Crisis, crisis, everywhere crisis. I am wondering if it would be possible for any news media to exist without the word "crisis". Were its usage to be banned, how on earth would they cope? At one point, until early yesterday morning, there was a time of high crisis, über-crisis possibly, in the ranks of the island's governments. One says "governments" because there were three involved - the regional government, the Mallorca Council and Palma town hall (itself a sort of mini-government all of its own given the relative size of the city's population to that of the rest of the island). This elevated state of crisis surrounded - still - the resignations of councillors belonging to the Unió Mallorquina (UM) party from the Mallorca Council, which had confined its crisis-state to the Council alone until the lesser-crisis stakes were suddenly cranked up and embraced the other two. There had been a move towards kissing and making up, but then there loomed, on the turbulent political horizon, a golf course. Yes, a golf course.
One needs to be reminded that the three governmental institutions are all run (if that's the word) through a coalition comprising the PSOE socialists, the UM and the left-wing Bloc. I think I have explained this before, but you might not have been listening or had given up the will to live. So it is necessary to state it once again. One might also be reminded of the story of the golf course, that will never be, on the Son Baco finca in the municipality of Campos. One has to go back almost a year to get something of a handle on this; to 17 November (Heart And Soul) in fact, when I argued that the planned golf project was an important story not to be ignored. I hadn't envisaged that it might be so important as to bring the three institutions to a state of virtual paralysis and of minority government with the PSOE ruling alone because of the fractious nature of the relationship between the UM and the Bloc.
The Campos development had been vetoed, much to the chagrin of the UM, a party which sometimes appears intent on converting Mallorca into one giant fairway. Nevertheless, there was a good argument for its going ahead in a town largely devoid of tourism. Undeterred, the UM had placed an amendment to the so-called "Decreto Nadal" (named after the tourism minister, himself a member of the UM and its former leader) that might have paved the greens of a golf construction. The Bloc insisted that this was withdrawn. If not, it would have thrown its clubs out of the golf buggy, thus breaking the coalitions. There was, indeed is, an alternative offer on the table for Campos, i.e. the development of two luxury hotels in Sa Ràpita, an alternative that the UM had appeared to accept, but which the Bloc seemed disinclined to.
Extraordinary though it may be to think that governments could tumble or be made all but unworkable by something as seemingly unimportant as a golf course (unimportant compared with graver issues such as the economy and the state of tourism), this is, I'm afraid, how things are in Mallorca. The golf course stand-off was a point of arch-politicking, making large the discontent between the various parties. It was irrelevant, but golf became a political football. Stupid.
And all the more stupid when, by coincidence, tourism minister Nadal had been meeting with the president of the international association of golf tour operators. First time I've heard of such a body, but exist it does and keen also to help in making Mallorca the leading golf tourism destination in Europe, a destination to which an additional 100,000 more places could be sold. At a time of über-crisis in the economy and tourism market, these are not to be sniffed at, but that president might be alarmed at the perfectly ridiculous inability of competing political parties to arrive at a consensus concerning what might have been a sensible addition to the golf stock of the island, one that is not going to happen.
But back at the crisis ... at the last moment, the clock ticking and politicos ready for their beds at two in the morning, they did indeed all kiss and make up. An agreement was reached, minus any golf course. The governments were saved. Long live the governments! Until next time.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Cliff, "Living Doll", and here he is with The Young Ones, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGOU0o9K89g. Today's title - old favourite of this blog, this was BS - Before Sarah.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Showing posts with label Mallorca Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mallorca Council. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Bloc-Heads
Politics in Mallorca are never exactly dull. Scandal, crisis, division, these are the almost daily staples of political fare served with a Mallorcan flavour. We now have the situation in which members of the ruling coalition at the Mallorca Council have resigned; they are all from the Unió Mallorquina (UM) nationalist party. It, the UM, forms (or should that be, formed) a pact with the socialists, the PSOE (that of the national president, Zapatero), and the so-called Bloc, comprising the Mallorcan socialists - PSM - and others to the left of centre. This coalition is mirrored at regional government level, i.e. the Balearics Government. Its president, Francesc Antich (PSOE), has looked to try and smooth over the problems at the Council, created, so it would seem, by differences with its own president, Francina Armengol (also PSOE). I trust, by the way, that you're following all this, as I'll be testing you later.
The consequence of the resignations at the Council is that what remains of the coalition now forms a minority. Chief among the accusations coming from the UM is that the Council has become a "dead institution" and a vehicle of "false marketing" (whatever that refers to). It should, the UM maintain, revert to what it is meant to do, namely undertake projects and investment. It's handy that the UM should make this point. There must be many who have no idea what the point of the Council actually is, set, as it is, betwixt the regional government and the town halls.
Setting aside the relevance or not of the Council (though this is a legitimate subject for debate in its own right), the fractiousness is an indictment not only of an inability of those of different political persuasions to work together in the name of the common good but also of the very nature of coalition politics. The UM is a centre-right party; it is not a naturally sympathetic partner for either the PSOE or the Bloc. But partner it is, or has been, as a means of getting some hold on the reigns of power and of making up the numbers to actually form a government. The UM says that it is not planning a rival pact with the conservative Partido Popular (PP), one that might be able to take over the running of the Council for the remainder of the current legislature. Yet, the PP would be a more natural ally. Both have similar political philosophies, apart from the obvious nationalist dimension of the UM and therefore also the language question.
Into all of this strides "The Bulletin" with a call to Antich to declare an election; an election, that is, at regional government level. Why? The Council is an entirely different body. Moreover, it is, as the name makes clear, a body for Mallorca and not the Balearics. It is, however, true to say that the regional government has stumbled into its own crises, in which the UM often appears to be the common factor. There was, for instance, an issue with the former tourism minister (UM) who had to be jettisoned and replaced by the current incumbent, Miquel Nadal (also UM), himself implicated in a scandal.
Were there to be an election, who is to say that the status quo would not be the result? That the same partners would not have to coalesce? Where would this get anyone? Perhaps the problems at the Council are at least in part due to a certain atrophy, that "dead institution", brought about by the horse-trading of a coalition of differing political colours. It is not that coalition politics cannot work. They do in Germany, for example, albeit that consensus politics there leads to a lack of radicalism the country has long needed. Germany now has a more natural coalition of the conservatives and the free-market liberals, one that may well provide the stimulus for change. But the philosophy of seeking consensus is one that seems to be lacking in Mallorca, one that places political party power above a desire to act in tandem for the common good. It is the maturity of the political mindset, or the lack thereof, that creates the problems for sound government in Mallorca. Not the system per se.
A mid-term election would serve no real purpose, unless the problems at the Council do repeat themselves at regional government level, though the feeling is that they do not exist there. Perhaps so; perhaps not. Either way, a solution lies in a greater humility and maturity. Or maybe there's another one - if it is indeed moribund, then scrap the Council altogether.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - U2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590ljQM08H0. Today's title - one letter's missing of course; this is not an Ian Dury thing, but a film question. Who were they?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The consequence of the resignations at the Council is that what remains of the coalition now forms a minority. Chief among the accusations coming from the UM is that the Council has become a "dead institution" and a vehicle of "false marketing" (whatever that refers to). It should, the UM maintain, revert to what it is meant to do, namely undertake projects and investment. It's handy that the UM should make this point. There must be many who have no idea what the point of the Council actually is, set, as it is, betwixt the regional government and the town halls.
Setting aside the relevance or not of the Council (though this is a legitimate subject for debate in its own right), the fractiousness is an indictment not only of an inability of those of different political persuasions to work together in the name of the common good but also of the very nature of coalition politics. The UM is a centre-right party; it is not a naturally sympathetic partner for either the PSOE or the Bloc. But partner it is, or has been, as a means of getting some hold on the reigns of power and of making up the numbers to actually form a government. The UM says that it is not planning a rival pact with the conservative Partido Popular (PP), one that might be able to take over the running of the Council for the remainder of the current legislature. Yet, the PP would be a more natural ally. Both have similar political philosophies, apart from the obvious nationalist dimension of the UM and therefore also the language question.
Into all of this strides "The Bulletin" with a call to Antich to declare an election; an election, that is, at regional government level. Why? The Council is an entirely different body. Moreover, it is, as the name makes clear, a body for Mallorca and not the Balearics. It is, however, true to say that the regional government has stumbled into its own crises, in which the UM often appears to be the common factor. There was, for instance, an issue with the former tourism minister (UM) who had to be jettisoned and replaced by the current incumbent, Miquel Nadal (also UM), himself implicated in a scandal.
Were there to be an election, who is to say that the status quo would not be the result? That the same partners would not have to coalesce? Where would this get anyone? Perhaps the problems at the Council are at least in part due to a certain atrophy, that "dead institution", brought about by the horse-trading of a coalition of differing political colours. It is not that coalition politics cannot work. They do in Germany, for example, albeit that consensus politics there leads to a lack of radicalism the country has long needed. Germany now has a more natural coalition of the conservatives and the free-market liberals, one that may well provide the stimulus for change. But the philosophy of seeking consensus is one that seems to be lacking in Mallorca, one that places political party power above a desire to act in tandem for the common good. It is the maturity of the political mindset, or the lack thereof, that creates the problems for sound government in Mallorca. Not the system per se.
A mid-term election would serve no real purpose, unless the problems at the Council do repeat themselves at regional government level, though the feeling is that they do not exist there. Perhaps so; perhaps not. Either way, a solution lies in a greater humility and maturity. Or maybe there's another one - if it is indeed moribund, then scrap the Council altogether.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - U2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590ljQM08H0. Today's title - one letter's missing of course; this is not an Ian Dury thing, but a film question. Who were they?(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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