borrow from USA For Africa - "We are the world, we are the tourists, we are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving", with the giving being in the form of massive renewable energy subsidies provided by Spain.
Were there such an international singalong, it would be organised from Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, where this year's World Tourism Day is being staged. And how very apt that it is. The UN's World Tourism Organisation is based in Spain (Madrid to be precise) and Spain is both a force in world tourism and a pioneer in renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics, "in which we are number one in the world, and wind power, where we are number two".
This quote comes from someone who should know about the relationship between tourism and energy (as the UN secreatry-general has pointed out). They are the welcoming words of Spain's own José Manuel Soria López, the minister of industry, energy and tourism; oh, and the former president of the Canary Islands, to boot. How doubly fortuitous that the minister should be so familiar with the host location of World Tourism Day and be a minister responsible for both energy and tourism, this year's theme. It's almost as if this year's World Tourism Day had been arranged with him in mind.
At a time when Spain is being shown up as a case study in how not to run a modern economy, it is good that José Manuel should be able to cast the country in a more positive light for once (a positive light supplied by renewables of course). However, as I mentioned in January: "The recent history of developing alternative energy sources has been a shambles. A much-heralded national plan for a green economy has backfired spectacularly. It has driven up the cost of energy and has created little or nothing by way of new sources. Indeed, central-government policy has been such that getting on for fifty separate projects for solar energy on the Balearics have been rejected."
But don't just take my word. Try the words of César Molinas, a writer, economist and one-time MD of Merrill Lynch in London, who in a forthcoming book talks about the "renewable energy bubble": "Spain represents two per cent of world GDP yet it is paying 15% of the global total of renewable energy subsidies. This absurd situation, which was sold to the public as a move that would put Spain at the forefront of the fight against climate change, creates lots of fraud and corruption. In order to finance these subsidies, Spanish households and businesses pay the highest electricity rates in all of Europe, which seriously undermines the competitiveness of our economy. Despite these exaggerated prices, the Spanish power system debt is several million euros a year, with an accumulated debt of over 24 billion euros that nobody knows how to pay".*
So, that good is Spain at being a pioneer in renewables, they provide very little and cost an absolute arm and a leg. Still, as it is World Tourism Day, it is reassuring to know that tourists in other parts of the world are benefiting from Spain's renewable energy subsidies ("so let's start giving"). That's something for José Manuel to brag about, though he probably won't.
Of course, he can put it all down to the previous lot if something has gone slightly wrong with the renewables strategy, whilst neglecting to thank them for having put Spain on the path to a green economy (even if it has been an unmitigated disaster).
But, I hear you say, let's not worry about all this, what is there to do on World Tourism Day? Well, you can get into some museums and such like for free and in Playa de Muro there are all sorts of things to do - like beach volleyball, building sandcastles, and tasting wines. All of it energetically sustainable no doubt and all of it in the name of world tourism.
* César Molinas, "What To Do With Spain?", quoted from "El País" (English), 12 September: http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/12/inenglish/1347449744_053124.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
What happens on World Tourism Day? Do tourists the world over join hands, form a global human chain and partake in a worldwide karaoke? To borrow from USA For Africa - "We are the world, we are the tourists, we are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving", with the giving being in the form of massive renewable energy subsidies provided by Spain.
Were there such an international singalong, it would be organised from Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, where this year's World Tourism Day is being staged. And how very apt that it is. The UN's World Tourism Organisation is based in Spain (Madrid to be precise) and Spain is both a force in world tourism and a pioneer in renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics, "in which we are number one in the world, and wind power, where we are number two".
This quote comes from someone who should know about the relationship between tourism and energy (as the UN secreatry-general has pointed out). They are the welcoming words of Spain's own José Manuel Soria López, the minister of industry, energy and tourism; oh, and the former president of the Canary Islands, to boot. How doubly fortuitous that the minister should be so familiar with the host location of World Tourism Day and be a minister responsible for both energy and tourism, this year's theme. It's almost as if this year's World Tourism Day had been arranged with him in mind.
At a time when Spain is being shown up as a case study in how not to run a modern economy, it is good that José Manuel should be able to cast the country in a more positive light for once (a positive light supplied by renewables of course). However, as I mentioned in January: "The recent history of developing alternative energy sources has been a shambles. A much-heralded national plan for a green economy has backfired spectacularly. It has driven up the cost of energy and has created little or nothing by way of new sources. Indeed, central-government policy has been such that getting on for fifty separate projects for solar energy on the Balearics have been rejected."
But don't just take my word. Try the words of César Molinas, a writer, economist and one-time MD of Merrill Lynch in London, who in a forthcoming book talks about the "renewable energy bubble": "Spain represents two per cent of world GDP yet it is paying 15% of the global total of renewable energy subsidies. This absurd situation, which was sold to the public as a move that would put Spain at the forefront of the fight against climate change, creates lots of fraud and corruption. In order to finance these subsidies, Spanish households and businesses pay the highest electricity rates in all of Europe, which seriously undermines the competitiveness of our economy. Despite these exaggerated prices, the Spanish power system debt is several million euros a year, with an accumulated debt of over 24 billion euros that nobody knows how to pay".*
So, that good is Spain at being a pioneer in renewables, they provide very little and cost an absolute arm and a leg. Still, as it is World Tourism Day, it is reassuring to know that tourists in other parts of the world are benefiting from Spain's renewable energy subsidies ("so let's start giving"). That's something for José Manuel to brag about, though he probably won't.
Of course, he can put it all down to the previous lot if something has gone slightly wrong with the renewables strategy, whilst neglecting to thank them for having put Spain on the path to a green economy (even if it has been an unmitigated disaster).
But, I hear you say, let's not worry about all this, what is there to do on World Tourism Day? Well, you can get into some museums and such like for free and in Playa de Muro there are all sorts of things to do - like beach volleyball, building sandcastles, and tasting wines. All of it energetically sustainable no doubt and all of it in the name of world tourism.
* César Molinas, "What To Do With Spain?", quoted from "El País" (English), 12 September: http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/12/inenglish/1347449744_053124.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Qué Soria, Soria
Spanish politicians do wish to have their holiday cake and eat it, too. There we have been, over the summer, hearing moans about Dave and his encouragement of Brits to stay in Britain and enjoy the world's most miserable climate, much therefore to the chagrin of Balearics politicians and the Balearics tourism industry, and what happens? The Spanish tourism minister, José Manuel Soria, has been telling Spaniards that they should do likewise, as in go on holiday in Spain rather of course than fly off to the flooded beaches of Britain.
Soria hasn't only recommended a Spanish "staycation" (I'm not sure how one would say this in Spanish; "estanciacaciones" perhaps) for this summer, he has said that the Spanish should always take their holidays in Spain. His words haven't exactly gone down well. Who is he to be telling people where they should or shouldn't go on holiday has been a typical response.
Soria, who I might remind you comes from the Canaries, has gone on to say that the 57 million foreign tourists who travel to Spain on holiday clearly cannot be wrong. What is wrong are the 13.1 million holidays abroad undertaken by Spaniards.
One of the more extraordinary aspects of Soria's requirement of his fellow countrypeople to display vacational patriotism, stay in Spain and thus solve the economic crisis, is that he can't understand why Spaniards would wish to head off to parts of the globe where they will encounter mosquitoes and temperatures that can exceed 35 degrees.
I don't know, are there no mosquitoes in the Canaries? Maybe there aren't. But there sure as hell are mosquitoes in Mallorca. Vast numbers of them. And there are temperatures that can exceed 35 degrees, which I would imagine is the case in the Canaries as well, especially on La Gomera. What on earth is Soria talking about? Does he not know that parts of Spain can get very hot and that there are mosquitoes?
Rather than Mallorca, what he may have in mind are destinations such as Cuba and the All-Inclusive Republic of Dominica. South America, a broad definition for Spanish tourism statistics purposes as it does include Central America and the Caribbean, received over one million Spanish holidaymakers last year. Outside of Europe, it is the most popular area of the world with the Spanish, but then this is hardly that surprising, given the connections between Spain and Latin America.
In fact, Spaniards don't necessarily disappear to places that are vastly different to Spain. France is the most popular country for Spanish tourists, followed by Portugal and then Italy, each of which may or may not conform with Soria's bewilderment with travelling to parts of the world with mosquitoes and 35 plus degrees.
It doesn't inspire huge amounts of confidence when a politician who is meant to be in charge of tourism can fail to appreciate that his own country has insects and weather conditions the same as others on whose dry land Spaniards should never set foot. There again, one knows all about politicians from islands with strong tourism traditions who come out with some old pony about tourism. Do not forget that President Bauzá, before he became president, identified the Baltics as a major area of tourist competition to Mallorca. Maybe he meant the Balkans. But then Bauzá did confess to once having had a mental lapse in the course of a radio interview. Remarkably, he still became president.
Soria might be exonerated because he isn't only minister for tourism. Industry is part of his portfolio as well. Yet, as industry minister (and indeed as tourism minister), he would know that these stinking-hot, mosquito-infested hell holes that Spaniards insist on going to have become popular with goodly amounts of Spanish industrial help, not least from the hotel industry. It is one of the great ironies of Mallorcan tourism that its leading hotel chains should have been to the fore in exporting tourism technology and know-how to as well as in investing heavily in destinations such as Dominica.
Perhaps therefore, rather than discouraging Spaniards to travel, they should be encouraged to travel more and so support the only part of the country's industrial might (sic) that has been doing anything meaningful for the past decade or more.
Whether encouraging or discouraging, another extraordinary aspect of what Soria had to say is that he said it in the middle of August, by which time everyone was on holiday anyway. Mind you, there was the thing about "always" holidaying in Spain. And always it had better be, because always is going to mean always as Spain slips slowly into the Mediterranean and Atlantic of economic oblivion.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Soria hasn't only recommended a Spanish "staycation" (I'm not sure how one would say this in Spanish; "estanciacaciones" perhaps) for this summer, he has said that the Spanish should always take their holidays in Spain. His words haven't exactly gone down well. Who is he to be telling people where they should or shouldn't go on holiday has been a typical response.
Soria, who I might remind you comes from the Canaries, has gone on to say that the 57 million foreign tourists who travel to Spain on holiday clearly cannot be wrong. What is wrong are the 13.1 million holidays abroad undertaken by Spaniards.
One of the more extraordinary aspects of Soria's requirement of his fellow countrypeople to display vacational patriotism, stay in Spain and thus solve the economic crisis, is that he can't understand why Spaniards would wish to head off to parts of the globe where they will encounter mosquitoes and temperatures that can exceed 35 degrees.
I don't know, are there no mosquitoes in the Canaries? Maybe there aren't. But there sure as hell are mosquitoes in Mallorca. Vast numbers of them. And there are temperatures that can exceed 35 degrees, which I would imagine is the case in the Canaries as well, especially on La Gomera. What on earth is Soria talking about? Does he not know that parts of Spain can get very hot and that there are mosquitoes?
Rather than Mallorca, what he may have in mind are destinations such as Cuba and the All-Inclusive Republic of Dominica. South America, a broad definition for Spanish tourism statistics purposes as it does include Central America and the Caribbean, received over one million Spanish holidaymakers last year. Outside of Europe, it is the most popular area of the world with the Spanish, but then this is hardly that surprising, given the connections between Spain and Latin America.
In fact, Spaniards don't necessarily disappear to places that are vastly different to Spain. France is the most popular country for Spanish tourists, followed by Portugal and then Italy, each of which may or may not conform with Soria's bewilderment with travelling to parts of the world with mosquitoes and 35 plus degrees.
It doesn't inspire huge amounts of confidence when a politician who is meant to be in charge of tourism can fail to appreciate that his own country has insects and weather conditions the same as others on whose dry land Spaniards should never set foot. There again, one knows all about politicians from islands with strong tourism traditions who come out with some old pony about tourism. Do not forget that President Bauzá, before he became president, identified the Baltics as a major area of tourist competition to Mallorca. Maybe he meant the Balkans. But then Bauzá did confess to once having had a mental lapse in the course of a radio interview. Remarkably, he still became president.
Soria might be exonerated because he isn't only minister for tourism. Industry is part of his portfolio as well. Yet, as industry minister (and indeed as tourism minister), he would know that these stinking-hot, mosquito-infested hell holes that Spaniards insist on going to have become popular with goodly amounts of Spanish industrial help, not least from the hotel industry. It is one of the great ironies of Mallorcan tourism that its leading hotel chains should have been to the fore in exporting tourism technology and know-how to as well as in investing heavily in destinations such as Dominica.
Perhaps therefore, rather than discouraging Spaniards to travel, they should be encouraged to travel more and so support the only part of the country's industrial might (sic) that has been doing anything meaningful for the past decade or more.
Whether encouraging or discouraging, another extraordinary aspect of what Soria had to say is that he said it in the middle of August, by which time everyone was on holiday anyway. Mind you, there was the thing about "always" holidaying in Spain. And always it had better be, because always is going to mean always as Spain slips slowly into the Mediterranean and Atlantic of economic oblivion.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, March 26, 2012
From Canary Yellow To Black Gold
Sixty kilometres from the coasts of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the Spanish energy company Repsol is to start prospecting for oil. The arguments that have raged over oil exploration off the Balearics (further away than in the case of the Canaries) are being repeated but are creating more of a fuss and more by way of potentially bad publicity.
The arguments do, though, put into perspective the situation with regard to prospecting in the seas between the Balearics and the peninsula. While concerns for the environment and for tourism are as pronounced in the Canaries as in the Balearics, the potential economic benefits are being expressed far more strongly.
Repsol believes that there is a high probability of discovering oil (if you accept that a 20% probability is high) and that exploitation of these "probable" oil beds would eventually realise the equivalent of 10% of Spain's total oil and gas consumption for at least 20 years. (How such a calculation can be made based on a 20% probability I'm not entirely sure, but then I am neither a geologist nor an oil expert.)
Were such production of oil to come to pass, then there would be a clear economic benefit. And there is another strong economic case for Repsol's activities, that of employment. The Canaries, despite an all-year-round tourism industry and despite, like the Balearics, having enjoyed a record tourism summer in 2011, suffer the second highest level of unemployment in Spain - 31%. A light has gone on in the head of José Manuel Soria who has said that this unemployment demonstrates that tourism is not sufficient and that more industry is needed. Soria, if you need reminding, is the national minister for industry and energy and also for tourism. He also just so happens to be a former president of the Canaries.
You might think that industry and energy should not be combined with a portfolio for tourism as well, as they have competing demands. There will doubtless be many who disagree, but I believe that in Soria, especially as he knows full well from his Canaries experience what tourism means in terms of real employment prospects, here is a minister ideally placed to balance these competing demands. Tourism does not exist in an island all by itself; it is part of the total economy, and that economy would be partially transformed by oil.
There is a further economic factor that has influenced national government's authorisation of the Repsol prospecting. The oil beds lie not far from the imaginary line between Spanish and Moroccan waters; indeed they probably cut across this line. The Moroccans are in favour of exploration, and the fear has been that if Spain doesn't seek to exploit what oil there may be, then Morocco could nab it all for itself. There may yet, at some time in the future, be some almighty row over who owns the oil, but for now there is accord. This political dimension distinguishes the Balearics argument from that in the Canaries; there is no argument about who owns what may lie in the bay of Valencia and towards the Balearic Islands. But the politics make it more urgent that Spain (and Repsol) get a move on.
The politics within Spain are another matter. It is a curiosity that the Partido Popular in the Canaries, the Balearics and Valencia have all voiced their opposition to exploration; curious, as you might believe that the PP would be more disposed to display economic and business pragmatism than other parties. The PP in the Canaries are none too impressed by national government having gone over their heads, but someone has to, and the oil would be in the national interest (and also in the interests of the Canaries if their diabolical unemployment rate could be tackled).
The prominence being given to the prospecting is where the bad publicity comes in, and it is bad publicity fairly and squarely of a tourist style. TUI, for one, has expressed its concern, and the bad publicity has mainly surfaced in Germany, causing fears that the Canaries will acquire a different sort of reputation, i.e. for oil, and one that runs counter to a general culture in Germany of environmental concern and for clean energy.
Notwithstanding these admittedly legitimate fears, I would reiterate a point I have made previously in the context of prospecting off Balearic waters, and this is that oil and tourism can co-exist, as they do in the likes of Trinidad and Tobago. National government is right to press ahead, and for this we have to thank the existence of a minister who "gets it" where a combination of industry, energy and tourism is concerned.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The arguments do, though, put into perspective the situation with regard to prospecting in the seas between the Balearics and the peninsula. While concerns for the environment and for tourism are as pronounced in the Canaries as in the Balearics, the potential economic benefits are being expressed far more strongly.
Repsol believes that there is a high probability of discovering oil (if you accept that a 20% probability is high) and that exploitation of these "probable" oil beds would eventually realise the equivalent of 10% of Spain's total oil and gas consumption for at least 20 years. (How such a calculation can be made based on a 20% probability I'm not entirely sure, but then I am neither a geologist nor an oil expert.)
Were such production of oil to come to pass, then there would be a clear economic benefit. And there is another strong economic case for Repsol's activities, that of employment. The Canaries, despite an all-year-round tourism industry and despite, like the Balearics, having enjoyed a record tourism summer in 2011, suffer the second highest level of unemployment in Spain - 31%. A light has gone on in the head of José Manuel Soria who has said that this unemployment demonstrates that tourism is not sufficient and that more industry is needed. Soria, if you need reminding, is the national minister for industry and energy and also for tourism. He also just so happens to be a former president of the Canaries.
You might think that industry and energy should not be combined with a portfolio for tourism as well, as they have competing demands. There will doubtless be many who disagree, but I believe that in Soria, especially as he knows full well from his Canaries experience what tourism means in terms of real employment prospects, here is a minister ideally placed to balance these competing demands. Tourism does not exist in an island all by itself; it is part of the total economy, and that economy would be partially transformed by oil.
There is a further economic factor that has influenced national government's authorisation of the Repsol prospecting. The oil beds lie not far from the imaginary line between Spanish and Moroccan waters; indeed they probably cut across this line. The Moroccans are in favour of exploration, and the fear has been that if Spain doesn't seek to exploit what oil there may be, then Morocco could nab it all for itself. There may yet, at some time in the future, be some almighty row over who owns the oil, but for now there is accord. This political dimension distinguishes the Balearics argument from that in the Canaries; there is no argument about who owns what may lie in the bay of Valencia and towards the Balearic Islands. But the politics make it more urgent that Spain (and Repsol) get a move on.
The politics within Spain are another matter. It is a curiosity that the Partido Popular in the Canaries, the Balearics and Valencia have all voiced their opposition to exploration; curious, as you might believe that the PP would be more disposed to display economic and business pragmatism than other parties. The PP in the Canaries are none too impressed by national government having gone over their heads, but someone has to, and the oil would be in the national interest (and also in the interests of the Canaries if their diabolical unemployment rate could be tackled).
The prominence being given to the prospecting is where the bad publicity comes in, and it is bad publicity fairly and squarely of a tourist style. TUI, for one, has expressed its concern, and the bad publicity has mainly surfaced in Germany, causing fears that the Canaries will acquire a different sort of reputation, i.e. for oil, and one that runs counter to a general culture in Germany of environmental concern and for clean energy.
Notwithstanding these admittedly legitimate fears, I would reiterate a point I have made previously in the context of prospecting off Balearic waters, and this is that oil and tourism can co-exist, as they do in the likes of Trinidad and Tobago. National government is right to press ahead, and for this we have to thank the existence of a minister who "gets it" where a combination of industry, energy and tourism is concerned.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
I'm Mandy, Fly Me
Do you think we should tell the Spanish that Peter Mandelson has turned up in their government? Or should we just let them find out? You have probably been wondering what Mandy does with himself nowadays. Well, now we know. He's become the Spanish government supremo for tourism (and industry and energy). You can't keep an ambitious politician down, even if ambition requires changing nationality and name. The minister claims to be José Manuel Soria from the Canary Islands. But we know better, don't we, Sr. Mandelson.
There is no end to the lookalikes in Spanish politics. No sooner has Rowan Atkinson given up the premiership or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has failed to become premier than Richard E. Grant turns up as president of the Balearics and now Mandelson appears. It's alarming, to say the least, that he's been put in charge of the country's tourism and that he has opted for an estate agent to be his tourism right-hand woman. Don't be fooled by all that property law stuff or by the name. It's not I for Isabel, but I for Inmobiliaria Borrego. There again, Mandy knows all about the estate-agency game.
Having managed to weasel his way into the corridors of power in Madrid, what does Sr. Mandelson have to say for himself and for tourism? One thing he isn't saying is that IVA is going to be reduced for tourism businesses. But wasn't this what the new government was going to do? Nope. "This is not the moment," says Mandelson Soria. The delicate deficit situation means no cut to IVA. Presumably no one had noticed this delicate situation before the election.
Another thing he isn't saying is that there are going to be suitcase loads of government money being bundled into the holds of various airlines in return for their agreeing to fly into Spanish air space. "It isn't a good policy to be using public resources in order to pay tourists to come to Spain," he insists. And it wouldn't be a good use of public resources if that was what financial incentives to airlines actually meant. Though, when you think about it, the odd bribe to tourists might not be such a bad form of promotion.
It'll be all that time spent knocking around the European Commission and doing things by the book. Can't be giving out subsidies to airlines in this new era of Spanish public-administration probity. What would Brussels say? Whatever it might or might not say, Mandelson Soria has gone on to say that: "our country (note how he really has become Spanish) has sufficient attractions without there being additional incentives for tourism".
He's quite right of course. In fact, rather than paying tourists, they should pay instead. Like they are going to have to in Catalonia. Or are they? The minister isn't too pleased with the Catalans or with their tourist tax. Everyone has got to do it (tourism) the same way, his way, and the tax threatens to prejudice the "brand" that is Spain. So, he's going to homogenise what the different regions get up to. Soria Law, the Mandelson Mandate. "I'm Mandy, fly me to Spain, but not with the aid of any grants to Ryanair of the sort the Catalans reckon they're going to be making."
This is all rather interesting. The regions are going to have to fall into line with central policy. Sounds a bit familiar, or would do if you had been around in the 1960s, rallying around the glorious brand of Franco's "Spain". Hmm, so the talk about the PP's anti-regionalism has more to it than we might have thought.
The Catalans aren't going to take it lying down though. Oh no. The tourist has to pay the tax because they need the money to pay Ryanair and to pay Bernie Ecclestone. Seriously, they have said that the tax will go towards maintaining the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
But if the regions really are going to have to follow the party line, what of the Balearics? Is Delgado going to be told to stop turning hotels into rock-concert venues? Will there really be condohotels or hotels turned into apartment blocks for sale? Well, what do you think? Of course there will be. Because that's where the Inmobiliaria Borrego comes into the equation. Selling Spain and its tourist resorts by the pound or the ruble or the renminbi or even the euro.
And if there happens to be the slight inconvenience of not being a native getting in the way of buying up the resorts, there's no problem. Anyone need a passport application?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is no end to the lookalikes in Spanish politics. No sooner has Rowan Atkinson given up the premiership or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has failed to become premier than Richard E. Grant turns up as president of the Balearics and now Mandelson appears. It's alarming, to say the least, that he's been put in charge of the country's tourism and that he has opted for an estate agent to be his tourism right-hand woman. Don't be fooled by all that property law stuff or by the name. It's not I for Isabel, but I for Inmobiliaria Borrego. There again, Mandy knows all about the estate-agency game.
Having managed to weasel his way into the corridors of power in Madrid, what does Sr. Mandelson have to say for himself and for tourism? One thing he isn't saying is that IVA is going to be reduced for tourism businesses. But wasn't this what the new government was going to do? Nope. "This is not the moment," says Mandelson Soria. The delicate deficit situation means no cut to IVA. Presumably no one had noticed this delicate situation before the election.
Another thing he isn't saying is that there are going to be suitcase loads of government money being bundled into the holds of various airlines in return for their agreeing to fly into Spanish air space. "It isn't a good policy to be using public resources in order to pay tourists to come to Spain," he insists. And it wouldn't be a good use of public resources if that was what financial incentives to airlines actually meant. Though, when you think about it, the odd bribe to tourists might not be such a bad form of promotion.
It'll be all that time spent knocking around the European Commission and doing things by the book. Can't be giving out subsidies to airlines in this new era of Spanish public-administration probity. What would Brussels say? Whatever it might or might not say, Mandelson Soria has gone on to say that: "our country (note how he really has become Spanish) has sufficient attractions without there being additional incentives for tourism".
He's quite right of course. In fact, rather than paying tourists, they should pay instead. Like they are going to have to in Catalonia. Or are they? The minister isn't too pleased with the Catalans or with their tourist tax. Everyone has got to do it (tourism) the same way, his way, and the tax threatens to prejudice the "brand" that is Spain. So, he's going to homogenise what the different regions get up to. Soria Law, the Mandelson Mandate. "I'm Mandy, fly me to Spain, but not with the aid of any grants to Ryanair of the sort the Catalans reckon they're going to be making."
This is all rather interesting. The regions are going to have to fall into line with central policy. Sounds a bit familiar, or would do if you had been around in the 1960s, rallying around the glorious brand of Franco's "Spain". Hmm, so the talk about the PP's anti-regionalism has more to it than we might have thought.
The Catalans aren't going to take it lying down though. Oh no. The tourist has to pay the tax because they need the money to pay Ryanair and to pay Bernie Ecclestone. Seriously, they have said that the tax will go towards maintaining the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
But if the regions really are going to have to follow the party line, what of the Balearics? Is Delgado going to be told to stop turning hotels into rock-concert venues? Will there really be condohotels or hotels turned into apartment blocks for sale? Well, what do you think? Of course there will be. Because that's where the Inmobiliaria Borrego comes into the equation. Selling Spain and its tourist resorts by the pound or the ruble or the renminbi or even the euro.
And if there happens to be the slight inconvenience of not being a native getting in the way of buying up the resorts, there's no problem. Anyone need a passport application?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
So Many Miquels: Tourism secretary
You have to be a tad careful when sifting through all the information as it applies to Miquel Ramis, and that's because there are so many Miquel Ramises and more than just one of them are involved with the hotel industry, or have been implicated in cases that have required their presence in front of m'lud, or both.
The particular Miquel Ramis who is the subject here is not the Miquel Ramis who is the founder and president of Grupotel, the ex-mayor of Muro, disqualified from public office for ten years and mentioned in dispatches regarding the ongoing investigations into the affairs of former regional president Jaume Matas.
The Miquel Ramis, for our purposes, is the Miquel Ramis who was, confusingly enough, born in Muro but who is resident in Alcúdia, a former mayor of Alcúdia, a member of the family which is the major shareholder in the Alcúdia Beach apartments in Puerto Alcúdia and who came to an agreement in July with a court in Inca which allowed for cases against him, related to the apartments, to be archived. He is also the secretary-general of the Partido Popular in the Balearics and he is being lined up as the probable secretary of state for tourism in the national government.
A curious aspect of Ramis' continuing involvement with the PP locally is that President Bauzá made such a big thing about there not being any candidates at the regional elections who had any legal cases hanging over them. So much of a big thing did he make of it that this was one reason why there was a split in the party. Jaume Font had been implicated, albeit that his case was archived well before the elections. Nevertheless, Bauzá's stance, along with stances on other matters, was sufficient to suggest to Font that he was better off outside the PP and in charge of his own party.
There was perhaps a hint of double standards in that Ramis was secretary-general at the time of Bauzá's elevation to the PP leadership and beyond. He has recently been a candidate at different elections and was voted into the national parliament as a Balearics deputy. Now he might find himself with added responsibility in Madrid.
The closeness between Bauzá and Mariano Rajoy had led to some speculation that Bauzá might himself have been given a post in the Rajoy administration. To his credit, Bauzá dismissed the idea; it wouldn't have looked good to have walked away from the presidency only a few months into the job.
Nevertheless, the closeness may well explain why Ramis is in the frame for the secretary of state post, and were he to be chosen, there would be a sense of continuity, as the outgoing secretary was the Mallorcan Joan Mesquida who has gone on record as saying that he hopes his successor will also be from the Balearics.
Notwithstanding the little legal difficulties he found himself in, Ramis, widely regarded as having been a good mayor of Alcúdia, would represent an interesting appointment, as it would give the two island tourism regions of Spain - the Balearics and the Canaries - a dominance of national tourism policy. The new minister for industry, energy and tourism, and thus potentially Ramis's boss, is José Manuel Soria, a former president of the Canaries.
Soria, on being appointed minister, said that the Canaries "will have singular attention", but he added that the Balearics would not be forgotten as the islands also need "special attention" because of the importance of tourism.
Though many in the tourism industry had called on Rajoy to appoint a minister for tourism alone, so raising the importance of tourism around the cabinet table, the necessity for a dedicated minister is questionable. So long as the multi-tasking supremo, Soria, has a feel for tourism, which he will have, and there is a secretary-general of sufficient competence and experience, a minister is probably unnecessary.
The question is whether Ramis really fits the bill. In one respect, he does have an advantage over Mesquida, whose previous background in office was that of responsibilities in the Balearics for finance and the Guardia Civil. On the face of it, a combination of Soria and Ramis would look to be positive for the Balearics, but not everyone might agree, as the minutiae of the tourism industry won't allow them to agree.
Ramis has business interests in hotels. Which are the two regions of Spain most subject to the hotel lobby and which therefore are the strongest opponents of alternative accommodation, e.g. holiday lets? The Canaries and the Balearics.
Moving on ... Christmas 2011 -
Time, I guess, to forget all the matters that bother us for the rest of the year. If only for a day or two. A happy Christmas to all the many of you who come here every day or less frequently, and enormous thanks to the many who correspond with me and/or who provide support through appreciation (and criticism) as well as through invaluable feedback and information.
As has become traditional, here is the blog's Christmas song. Not that it is particularly Christmassy, just that somehow it captures a spirit. Plus there are the heavenly stars. Laura Veirs.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
(Please note: As with other areas of the media, especially the broadcast media, I shall be taking a rest for a day or two but will be handing over to a guest blogger tomorrow. And she may even still be with us on Boxing Day. So I hope you will send a special Christmas welcome to Leonora Madd. Tomorrow - on the blog.)
The particular Miquel Ramis who is the subject here is not the Miquel Ramis who is the founder and president of Grupotel, the ex-mayor of Muro, disqualified from public office for ten years and mentioned in dispatches regarding the ongoing investigations into the affairs of former regional president Jaume Matas.
The Miquel Ramis, for our purposes, is the Miquel Ramis who was, confusingly enough, born in Muro but who is resident in Alcúdia, a former mayor of Alcúdia, a member of the family which is the major shareholder in the Alcúdia Beach apartments in Puerto Alcúdia and who came to an agreement in July with a court in Inca which allowed for cases against him, related to the apartments, to be archived. He is also the secretary-general of the Partido Popular in the Balearics and he is being lined up as the probable secretary of state for tourism in the national government.
A curious aspect of Ramis' continuing involvement with the PP locally is that President Bauzá made such a big thing about there not being any candidates at the regional elections who had any legal cases hanging over them. So much of a big thing did he make of it that this was one reason why there was a split in the party. Jaume Font had been implicated, albeit that his case was archived well before the elections. Nevertheless, Bauzá's stance, along with stances on other matters, was sufficient to suggest to Font that he was better off outside the PP and in charge of his own party.
There was perhaps a hint of double standards in that Ramis was secretary-general at the time of Bauzá's elevation to the PP leadership and beyond. He has recently been a candidate at different elections and was voted into the national parliament as a Balearics deputy. Now he might find himself with added responsibility in Madrid.
The closeness between Bauzá and Mariano Rajoy had led to some speculation that Bauzá might himself have been given a post in the Rajoy administration. To his credit, Bauzá dismissed the idea; it wouldn't have looked good to have walked away from the presidency only a few months into the job.
Nevertheless, the closeness may well explain why Ramis is in the frame for the secretary of state post, and were he to be chosen, there would be a sense of continuity, as the outgoing secretary was the Mallorcan Joan Mesquida who has gone on record as saying that he hopes his successor will also be from the Balearics.
Notwithstanding the little legal difficulties he found himself in, Ramis, widely regarded as having been a good mayor of Alcúdia, would represent an interesting appointment, as it would give the two island tourism regions of Spain - the Balearics and the Canaries - a dominance of national tourism policy. The new minister for industry, energy and tourism, and thus potentially Ramis's boss, is José Manuel Soria, a former president of the Canaries.
Soria, on being appointed minister, said that the Canaries "will have singular attention", but he added that the Balearics would not be forgotten as the islands also need "special attention" because of the importance of tourism.
Though many in the tourism industry had called on Rajoy to appoint a minister for tourism alone, so raising the importance of tourism around the cabinet table, the necessity for a dedicated minister is questionable. So long as the multi-tasking supremo, Soria, has a feel for tourism, which he will have, and there is a secretary-general of sufficient competence and experience, a minister is probably unnecessary.
The question is whether Ramis really fits the bill. In one respect, he does have an advantage over Mesquida, whose previous background in office was that of responsibilities in the Balearics for finance and the Guardia Civil. On the face of it, a combination of Soria and Ramis would look to be positive for the Balearics, but not everyone might agree, as the minutiae of the tourism industry won't allow them to agree.
Ramis has business interests in hotels. Which are the two regions of Spain most subject to the hotel lobby and which therefore are the strongest opponents of alternative accommodation, e.g. holiday lets? The Canaries and the Balearics.
Moving on ... Christmas 2011 -
Time, I guess, to forget all the matters that bother us for the rest of the year. If only for a day or two. A happy Christmas to all the many of you who come here every day or less frequently, and enormous thanks to the many who correspond with me and/or who provide support through appreciation (and criticism) as well as through invaluable feedback and information.
As has become traditional, here is the blog's Christmas song. Not that it is particularly Christmassy, just that somehow it captures a spirit. Plus there are the heavenly stars. Laura Veirs.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
(Please note: As with other areas of the media, especially the broadcast media, I shall be taking a rest for a day or two but will be handing over to a guest blogger tomorrow. And she may even still be with us on Boxing Day. So I hope you will send a special Christmas welcome to Leonora Madd. Tomorrow - on the blog.)
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