There really are times when you wonder ... . I have a certain admiration for Ciudadanos in a similar way to having an admiration for Podemos. They occupy different political territories, but both are examples of how the status quo of a political system can be shaken up. Yet with both there are elements of the conservative and even the regressive. With Podemos, there is a Luddite tendency that wishes, for example, for "de-growth", an anti-capitalist return to an undefined era stripped of a great deal of the progress through tourism. For the C's, there is one great conservative non-negotiable - Catalonia. This is an essence of its being. Independence is a total non-starter, as is the advance of any Catalan nationalism beyond the borders of Catalonia.
The C's are doing rather well at present. In Catalonia they have secured the most parliamentary seats of any party. They have benefited, in part, from the electoral destruction of the Partido Popular, but more than this, they are solidly representative of the independence counterpoint. They have hung their hat on union, and there are very good numbers of Catalan citizens who agree with them.
Even before the Catalonia election, it was evident that the C's had been making ground in the Balearics. What happens in Catalonia has an impact here, even if this can at times be overstated. But the political atmosphere generated by Catalonia and by statements in favour of a Balearic independence by Més have done the C's no harm at all. Nor have their complaints about indoctrination in local schools.
The exporting of Catalanist nationalism that the C's attack comes in different guises. One of the more peculiar is what is due to take place on 31 December - Palma's Festival of the Standard. This is a fiesta deemed to be in the intangible cultural interest: not just deemed, is. The official nature of this interest was confirmed by the highest authority of making official - a statement on the Official Bulletin. It is there in black and white. In 2006, the Council of Mallorca declared the festival to be an asset of this cultural interest, and with this declaration came certain stipulations as to its maintenance.
The Council of 2006 was different in its political make-up to how it is today. It was still essentially the property of the subsequently disgraced Unió Mallorquina and Maria Antonia Munar. The UM, although ostensibly nationalist in a centrist sort of a way, was never strident in its ambitions, and its nationalism was one founded on its own version of history. Some years before the 2006 declaration, the Council had decided to make 12 September Mallorca Day. This was a recognition of the true founding of the old Kingdom of Mallorca. It was not a date for which there was wholehearted support. There was - in a Catalanist correct fashion - an alternative date: 31 December, the day in 1229 when Catalan culture can be said to have its origins.
Changing the date of Mallorca Day to 31 December was an obvious move. If there were to be a different date, then 31 December had far greater claim than any other. And so, for the first time, this coming New Year's Eve will be Mallorca Day as well as the Festival of the Standard.
For some, such as the C's, this combination was a form of pact between the nationalists of Més at the Council of Mallorca and at Palma town hall. It might not have generated overly much fuss, if it hadn't been for some consequent amendments to the festival protocol. Until now, and despite the 2006 declaration, the festival has been a Palma town hall occasion. In institutional terms, only the town hall has responsibility. Moreover, the declaration made clear that the responsibility for the maintenance of the tradition and guaranteeing the components of the festival was Palma's.
The pact between the Council and the town hall has, in the opinion of the C's, led to a unilateral decision to permit the Council to be represented in the official committee (retinue) for honouring King Jaume I and the Standard. Moreover, mayors from other parts of Mallorca are to be allowed to participate. The C's point to the fact that the 2006 declaration does not contemplate this additional institutional representation. Only the mayor of Palma and city councillors can form the retinue.
Because of this, the C's have taken the matter to court. They are seeking an injunction to prevent the protocol being altered. It is this that makes one wonder. How can a festival end up in court? Does it really matter who is represented in the retinue? It does if there are the politics of Catalan nationalism at play, which is what the C's are really concerned about. But they risk looking somewhat ridiculous and losing some of the admiration. They might disagree with the change to the festival, but going to court over it ... ?
Showing posts with label Palma town hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palma town hall. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Thursday, October 26, 2017
2019 Elections: Change Or No Change?
Starting with the obvious caveat that polls aren't always accurate, the one conducted by the Balearic Institute of Social Studies for voting intentions in Palma does make for interesting reading.
Palma town hall has twenty-nine councillors. The election in 2015 returned the following: nine Partido Popular; six PSOE; five Més; five Podemos; four Ciudadanos (C's). The ruling administration at the town hall therefore changed from one with a PP majority to what there is now - a pact between PSOE, Més and Podemos. In order to form a majority, there need to be fifteen councillors. The pact was able to deliver this plus one.
The poll by the institute asked about voting intentions were there to be an election now - the actual election isn't until May 2019. It found increased support for the PP, PSOE, the C's and for El Pi, who don't currently have a councillor. Més and Podemos, on the other hand, saw their support drop. The maths of this poll indicate that the pact could continue, despite the loss of one councillor by both Més and Podemos. One more for PSOE would push the total to fifteen, just scraping a majority.
An alternative conclusion, thanks to the workings of the D'Hondt method of allocating seats under proportional representation, is that the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos might both gain one seat and El Pi might win one. Were that to be the case, then a three-way coalition of the centre-right could replace the current pact.
The institute has also conducted a poll for voting intentions for the Council of Mallorca, where the pact mirrors that of Palma town hall. And the findings of the poll pretty much mirror the Palma poll. Més and Podemos are both down by one seat; PSOE may gain one; the C's are up (possibly by two); El Pi, which have representation at the Council, remain the same, as do the PP. If the poll is accurate, then PSOE would need to gain in order for the pact to survive. There are 33 seats at the Council of Mallorca, of which PSOE, Més and Podemos currently have eighteen. It is possible they could miss establishing a majority by one, while a combination of the PP, C's and El Pi would have a majority.
In June there was a mid-term poll for the Balearic parliament. While Podemos isn't formally part of the government, its seats are what put PSOE and Més into government in 2015. The June poll suggests that the pact wouldn't survive, with Més and Podemos both losing two seats and PSOE losing one. For the centre-right, there were gains for the C's and El Pi; the PP stayed where they are with twenty seats.
What these polls all indicate is that the next elections are going to be very difficult to call. They show a general ebbing away of support for Més and Podemos, but perhaps most significantly they do not reveal any sign of a recovery by the PP. An assumption that some have been making - an erroneous one in my view, and backed up by these polls - is that the PP will just walk back into power in 2019. This is what happened in 2003 and 2011 after the previous PSOE-led governments, but at present it would appear that the PP would need to rely on D'Hondt falling favourably for them and the C's and El Pi being prepared to make pacts.
It's revealing to look back and see what opinion polling was like at the mid-term of the Bauzá PP government. There was a very different picture. The PP had lost six to seven seats, meaning they were below the majority of thirty. It was to get much worse for the PP. They lost fifteen seats at the election itself, and they are now - according to the opinion poll - stuck on that twenty.
So, two years can make a difference - positively, negatively or even through the unexpected. When that mid-term poll in 2013 was carried out, Podemos weren't around. In the space of two years they emerged from nowhere to get ten seats in the Balearic parliament.
There won't be a repeat of the surprise package in 2019, so will there be anything to disrupt the patterns revealed by these polls? One factor that I have highlighted previously is the new deal for Balearic financing. If it comes through and is favourable, the electorate may look upon it with favour as well, though it would be more of a PSOE achievement than one of Més (or Podemos).
As for the PP, they are going to have do something pretty remarkable over the next eighteen months or so, and with Biel Company showing little evidence of being a dynamic leader, I'm far from convinced that they will improve their position to any significant extent.
Palma town hall has twenty-nine councillors. The election in 2015 returned the following: nine Partido Popular; six PSOE; five Més; five Podemos; four Ciudadanos (C's). The ruling administration at the town hall therefore changed from one with a PP majority to what there is now - a pact between PSOE, Més and Podemos. In order to form a majority, there need to be fifteen councillors. The pact was able to deliver this plus one.
The poll by the institute asked about voting intentions were there to be an election now - the actual election isn't until May 2019. It found increased support for the PP, PSOE, the C's and for El Pi, who don't currently have a councillor. Més and Podemos, on the other hand, saw their support drop. The maths of this poll indicate that the pact could continue, despite the loss of one councillor by both Més and Podemos. One more for PSOE would push the total to fifteen, just scraping a majority.
An alternative conclusion, thanks to the workings of the D'Hondt method of allocating seats under proportional representation, is that the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos might both gain one seat and El Pi might win one. Were that to be the case, then a three-way coalition of the centre-right could replace the current pact.
The institute has also conducted a poll for voting intentions for the Council of Mallorca, where the pact mirrors that of Palma town hall. And the findings of the poll pretty much mirror the Palma poll. Més and Podemos are both down by one seat; PSOE may gain one; the C's are up (possibly by two); El Pi, which have representation at the Council, remain the same, as do the PP. If the poll is accurate, then PSOE would need to gain in order for the pact to survive. There are 33 seats at the Council of Mallorca, of which PSOE, Més and Podemos currently have eighteen. It is possible they could miss establishing a majority by one, while a combination of the PP, C's and El Pi would have a majority.
In June there was a mid-term poll for the Balearic parliament. While Podemos isn't formally part of the government, its seats are what put PSOE and Més into government in 2015. The June poll suggests that the pact wouldn't survive, with Més and Podemos both losing two seats and PSOE losing one. For the centre-right, there were gains for the C's and El Pi; the PP stayed where they are with twenty seats.
What these polls all indicate is that the next elections are going to be very difficult to call. They show a general ebbing away of support for Més and Podemos, but perhaps most significantly they do not reveal any sign of a recovery by the PP. An assumption that some have been making - an erroneous one in my view, and backed up by these polls - is that the PP will just walk back into power in 2019. This is what happened in 2003 and 2011 after the previous PSOE-led governments, but at present it would appear that the PP would need to rely on D'Hondt falling favourably for them and the C's and El Pi being prepared to make pacts.
It's revealing to look back and see what opinion polling was like at the mid-term of the Bauzá PP government. There was a very different picture. The PP had lost six to seven seats, meaning they were below the majority of thirty. It was to get much worse for the PP. They lost fifteen seats at the election itself, and they are now - according to the opinion poll - stuck on that twenty.
So, two years can make a difference - positively, negatively or even through the unexpected. When that mid-term poll in 2013 was carried out, Podemos weren't around. In the space of two years they emerged from nowhere to get ten seats in the Balearic parliament.
There won't be a repeat of the surprise package in 2019, so will there be anything to disrupt the patterns revealed by these polls? One factor that I have highlighted previously is the new deal for Balearic financing. If it comes through and is favourable, the electorate may look upon it with favour as well, though it would be more of a PSOE achievement than one of Més (or Podemos).
As for the PP, they are going to have do something pretty remarkable over the next eighteen months or so, and with Biel Company showing little evidence of being a dynamic leader, I'm far from convinced that they will improve their position to any significant extent.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Are Tourist Friends Electric?
For those of you who have ever paid the tourist tax, are you delighted at the results of the deliberations of the judging committee for the impulse of sustainable tourism? Sixty-two finalists had been hewn from hopefuls twice that number and with shopping lists worth more than four times the revenue on offer - for new projects, that is. And when the sixty-two aspirants were paraded before the judging panel, they were all given a prize. There are no losers in the tourist tax competition, except for the sixty who had been given the heave-ho in the prelims.
So, if you have, for instance, spent 49.50 euros (plus VAT) for fourteen nights at a three-star superior for a family of four (one child over sixteen, the other younger) in the past few months, are you satisfied that you may have contributed 0.001% to the cost of "electric mobility", otherwise known as charging-points for electric vehicles? You are satisfied? Well, good for you, and some time in the future you'll be able to use these charging-points when hire cars are all electric or you'll be safe in the knowledge that the bus taking you to your resort from the airport is fully powered by electricity. Gosh, isn't this impulse for sustainable tourism a great thing and a wonder to behold, if you can actually behold it.
All this electric mobility, thanks to the nature of its funding, should require charging-points across the isles (and I suppose we are talking plural because it's only Mallorca that is ever referred to) to have legends emblazoned on them which read "Electric mobility: POWERED BY ECOTAX". Thataway, just in case you have failed to be satisfied, you will become so. "Heavens, so that's where my money goes. Well done, Balearic government, God bless you and thank you. The world is being saved. If only it weren't for all that permafrost being defrosted."
It isn't only you, as tourists, who will be thanking the government. So also will be all those who have been agitating for a dismantling of the tourism economic monoculture. Most curiously, this is a purpose for the tourist tax. Not about tourism but about something else, the Holy Grail of economic diversification. The 4.6 million euros that the judges have decided to lavish on electric mobility will, we are assured, be instrumental in diversifying the economy. Will it be?
To me, this sounds suspiciously like replacing one thing with another. Replacement isn't diversification. The ministers for tourism, innovation and research, land, energy and transport (aka mobility), and industry, trade and employment all suggest that it is diversification. Well, they must know something that you and I don't. Are there to be thousands of jobs created to enable drivers to plug their cars in and which will allow restaurant waiters to abandon the terraces and earn five grand a month, thereby contributing to quality employment?
It's not, I hasten to add, that I am against electric mobility. Quite the contrary. Anything that provides green, clean energy is to be welcomed. But it comes with its own plug-in of spin, which is the case with much of the bull, righteousness, virtuousness and cliché attached in cable form to the sustainable tourism tax. The eco-credentials of the ecotax were being sounded long into the ozone of autumn air as the judges and recipients explained the tourist tax spending verdicts. And there is no greater credential than when "footprints" can be referred to.
Més compatriots, Barceló and Noguera, were both on the footprint trail. The numerous (62 plus eight ongoing from last year) projects, opined the tourism minister, will help to alleviate the eco-unfriendly footprint of tourism (or words to that effect). Quite right. For far too long tourists have been getting away with using petrol for hire cars and relying on coal to power their hotel (and private apartment) air-con systems. Not any more. Our tourist friends are electric, and solar, to boot.
Palma's mayor, continuing with the narrative of indignation that had endured from the fact that the chief judge - Barceló - had failed to last year give the city any direct tax funding, appeared moderately satisfied. But he was engaged in a battle of the footprints. Palma's tourism footprint is bigger than anyone else's. It's still only getting around five million, some of it to be shared with the neighbours (Llucmajor), but it's better than the 2016 spending zero. How, though, is this giant tourism footprint to be addressed? The odd track in Bellver forest does, I suppose, involve some footprints, but another way is to restore the Torres del Temple. And what, pray, has that got to do with footprints? The place has been crumbling for decades because no one has bothered to spend any money on it.
Still, the restoration will doubtless be welcomed by tourists because of its heritage value. Assuming, that is, they can find anywhere to park having arrived in Palma powered by ecotax.
So, if you have, for instance, spent 49.50 euros (plus VAT) for fourteen nights at a three-star superior for a family of four (one child over sixteen, the other younger) in the past few months, are you satisfied that you may have contributed 0.001% to the cost of "electric mobility", otherwise known as charging-points for electric vehicles? You are satisfied? Well, good for you, and some time in the future you'll be able to use these charging-points when hire cars are all electric or you'll be safe in the knowledge that the bus taking you to your resort from the airport is fully powered by electricity. Gosh, isn't this impulse for sustainable tourism a great thing and a wonder to behold, if you can actually behold it.
All this electric mobility, thanks to the nature of its funding, should require charging-points across the isles (and I suppose we are talking plural because it's only Mallorca that is ever referred to) to have legends emblazoned on them which read "Electric mobility: POWERED BY ECOTAX". Thataway, just in case you have failed to be satisfied, you will become so. "Heavens, so that's where my money goes. Well done, Balearic government, God bless you and thank you. The world is being saved. If only it weren't for all that permafrost being defrosted."
It isn't only you, as tourists, who will be thanking the government. So also will be all those who have been agitating for a dismantling of the tourism economic monoculture. Most curiously, this is a purpose for the tourist tax. Not about tourism but about something else, the Holy Grail of economic diversification. The 4.6 million euros that the judges have decided to lavish on electric mobility will, we are assured, be instrumental in diversifying the economy. Will it be?
To me, this sounds suspiciously like replacing one thing with another. Replacement isn't diversification. The ministers for tourism, innovation and research, land, energy and transport (aka mobility), and industry, trade and employment all suggest that it is diversification. Well, they must know something that you and I don't. Are there to be thousands of jobs created to enable drivers to plug their cars in and which will allow restaurant waiters to abandon the terraces and earn five grand a month, thereby contributing to quality employment?
It's not, I hasten to add, that I am against electric mobility. Quite the contrary. Anything that provides green, clean energy is to be welcomed. But it comes with its own plug-in of spin, which is the case with much of the bull, righteousness, virtuousness and cliché attached in cable form to the sustainable tourism tax. The eco-credentials of the ecotax were being sounded long into the ozone of autumn air as the judges and recipients explained the tourist tax spending verdicts. And there is no greater credential than when "footprints" can be referred to.
Més compatriots, Barceló and Noguera, were both on the footprint trail. The numerous (62 plus eight ongoing from last year) projects, opined the tourism minister, will help to alleviate the eco-unfriendly footprint of tourism (or words to that effect). Quite right. For far too long tourists have been getting away with using petrol for hire cars and relying on coal to power their hotel (and private apartment) air-con systems. Not any more. Our tourist friends are electric, and solar, to boot.
Palma's mayor, continuing with the narrative of indignation that had endured from the fact that the chief judge - Barceló - had failed to last year give the city any direct tax funding, appeared moderately satisfied. But he was engaged in a battle of the footprints. Palma's tourism footprint is bigger than anyone else's. It's still only getting around five million, some of it to be shared with the neighbours (Llucmajor), but it's better than the 2016 spending zero. How, though, is this giant tourism footprint to be addressed? The odd track in Bellver forest does, I suppose, involve some footprints, but another way is to restore the Torres del Temple. And what, pray, has that got to do with footprints? The place has been crumbling for decades because no one has bothered to spend any money on it.
Still, the restoration will doubtless be welcomed by tourists because of its heritage value. Assuming, that is, they can find anywhere to park having arrived in Palma powered by ecotax.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
The Job-Swapping Mayors Of Mallorca
Mayors in Mallorca job share. Or rather, they job swap. Top-dog musical chairs is a game played out at many a town hall, and it's all thanks to proportional representation and the consequent need for coalition. It does depend, however. Some mayors are secure in their four-year tenure, courtesy of their parties' majorities. Others, whose parties don't have majorities, are not obliged to enter into job-swapping contracts. They form settled coalitions or pacts. They may be perceived, even by other parties, as being the right man or woman to see out the four years.
The job swaps occur because pacts aren't settled. Parties insist on having some mayoral action. Negotiations for forming administrations after municipal elections can depend for their success on agreement to hand over the mayoral wand mid-term. Good consensual democratic stuff, it is really the only way that there can ever be something resembling continuity and control. Without such an arrangement, administrations would never get off the ground. And if they did, they would soon fall back to earth because of the untenable nature of minority government.
The continuity, though, has the inherent potential to be discontinuous. This seems obvious if there is a switch from a mayor representing a particular ideology to one with a different political perspective. The right can hand over to the left, or vice versa. In Arta, there is an example of the former. The El Pi mayor, Tolo Gili, has given way to PSOE's Manolo Galán.
But there may well be continuity. If the agreements for the four years were firm, if the personalities are right, if opposition parties don't cause problems, then even a move from right to left doesn't automatically mean a different course after two years. A further factor is the nature of the municipality. Smaller ones have smaller town halls in terms of councillors and structures. They can function in a more coherent fashion because of their scale, while the self-interests of parties in maintaining their positions of ruling power prevent them from disrupting the concord.
Palma town hall highlights the potential for discontinuity more than others. Its size makes it unique. It functions more like its own government than a mere town hall. The three-way pact of PSOE, Més and Podemos has been exposed as shaky, and the knowledge that there is to be a mayoral job swap has partly contributed to this. For two years, José Hila of PSOE has been a mayor on his way out, while Antoni Noguera of Més has been the mayor-in-waiting: he now only has another month to wait.
In a similar way to the Balearic government, Palma has departments which are controlled by the different parties. There may on the face of it be accord, consensus and so on, but the reality is something else. The conflicts this party control of portfolios causes are no better demonstrated than with new bylaws for terraces and illegal street selling. PSOE have clashed with Podemos. The impending change of mayor only complicates the situation.
There is additional complication because of Noguera's implication with the Més contracts' affair. The opposition Partido Popular, in any event keen to do anything possible to disrupt the pact, has made overtures to PSOE to keep Noguera out. Although an agreement exists, when it comes to the moment for the handover, there still has to be a vote of councillors to elect the new mayor. The PP won't succeed in its attempt because Hila and PSOE would be crucified by supporters were there to be such a volte-face.
The Palma case also raises questions as to the roles of outgoing and incoming mayors over the first two years of an administration. Noguera, with his responsibility for the model of the city, positioned himself as a virtual mayor. There is nothing more important for a mayor than the vision he has for a municipality. So, Noguera has spent two years preparing for the job. Hila will take over this model of the city portfolio. Will his vision be the same and how well might he take being told by Noguera that it will be?
Alaro is clearly a much smaller town hall, but in Guillem Balboa there is a situation similar to Noguera. The opposition Junts per Alaro has openly accused Balboa of having spent the time leading up to taking over as mayor next month in dedicating himself more to being the future mayor than being the councillor for urban planning. Oppositions do of course make such observations. Balboa refutes the claim, but is it so surprising that he might have been?
Job-swapping mayors good for democracy? Possibly they are, so long as there is continuity. That can of course all disappear because of new elections, but in the meantime, consider Llucmajor. They're on to their second mayor, and there's a third yet to come.
The job swaps occur because pacts aren't settled. Parties insist on having some mayoral action. Negotiations for forming administrations after municipal elections can depend for their success on agreement to hand over the mayoral wand mid-term. Good consensual democratic stuff, it is really the only way that there can ever be something resembling continuity and control. Without such an arrangement, administrations would never get off the ground. And if they did, they would soon fall back to earth because of the untenable nature of minority government.
The continuity, though, has the inherent potential to be discontinuous. This seems obvious if there is a switch from a mayor representing a particular ideology to one with a different political perspective. The right can hand over to the left, or vice versa. In Arta, there is an example of the former. The El Pi mayor, Tolo Gili, has given way to PSOE's Manolo Galán.
But there may well be continuity. If the agreements for the four years were firm, if the personalities are right, if opposition parties don't cause problems, then even a move from right to left doesn't automatically mean a different course after two years. A further factor is the nature of the municipality. Smaller ones have smaller town halls in terms of councillors and structures. They can function in a more coherent fashion because of their scale, while the self-interests of parties in maintaining their positions of ruling power prevent them from disrupting the concord.
Palma town hall highlights the potential for discontinuity more than others. Its size makes it unique. It functions more like its own government than a mere town hall. The three-way pact of PSOE, Més and Podemos has been exposed as shaky, and the knowledge that there is to be a mayoral job swap has partly contributed to this. For two years, José Hila of PSOE has been a mayor on his way out, while Antoni Noguera of Més has been the mayor-in-waiting: he now only has another month to wait.
In a similar way to the Balearic government, Palma has departments which are controlled by the different parties. There may on the face of it be accord, consensus and so on, but the reality is something else. The conflicts this party control of portfolios causes are no better demonstrated than with new bylaws for terraces and illegal street selling. PSOE have clashed with Podemos. The impending change of mayor only complicates the situation.
There is additional complication because of Noguera's implication with the Més contracts' affair. The opposition Partido Popular, in any event keen to do anything possible to disrupt the pact, has made overtures to PSOE to keep Noguera out. Although an agreement exists, when it comes to the moment for the handover, there still has to be a vote of councillors to elect the new mayor. The PP won't succeed in its attempt because Hila and PSOE would be crucified by supporters were there to be such a volte-face.
The Palma case also raises questions as to the roles of outgoing and incoming mayors over the first two years of an administration. Noguera, with his responsibility for the model of the city, positioned himself as a virtual mayor. There is nothing more important for a mayor than the vision he has for a municipality. So, Noguera has spent two years preparing for the job. Hila will take over this model of the city portfolio. Will his vision be the same and how well might he take being told by Noguera that it will be?
Alaro is clearly a much smaller town hall, but in Guillem Balboa there is a situation similar to Noguera. The opposition Junts per Alaro has openly accused Balboa of having spent the time leading up to taking over as mayor next month in dedicating himself more to being the future mayor than being the councillor for urban planning. Oppositions do of course make such observations. Balboa refutes the claim, but is it so surprising that he might have been?
Job-swapping mayors good for democracy? Possibly they are, so long as there is continuity. That can of course all disappear because of new elections, but in the meantime, consider Llucmajor. They're on to their second mayor, and there's a third yet to come.
Monday, February 02, 2015
Yes, We Have No Plan
Look at any website for a town hall in Mallorca and you will find that they all have a councillor who is responsible for fiestas. This is not a sole responsibility, but responsibility there nevertheless is. Fiestas (and indeed fairs) represent one of the strongest statements as to what a town (or parts of towns) is all about. It is local culture in the form of a party. It would be odd were there not a councillor who was charged with looking after this culture.
The demands placed on such a councillor will vary enormously depending on the size of any given municipality, but even in the smaller towns there is more to it than simply ensuring that the pipers turn up at the appointed time (preferably with their pipes) and that DJ Deejay has remembered his USB sticks that will whisk the partygoers back to the good old days of the 1980s. The fiesta needs organising. It needs planning. The plan may not vary greatly from year to year, but that doesn't mean it can be neglected.
Palma town hall has admitted that it doesn't have a plan for fiestas. It is an extraordinary admission. If there is one municipality on Mallorca you would think would most definitely have a plan - and a pretty detailed one, too - then Palma would be that municipality. Alas, it does not.
The confession that there is no plan has come in the aftermath of what, by general consensus, was the worst Sant Sebastià fiesta since it was given its current-day look at the end of the 1970s. Even the town hall seems to accept that the 2015 edition was a bit of a washout. It wasn't only attributable to the weather; the music events for the "revetla", the grand party for the eve of Sant Sebastià, reached an all-time low.
Perhaps even more extraordinary is that Esperanza Crespí, the councillor for citizen participation, has not only admitted that there is no plan she has also accepted, amidst apologies for this year's fiesta, that a proposal from the PSOE opposition last year for there to be a plan was not followed up. She has said that she didn't know what PSOE was suggesting but would have liked to have done. Maybe she should have asked them for more detail then.
That Esperanza even has responsibility for fiestas might seem a little surprising. She heads an area within the council that combines citizen participation with commerce, work and youth. Fiestas fall somewhere within this lot. Forget what I was saying about fiestas and local culture. Palma has a councillor for culture and sport who doesn't have responsibility for fiestas.
It is possible, therefore, that this is part of the problem. Fiestas, in the grand scheme of things in a city which has as much on its plate as Palma does, are far from being a number-one priority and so may fall down some black hole of organisational structure. Or they may be assigned wrongly; if not the councillor for culture and sports, then maybe the one for tourism and what is called municipal co-ordination should take care of fiestas.
Wearing her participation hat, Esperanza has said that the time may have come for the town hall to sit down with residents, business associations and others and discuss fiestas. Yes, it probably is time and probably should have been happening anyway: principles of participation appear to be developed slowly in Palma.
To make matters worse, the Més grouping at the town hall has been calling for Esperanza's head because other fiesta activities have been prohibited - three demons' fire-runs, for instance, one of them in Son Sardina. And then there was all the fuss over the town hall's apparent indifference to this year's alternative Sant Sebastià fiesta, Sant Kanut. Despite the fact that Kanut is not an official fiesta, the town hall now seems to accept that they got things terribly wrong. Citizens participating in staging their own fiestas has rapidly become an accepted wisdom at the council; Kanut will happen next year and do so over three days. Sounds like a plan.
The sadness is of course that Sant Sebastià should be a major event in the Mallorcan calendar and should be promoted more strongly. The need for promotion on an international level was accepted some years ago at the time when a version of ELO and Echo and the Bunnymen were coming to Palma. Crisis took over, but critics of the town hall say that it is no longer enough to just blame a cut to financing for the fiesta having gone into decline. Meanwhile, one wonders what all the sponsors of Palma 365 make of the situation. In terms of winter promotion of the city, it doesn't get much better than a dazzling fiesta in January. Time to get planning.
The demands placed on such a councillor will vary enormously depending on the size of any given municipality, but even in the smaller towns there is more to it than simply ensuring that the pipers turn up at the appointed time (preferably with their pipes) and that DJ Deejay has remembered his USB sticks that will whisk the partygoers back to the good old days of the 1980s. The fiesta needs organising. It needs planning. The plan may not vary greatly from year to year, but that doesn't mean it can be neglected.
Palma town hall has admitted that it doesn't have a plan for fiestas. It is an extraordinary admission. If there is one municipality on Mallorca you would think would most definitely have a plan - and a pretty detailed one, too - then Palma would be that municipality. Alas, it does not.
The confession that there is no plan has come in the aftermath of what, by general consensus, was the worst Sant Sebastià fiesta since it was given its current-day look at the end of the 1970s. Even the town hall seems to accept that the 2015 edition was a bit of a washout. It wasn't only attributable to the weather; the music events for the "revetla", the grand party for the eve of Sant Sebastià, reached an all-time low.
Perhaps even more extraordinary is that Esperanza Crespí, the councillor for citizen participation, has not only admitted that there is no plan she has also accepted, amidst apologies for this year's fiesta, that a proposal from the PSOE opposition last year for there to be a plan was not followed up. She has said that she didn't know what PSOE was suggesting but would have liked to have done. Maybe she should have asked them for more detail then.
That Esperanza even has responsibility for fiestas might seem a little surprising. She heads an area within the council that combines citizen participation with commerce, work and youth. Fiestas fall somewhere within this lot. Forget what I was saying about fiestas and local culture. Palma has a councillor for culture and sport who doesn't have responsibility for fiestas.
It is possible, therefore, that this is part of the problem. Fiestas, in the grand scheme of things in a city which has as much on its plate as Palma does, are far from being a number-one priority and so may fall down some black hole of organisational structure. Or they may be assigned wrongly; if not the councillor for culture and sports, then maybe the one for tourism and what is called municipal co-ordination should take care of fiestas.
Wearing her participation hat, Esperanza has said that the time may have come for the town hall to sit down with residents, business associations and others and discuss fiestas. Yes, it probably is time and probably should have been happening anyway: principles of participation appear to be developed slowly in Palma.
To make matters worse, the Més grouping at the town hall has been calling for Esperanza's head because other fiesta activities have been prohibited - three demons' fire-runs, for instance, one of them in Son Sardina. And then there was all the fuss over the town hall's apparent indifference to this year's alternative Sant Sebastià fiesta, Sant Kanut. Despite the fact that Kanut is not an official fiesta, the town hall now seems to accept that they got things terribly wrong. Citizens participating in staging their own fiestas has rapidly become an accepted wisdom at the council; Kanut will happen next year and do so over three days. Sounds like a plan.
The sadness is of course that Sant Sebastià should be a major event in the Mallorcan calendar and should be promoted more strongly. The need for promotion on an international level was accepted some years ago at the time when a version of ELO and Echo and the Bunnymen were coming to Palma. Crisis took over, but critics of the town hall say that it is no longer enough to just blame a cut to financing for the fiesta having gone into decline. Meanwhile, one wonders what all the sponsors of Palma 365 make of the situation. In terms of winter promotion of the city, it doesn't get much better than a dazzling fiesta in January. Time to get planning.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - EU looks into town hall aid to Real Mallorca
Following complaints from other member states, the competition directorate of the European Union is looking into grants and other financial aid to football clubs from town halls in Spain. Arrangements involving a total of 38 town halls are being investigated, one being Palma and grants made to Real Mallorca.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Turning Back The Clock: Terrace times
So, Palma town hall is planning to break the midnight terrace curfew. Mayor Isern and his tourism supremo Álvaro Gijón have seen the light, and it needs to stay on past twelve o'clock. "We cannot allow (businesses) to lose the business opportunity caused by the obligation to clear terraces at midnight."
If the town hall goes through with the abandonment of the curfew, it would apply mainly and probably exclusively to tourist area frontlines. It's a move that will doubtless have bar owners in backlines clamouring for a similar dispensation. It could raise charges of discrimination, but it is something.
Apart from bar owners away from the sea fronts, not everyone will be happy, especially if they live above a bar. The midnight curfew has been a compromise, and it has been one of trying to work out a means by which residents (and indeed some tourists) in tourism areas can be accommodated and can get a good night's sleep.
There isn't and never has been a happy medium. Palma, by loosening the regulations, is turning the clock back to a time when residents were disadvantaged. Howls of protest are likely to follow, if it does indeed loosen the regulations. But it would be a loosening very much in line with regional government thinking. As tourism minister Delgado has announced, tourism should no longer be subjugated to urbanism, something that can be interpreted in all sorts of ways.
If Palma goes ahead, there will be calls elsewhere for a relaxation of the midnight rule. Local ordinance governs the operation of terraces in individual municipalities, but changes to local ordinance would run up against a general law, one that defines the parts of a day (and night).
This law, and as far as I am aware it was not re-amended, established during the last administration that "evening" was no longer from eight to twelve but from eight to eleven. It caused a ruckus in Magalluf, Calvià being the only town hall which sought to apply what, for almost everyone, was a totally unknown change to the law. Police went in soon after the law changed, made bars close terraces at eleven, there were protests and everyone promptly forgot about it.
The re-definition of evening was one of a raft of measures brought in by Enviro Man, Miguel Grimalt, daily in the news as he raced across Mallorca in a constant campaign to save the environment in all its facets. The loss of an hour of evening was a confirmation of just how much regulation was being used to make bar owners' lives nigh on impossible.
It was also a confirmation of how little was understood of what many tourists enjoy. In a word, it is fun. It is an impossible compromise, as many other tourists want to be tucked up by midnight, but the possibility to enjoy being up late, sitting outside on a warm summer's night and having a drink was one of the great attractions of "holiday". Along the way, regulators forgot that people came on holiday. A semantic preference for "tourist" has relegated the word association of holidaymaker and fun into virtual non-existence.
Holidays have become sanitised and have lost some of their essence as a consequence. That old romantic Pedro Iriondo, now put out to presidential pasture by the Mallorca Tourist Board, alluded to this when he became president. He reminisced of a time when everyone had happy, smiling faces and there could be night-time barbecues on the beaches, and the police, rather than issuing tickets, would join in. There didn't used to be all the regulation. And if there was, no one took much notice.
Palma's move would not be one of turning the clock back to those more hedonistic days. It would not be one so much with the desires of tourists in mind as with the needs of businesses. And behind the move, one senses the influence of both other regulation and of market change, namely and respectively, the smoking ban and all-inclusives.
A turning back of the clock of a different sort will occur in Calvià, the town hall allowing tiqueteros (PRs) once more. But it is a turning back that comes with a price tag. Calvià's ludicrous tiquetero tax proposal will in all likelihood bring back the worst excesses of tourist harassment. The move is meant to help businesses, but it gives with one hand and takes with another. And unlike longer hours on terraces, it is not a move that most tourists will appreciate, proving that there is indeed no such thing as a happy medium between the wishes of businesses and all tourists.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for February 2012
Alfredo Rubalcaba is PSOE leader - 6 February 2012
British tourism: reservations down - 26 February 2012
Brochure speak - 1 February 2012
Carnival in Mallorca - 12 February 2012
Charles Dickens, the Mallorcan novel and - 8 February 2012
Class in the Balearics - 7 February 2012
Competitiveness in Mallorca - 21 February 2012
Consumer confidence survey - 15 February 2012
Correbou and tradition - 2 February 2012
Cruise operators and Catalonia tourist tax - 28 February 2012
Culture and expatriates - 10 February 2012
Cyclists and drivers - 24 February 2012
Duke of Palma's court appearance - 27 February 2012
Electricity in Mallorca - 20 February 2012
English in Balearics schools - 3 February 2012
Established since ... - 19 February 2012
French doping satire of Spanish sport - 14 February 2012
Judiciary, Spanish - 23 February 2012
Magalluf new hotels and image - 16 February 2012
Mallorca Tourist Board finances - 18 February 2012
Pesetas - 4 February 2012
Protests - 22 February 2012
Ryanair and Spanish air industry - 9 February 2012
Social media and news - 13 February 2012
Terraces opening after midnight - 29 February 2012
Tiqueteros in Calvia - 25 February 2012
Tourism law - 11 February 2012
Winter weather - 5 February 2012, 17 February 2012
If the town hall goes through with the abandonment of the curfew, it would apply mainly and probably exclusively to tourist area frontlines. It's a move that will doubtless have bar owners in backlines clamouring for a similar dispensation. It could raise charges of discrimination, but it is something.
Apart from bar owners away from the sea fronts, not everyone will be happy, especially if they live above a bar. The midnight curfew has been a compromise, and it has been one of trying to work out a means by which residents (and indeed some tourists) in tourism areas can be accommodated and can get a good night's sleep.
There isn't and never has been a happy medium. Palma, by loosening the regulations, is turning the clock back to a time when residents were disadvantaged. Howls of protest are likely to follow, if it does indeed loosen the regulations. But it would be a loosening very much in line with regional government thinking. As tourism minister Delgado has announced, tourism should no longer be subjugated to urbanism, something that can be interpreted in all sorts of ways.
If Palma goes ahead, there will be calls elsewhere for a relaxation of the midnight rule. Local ordinance governs the operation of terraces in individual municipalities, but changes to local ordinance would run up against a general law, one that defines the parts of a day (and night).
This law, and as far as I am aware it was not re-amended, established during the last administration that "evening" was no longer from eight to twelve but from eight to eleven. It caused a ruckus in Magalluf, Calvià being the only town hall which sought to apply what, for almost everyone, was a totally unknown change to the law. Police went in soon after the law changed, made bars close terraces at eleven, there were protests and everyone promptly forgot about it.
The re-definition of evening was one of a raft of measures brought in by Enviro Man, Miguel Grimalt, daily in the news as he raced across Mallorca in a constant campaign to save the environment in all its facets. The loss of an hour of evening was a confirmation of just how much regulation was being used to make bar owners' lives nigh on impossible.
It was also a confirmation of how little was understood of what many tourists enjoy. In a word, it is fun. It is an impossible compromise, as many other tourists want to be tucked up by midnight, but the possibility to enjoy being up late, sitting outside on a warm summer's night and having a drink was one of the great attractions of "holiday". Along the way, regulators forgot that people came on holiday. A semantic preference for "tourist" has relegated the word association of holidaymaker and fun into virtual non-existence.
Holidays have become sanitised and have lost some of their essence as a consequence. That old romantic Pedro Iriondo, now put out to presidential pasture by the Mallorca Tourist Board, alluded to this when he became president. He reminisced of a time when everyone had happy, smiling faces and there could be night-time barbecues on the beaches, and the police, rather than issuing tickets, would join in. There didn't used to be all the regulation. And if there was, no one took much notice.
Palma's move would not be one of turning the clock back to those more hedonistic days. It would not be one so much with the desires of tourists in mind as with the needs of businesses. And behind the move, one senses the influence of both other regulation and of market change, namely and respectively, the smoking ban and all-inclusives.
A turning back of the clock of a different sort will occur in Calvià, the town hall allowing tiqueteros (PRs) once more. But it is a turning back that comes with a price tag. Calvià's ludicrous tiquetero tax proposal will in all likelihood bring back the worst excesses of tourist harassment. The move is meant to help businesses, but it gives with one hand and takes with another. And unlike longer hours on terraces, it is not a move that most tourists will appreciate, proving that there is indeed no such thing as a happy medium between the wishes of businesses and all tourists.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for February 2012
Alfredo Rubalcaba is PSOE leader - 6 February 2012
British tourism: reservations down - 26 February 2012
Brochure speak - 1 February 2012
Carnival in Mallorca - 12 February 2012
Charles Dickens, the Mallorcan novel and - 8 February 2012
Class in the Balearics - 7 February 2012
Competitiveness in Mallorca - 21 February 2012
Consumer confidence survey - 15 February 2012
Correbou and tradition - 2 February 2012
Cruise operators and Catalonia tourist tax - 28 February 2012
Culture and expatriates - 10 February 2012
Cyclists and drivers - 24 February 2012
Duke of Palma's court appearance - 27 February 2012
Electricity in Mallorca - 20 February 2012
English in Balearics schools - 3 February 2012
Established since ... - 19 February 2012
French doping satire of Spanish sport - 14 February 2012
Judiciary, Spanish - 23 February 2012
Magalluf new hotels and image - 16 February 2012
Mallorca Tourist Board finances - 18 February 2012
Pesetas - 4 February 2012
Protests - 22 February 2012
Ryanair and Spanish air industry - 9 February 2012
Social media and news - 13 February 2012
Terraces opening after midnight - 29 February 2012
Tiqueteros in Calvia - 25 February 2012
Tourism law - 11 February 2012
Winter weather - 5 February 2012, 17 February 2012
Friday, November 18, 2011
Taking The Pi: Mallorca’s capital
You really would think there were more important things to worry about, like making sure the bus drivers get paid or having enough spare cash lying around to meet repayments to banks. But no, Palma town hall has found something infinitely more pressing with which to concern itself. It wants the city to be officially called Palma de Mallorca (and, by the way, this would be Mallorca and not Madge-orca).
The town hall says that the name was shortened by the last government which didn't follow the right procedures in doing so. It also believes that the previous town hall admin should have engaged in a spot of denouncing as a result. It hopes to be able to negotiate and thus avoid taking the whole matter to a tribunal.
The naming of Palma is by no means an isolated case. And it is certainly not unknown for high legal authorities to have to adjudicate. The Balearics Supreme Court, no less, once came down on the side of Porto Cristo as opposed to Portocristo and other contenders for the name of the resort. And over in Menorca there is another carry-on.
The lady mayor of the capital there wants it known officially by its Castilian name of Mahón but also wants to reactivate a Catalan spelling of Mahó, rather than the current Maó. Why? No idea. She might just end looking a bit foolish and with egg mayonnaise all over her face. Perhaps she should go further and insist on Mahón or Mahó de Menorca. There are currently no noises emanating from Ibiza that Ibiza Town will become Ibiza de Ibiza or, just to confuse the tourists, Eivissa de Eivissa.
But to come back to Palma. Why is the town hall in such a flap over whether there is officially a "de Mallorca" or not, especially as there is disagreement among the scholarly fraternity and those of a more pedantic bent as to whether it ever officially had been "de Mallorca" in the past?
It wouldn't be an argument over a city's name or indeed anything in Mallorca if there wasn't some political colour to it. The "de Mallorca" bit, or so it is said, is all a tad "foreign", as in Palma de Mallorca is how the city is known abroad. We'll have to take the word of those who say it is, but I'm not sure that in Britain, for instance, it is. However, it is fair to say that, in addition to the local post office, "de Mallorca" is used by the likes of airlines in their drop-down menus for airport departures and arrivals. It's designed to eliminate confusion.
More than this, though, the argument appears to be based on little more than a desire among the left (anti-"de Mallorca") and the right (pro-"de Mallorca") to have a bit of a barney. And because the last government, and Palma town hall administration, was of the left and because the last government didn't follow the correct procedures, the current administration, of the right, wants to do something about it.
One line of argument against the adoption, or is it re-adoption, of "de Mallorca" that might just have some credibility is that, by doing so, everywhere else on the island is made out to be merely satellites of the sun that is the capital city. It's a reasonable point, but only up to a point. There is unquestionably a Palma-centricity and a Palma civic arrogance, but this is pretty normal for a capital, and in Mallorca everything does revolve around the sun that is Palma, whether people in other towns like it or not.
Though the anti-"de Mallorca" camp seems to equate the town hall's wishes with some form of imperialism through nomenclature, Palma de Mallorca does have a fair bit going for it; a greater gravitas that Palma on its own doesn't. When all said and done, it is a capital city named after a tree.
But as tree it is, then Palma faces a potential crisis. The palm-consuming beetle that is on the rampage could leave Palma minus any palms. Where would it be then? Not so arrogant, I would suggest.
The town hall should be thinking longer-term. When the last palm in Palma succumbs to the beetle and has its head chopped off and is left as a grotesque and impotent phallic symbol, a completely new name will be needed. And there would be one prime alternative. The pine. The city already has Portopí, so why not go the whole arboreal hog now. The new capital of Mallorca. Pi.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The town hall says that the name was shortened by the last government which didn't follow the right procedures in doing so. It also believes that the previous town hall admin should have engaged in a spot of denouncing as a result. It hopes to be able to negotiate and thus avoid taking the whole matter to a tribunal.
The naming of Palma is by no means an isolated case. And it is certainly not unknown for high legal authorities to have to adjudicate. The Balearics Supreme Court, no less, once came down on the side of Porto Cristo as opposed to Portocristo and other contenders for the name of the resort. And over in Menorca there is another carry-on.
The lady mayor of the capital there wants it known officially by its Castilian name of Mahón but also wants to reactivate a Catalan spelling of Mahó, rather than the current Maó. Why? No idea. She might just end looking a bit foolish and with egg mayonnaise all over her face. Perhaps she should go further and insist on Mahón or Mahó de Menorca. There are currently no noises emanating from Ibiza that Ibiza Town will become Ibiza de Ibiza or, just to confuse the tourists, Eivissa de Eivissa.
But to come back to Palma. Why is the town hall in such a flap over whether there is officially a "de Mallorca" or not, especially as there is disagreement among the scholarly fraternity and those of a more pedantic bent as to whether it ever officially had been "de Mallorca" in the past?
It wouldn't be an argument over a city's name or indeed anything in Mallorca if there wasn't some political colour to it. The "de Mallorca" bit, or so it is said, is all a tad "foreign", as in Palma de Mallorca is how the city is known abroad. We'll have to take the word of those who say it is, but I'm not sure that in Britain, for instance, it is. However, it is fair to say that, in addition to the local post office, "de Mallorca" is used by the likes of airlines in their drop-down menus for airport departures and arrivals. It's designed to eliminate confusion.
More than this, though, the argument appears to be based on little more than a desire among the left (anti-"de Mallorca") and the right (pro-"de Mallorca") to have a bit of a barney. And because the last government, and Palma town hall administration, was of the left and because the last government didn't follow the correct procedures, the current administration, of the right, wants to do something about it.
One line of argument against the adoption, or is it re-adoption, of "de Mallorca" that might just have some credibility is that, by doing so, everywhere else on the island is made out to be merely satellites of the sun that is the capital city. It's a reasonable point, but only up to a point. There is unquestionably a Palma-centricity and a Palma civic arrogance, but this is pretty normal for a capital, and in Mallorca everything does revolve around the sun that is Palma, whether people in other towns like it or not.
Though the anti-"de Mallorca" camp seems to equate the town hall's wishes with some form of imperialism through nomenclature, Palma de Mallorca does have a fair bit going for it; a greater gravitas that Palma on its own doesn't. When all said and done, it is a capital city named after a tree.
But as tree it is, then Palma faces a potential crisis. The palm-consuming beetle that is on the rampage could leave Palma minus any palms. Where would it be then? Not so arrogant, I would suggest.
The town hall should be thinking longer-term. When the last palm in Palma succumbs to the beetle and has its head chopped off and is left as a grotesque and impotent phallic symbol, a completely new name will be needed. And there would be one prime alternative. The pine. The city already has Portopí, so why not go the whole arboreal hog now. The new capital of Mallorca. Pi.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Kicking Off: Cuts, Catalan and Conflict
I know, I know. I should write about turquoise seas, dramatic mountain landscapes, quaint old Mallorcans acting traditionally. I should use the "beautiful" word. I should consult only my tourism brochure thesaurus, litter my every sentence with superlatives. I know, I know.
"What me? Write about politics?" "Yea, as if you don't". Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who's interested. But then I know I am not, as I correspond with those who make it clear that I am not alone. "It's all going to kick off." "No, it won't kick off." I wish I could share such optimism. It was a pessimistic view that had made me suggest it would kick off. It had been half-joking, but only where one of the rescue agencies was concerned. "The Royal Navy and Ryanair repatriating us all." Pull the short straw and there would be O'Leary kicking you back down the steps if you dared to bring on excess baggage, your dearest possessions stashed inside a hurriedly-packed old suitcase.
Will it kick off? When will it kick off? What will be the starting-point for it to kick off? Or perhaps it already has in an as yet quiet way.
You can't blame Bauzá and his government for some of it. These government public companies, for example; what on earth were they all doing? Four or five of them with IT included in their titles. Was it possible that they were duplicating information technology effort? Very likely. The Balearics Tourism Agency is to be combined with the Foundation for Sustainable Development after all. What will become of the foundation's Jorge Campos? He'll probably be kept on. He and Bauzá are chums.
Ninety-two of these companies are to go, along with 800 jobs. Shame for the workers, but what was the point of them? The point seemed to be that it cost over 100 million euros a year to employ them.
The unions are making noises, but then unions always make noises. They are threatening "permanent conflict" if the government doesn't back down on its promise to get rid of the full-time union worker representatives in public administration. It won't back down. Permanent conflict. Will it come? Has it arrived? Has the kicking-off started?
The university hasn't got money to pay salaries. Its financial situation, poor anyway, has got worse. It's short of 20 million of government cash. Its budget had already been cut by 12%. How much more can it lose? Students, always students, gave Bauzá a hard time when he put in an appearance, not just about money but also about the attacks on the use of Catalan. The Obra Cultural Balear is going to take the attacks on Catalan to Europe. Cuts and the language thing. They are a powerful cocktail.
The cuts have only just begun though. There need to be more. Without them, the pharmacists, still owed millions, the constructors, still owed millions, will strike or close or do whatever it takes to get their money from a government with no money.
Because there isn't any money. Well, there's some. Some lurking somewhere. In the nick of time, Palma town hall has found some to put into the coffers of the city's transport service operator, so that wages can be paid. There had been a delay in payment. The workers protested at the town hall, as they have every right to. But what's to become of Palma town hall? It needs to find 42.6 million euros to pay banks by the end of December. If it doesn't, what then? It'll scrape by somehow, only to fight a losing battle later. And remember that thing about the Palacio de Congresos being a bottomless pit. When, if, it is finished next year and is meant to be under Palma's administration, there won't be any money in the bottom of the pit to maintain it.
Things are falling apart. The centre cannot hold. The centre holds only in that central office of the Partido Popular is instructing the Balearic Government. Former President Antich, remember him, and none of this is of course any of his doing, has described Bauzá as being on the radical right, and it's not a compliment. He has also said that the regional government is a subsidiary of central office. What's that? I think I've been saying this. For some time. Give me back my line, Antich.
Is that when it really kicks off? After the national elections? Or what about at the start of November? All those unemployment queues at the end of the season. All those people snaking along the street, demanding their winter payment from the government. From a government with no money. They should get a job. Where? All the hotels are closed. The airlines have stopped running. Does it all really kick off before Christmas? And what of Christmas? Will it be cancelled?
I know, I know. I should write about turquoise seas, dramatic mountain landscapes. Lose myself and lose you in a land where the sun always shines. It was nice while it lasted.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for September 2011
Alcúdia tourist day - 9 September 2011
August's tourists - 2 September 2011
Balearic Government, questions about spending by previous - 20 September 2011
Bellevue to be split in two - 4 September 2011
Bullfight in Barcelona, last - 23 September 2011
Burka ban in Sa Pobla - 3 September 2011
Celebrities - 19 September 2011
Constitution and budgetary stability - 13 September 2011
Cuts, public sector - 30 September 2011
Drinking and youth tourism - 16 September 2011
Drowning, weever fish and the sea - 14 September 2011
Fractional ownership and condohotels - 27 September 2011
GOB - 1 September 2011
Hundred days, Bauzá's first - 26 September 2011
Insult of President Bauzá by "L'Estel" magazine - 18 September 2011
Jorge Campos and Foundation for Sustainable Development - 25 September 2011
Madness at Mallorca Rocks - 11 September 2011
Melon fiesta, Vilafranca - 6 September 2011
Oktoberfests, Mallorca - 29 September 2011
Playa de Muro empty units - 21 September 2011
Playa de Palma survey - 28 September 2011
Political make believe in Mallorca and Spain - 24 September 2011
Return to school - 10 September 2011
Rugby World Cup - 7 September 2011
Smells of summer - 5 September 2011
Sports teams and tourism promotion - 22 September 2011
Tourism degree, Universitat de les Illes Balears - 8 September 2011
Tourism: necessity for change - 17 September 2011
Winter tourism - 12 September 2011
Worker representatives, elimination of - 15 September 2011
"What me? Write about politics?" "Yea, as if you don't". Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who's interested. But then I know I am not, as I correspond with those who make it clear that I am not alone. "It's all going to kick off." "No, it won't kick off." I wish I could share such optimism. It was a pessimistic view that had made me suggest it would kick off. It had been half-joking, but only where one of the rescue agencies was concerned. "The Royal Navy and Ryanair repatriating us all." Pull the short straw and there would be O'Leary kicking you back down the steps if you dared to bring on excess baggage, your dearest possessions stashed inside a hurriedly-packed old suitcase.
Will it kick off? When will it kick off? What will be the starting-point for it to kick off? Or perhaps it already has in an as yet quiet way.
You can't blame Bauzá and his government for some of it. These government public companies, for example; what on earth were they all doing? Four or five of them with IT included in their titles. Was it possible that they were duplicating information technology effort? Very likely. The Balearics Tourism Agency is to be combined with the Foundation for Sustainable Development after all. What will become of the foundation's Jorge Campos? He'll probably be kept on. He and Bauzá are chums.
Ninety-two of these companies are to go, along with 800 jobs. Shame for the workers, but what was the point of them? The point seemed to be that it cost over 100 million euros a year to employ them.
The unions are making noises, but then unions always make noises. They are threatening "permanent conflict" if the government doesn't back down on its promise to get rid of the full-time union worker representatives in public administration. It won't back down. Permanent conflict. Will it come? Has it arrived? Has the kicking-off started?
The university hasn't got money to pay salaries. Its financial situation, poor anyway, has got worse. It's short of 20 million of government cash. Its budget had already been cut by 12%. How much more can it lose? Students, always students, gave Bauzá a hard time when he put in an appearance, not just about money but also about the attacks on the use of Catalan. The Obra Cultural Balear is going to take the attacks on Catalan to Europe. Cuts and the language thing. They are a powerful cocktail.
The cuts have only just begun though. There need to be more. Without them, the pharmacists, still owed millions, the constructors, still owed millions, will strike or close or do whatever it takes to get their money from a government with no money.
Because there isn't any money. Well, there's some. Some lurking somewhere. In the nick of time, Palma town hall has found some to put into the coffers of the city's transport service operator, so that wages can be paid. There had been a delay in payment. The workers protested at the town hall, as they have every right to. But what's to become of Palma town hall? It needs to find 42.6 million euros to pay banks by the end of December. If it doesn't, what then? It'll scrape by somehow, only to fight a losing battle later. And remember that thing about the Palacio de Congresos being a bottomless pit. When, if, it is finished next year and is meant to be under Palma's administration, there won't be any money in the bottom of the pit to maintain it.
Things are falling apart. The centre cannot hold. The centre holds only in that central office of the Partido Popular is instructing the Balearic Government. Former President Antich, remember him, and none of this is of course any of his doing, has described Bauzá as being on the radical right, and it's not a compliment. He has also said that the regional government is a subsidiary of central office. What's that? I think I've been saying this. For some time. Give me back my line, Antich.
Is that when it really kicks off? After the national elections? Or what about at the start of November? All those unemployment queues at the end of the season. All those people snaking along the street, demanding their winter payment from the government. From a government with no money. They should get a job. Where? All the hotels are closed. The airlines have stopped running. Does it all really kick off before Christmas? And what of Christmas? Will it be cancelled?
I know, I know. I should write about turquoise seas, dramatic mountain landscapes. Lose myself and lose you in a land where the sun always shines. It was nice while it lasted.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for September 2011
Alcúdia tourist day - 9 September 2011
August's tourists - 2 September 2011
Balearic Government, questions about spending by previous - 20 September 2011
Bellevue to be split in two - 4 September 2011
Bullfight in Barcelona, last - 23 September 2011
Burka ban in Sa Pobla - 3 September 2011
Celebrities - 19 September 2011
Constitution and budgetary stability - 13 September 2011
Cuts, public sector - 30 September 2011
Drinking and youth tourism - 16 September 2011
Drowning, weever fish and the sea - 14 September 2011
Fractional ownership and condohotels - 27 September 2011
GOB - 1 September 2011
Hundred days, Bauzá's first - 26 September 2011
Insult of President Bauzá by "L'Estel" magazine - 18 September 2011
Jorge Campos and Foundation for Sustainable Development - 25 September 2011
Madness at Mallorca Rocks - 11 September 2011
Melon fiesta, Vilafranca - 6 September 2011
Oktoberfests, Mallorca - 29 September 2011
Playa de Muro empty units - 21 September 2011
Playa de Palma survey - 28 September 2011
Political make believe in Mallorca and Spain - 24 September 2011
Return to school - 10 September 2011
Rugby World Cup - 7 September 2011
Smells of summer - 5 September 2011
Sports teams and tourism promotion - 22 September 2011
Tourism degree, Universitat de les Illes Balears - 8 September 2011
Tourism: necessity for change - 17 September 2011
Winter tourism - 12 September 2011
Worker representatives, elimination of - 15 September 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Traffic fines for tourists
Palma town hall is planning to contract a company which will help it claim fines against drivers or owners of cars who live outside Spain. The town hall believes that the amount that it does not receive in fines from tourists and other visitors amounts annually to 150,000 euros at least. Tráfico is looking at what Palma is doing with a view to establishing a general system that would operate in other countries and which could benefit other town halls which similarly do not receive fines for parking offences.
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