When the previous government issued its tourism law in the middle of 2012, it was kind enough to do so in different languages. To Castellano and Catalan were added English, German and even Russian: those were the days, before Ukraine, a plummeting ruble and Russian tour operator bankruptcies.
The thinking behind this multi-lingual presentation of law was not one of altruistic education and information for the masses. It had to do with the government's desire to facilitate inward investment. The law, commonly referred to as Delgado's Law after the minister of the time, was just as commonly looked upon as an investor's charter. Despite faults with the law, a disparaging criticism of the avarice of commercial interests was largely misplaced. Delgado's version of tourism revitalisation was property-driven. It didn't meet with everyone's approval, but in general it has to be said that it was a worthy piece of legislation. Mallorca has been undergoing revitalisation, even if it has only been for the benefit of the hoteliers.
The current government has yet to issue its tourism law. It hasn't even drafted it yet. But we have some idea of the type of content insofar as advance publicity has been given to issues such as regulations for private accommodation and all-inclusive hotels. The chances are that it won't be multi-lingual. This is a government in property reverse.
But before we even get to Tourism Law 2016 - if indeed they can rouse themselves sufficiently to enact it next year and are able to reduce the legislative delays caused by the need for dialogue, consensus and general arseing around - we have pre-Tourism Law 2016. This is the law with the pompous title of the Sustainable Tourism Tax, a euphemistic name for tourist tax (or eco-tax, which, supposedly, we are definitely not allowed to use) and one applied in order to foster an impression of its general and common good.
You, or rather the government, can cover a multitude of lack of sins by coining the sustainable moniker. It is a word so widely used that it has lost any meaning it might once have had. Not that anyone has ever known what it means anyway - and still don't - but it sounds good and so therefore it is for the general and common good. The "selling" of a tax is achieved through the vagueness of an adjective.
Although this is a pre-Tourism Law, it has the feel of being the actual law. The government is at pains to describe the tax as "finalista", by which it means that it has specific aims: it is "purpose-oriented", even if we remain in the dark as to which purpose or purposes. It is, therefore, not a general tax, to which most us respond with a Christmasy "ho, ho, ho".
Finalista it may be, and it has the sense of being final. The finality of the tax is supposedly open to public consultation and yet more dialogue and consensus, blah, blah, but its final destination steadfastly ignores consensus with the villains of Delgado's Law, the chief generators of Balearic wealth - the hoteliers.
The discovery that, according to a survey, 80% of the populace agrees with the assertion of Alberto Jarabo of Podemos that hoteliers act against the best interests of the Balearics can only help in bolstering the government's inclination to go against its avowed principles of dialogue and consensus and so grant the hoteliers a diminished or non-existent role in the law's finality. But it is misguided in doing so.
Yes, Delgado's Law went too far in one direction, but the Sustainable Tourism Tax Law and what will be the actual Tourism Law are moving in the opposite way. The tax law feels like the actual law because it is so "finalist" in its hostility towards hotel interests. As someone who is not against the principle of a tourist tax, I find myself increasingly angered by the government's stance and stubbornness. What should be being sought is an approach to tourism, be it with a tax or without, that is genuinely predicated on consensus and not wished for by the banal repetition of government ministers.
Collective social responsibility through a coming-together of government agencies, interest groups and the tourism business sectors should be the objective. It should entail a grand strategy to set out a tourism future that takes account of the aims of various sectors in truly being in the general and common good.
Inma de Benito of the hoteliers' federation has asked Xelo Huertas, the Podemos president of parliament, that the federation be part of the parliamentary process for deciding the tax law. This would only be by committee, but the invitation should be extended. Whether it will be, given Jarabo's antagonism in particular, is doubtful. It would also be foolish. The island's tourism industry cannot be determined by the divisiveness of tax finality.
Showing posts with label Parliament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parliament. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Friday, August 02, 2013
The Stench Of Unaccountability
What should have been expected? That Mariano Rajoy would appear in sackcloth, prostrate himself in front of the Spanish parliament, admit to all the sins of which he had been accused and beg for mercy? Or, in less tragic manner, would have treated the whole affair with lighthearted comedy? " 'El Mundo' got me bang to rights. It's a fair cop but Spanish society is to blame."
Spanish society, a fair proportion of it, had already cleared off to the beaches. Choosing the first of August may not have been accidental. Or perhaps it was just a further example of Rajoy tardiness. He doesn't do things in a hurry. Like going before parliament and clearing up any slight confusion there might be regarding his having allegedly trousered whole loads of black money over a number of years.
Rajoy, normally to be found as far away as it is physically possible for a democratically elected leader to be from any form of interrogation or questioning, had been reticent in having to deal with the inconvenience of addressing some bloody annoying opposition politicians who were going to stage a vote of censure if he didn't come and have a word. Unsurprisingly, once he had finally been persuaded not to carry on hiding in the cupboard, which is what he normally does, he came out in full fighting mode. Clearly, the delay in his making an appearance was so that he could work on his performance. "More aggression, Mariano. Blame the press. Blame Rubalcaba for damaging the reputation of Spain. What was that, Mariano? Yes, there is still a reputation that can be damaged. Just about. If you must, give the baying hordes a little bit. Say you're sorry for having trusted a criminal. That'll be enough."
Uncle Alfredo, along with the other baying hordes, would have known full well that Mariano wasn't going to make a resignation speech and call for an election. And there will be plenty who will argue that there was no basis for him to have to resign. It isn't as if he has been found guilty of anything. Which is true, but then what is the truth?
What we have to ask ourselves, and we are none the wiser after Rajoy's ranting, is whether "El Mundo" and "El País" were taken in by the Bárcenas papers, whether Bárcenas has engaged in some elaborate fabrication and whether, in the case in particular of "El Mundo", the paper had sought to manipulate and distort Bárcenas's documents in an attempt to bring Rajoy down and so create political instability.
Some parts of Spanish society which have been paying any attention and not preferring to lower their ears and eyes under warm seas in the Mediterranean will believe that Bárcenas has indeed made the whole thing up and has attempted to hang an innocent man. Other parts, and they are in a majority, won't know what to think or what to believe other than that the accusations implicit in the Bárcenas papers are symptomatic of the rotten core of Spanish politics.
Rajoy's admission that he made a mistake in trusting Bárcenas was akin to the willingness to make a concession in a negotiation. But Rubalcaba was right to press him on the text messages which showed him offering support to Bárcenas until earlier this year. He was only implicated at the time, argued Rajoy, not condemned. Even if they were just messages born of friendship, they raise questions as to Rajoy's judgement. And, admission or concession, they do not remove the doubts that will linger.
Rajoy's previous evasion was not just typical of him as a person, it was typical of a political system that cannot bear scrutiny. His feistiness in parliament was as much a show of personal slight having been taken as it was of indignation that he should even have to answer questions. He should, or so you would have thought in a supposedly democratic society, have made statements far earlier. But he didn't. And now, despite his admission of a mistake, he has failed to convince. A combination of his own uncommunicativeness, his tardiness and a political system that puts far too low a premium on accountability and ethics draws many to conclusions at variance with what, finally, he told parliament.
More could of course emerge. Bárcenas has only one thing in mind. Revenge. He has been hung out to dry and he doesn't care who he takes down with him. But even were more to emerge, who would know what to believe other than that the whole affair stinks of the stench of an unaccountable political system.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Spanish society, a fair proportion of it, had already cleared off to the beaches. Choosing the first of August may not have been accidental. Or perhaps it was just a further example of Rajoy tardiness. He doesn't do things in a hurry. Like going before parliament and clearing up any slight confusion there might be regarding his having allegedly trousered whole loads of black money over a number of years.
Rajoy, normally to be found as far away as it is physically possible for a democratically elected leader to be from any form of interrogation or questioning, had been reticent in having to deal with the inconvenience of addressing some bloody annoying opposition politicians who were going to stage a vote of censure if he didn't come and have a word. Unsurprisingly, once he had finally been persuaded not to carry on hiding in the cupboard, which is what he normally does, he came out in full fighting mode. Clearly, the delay in his making an appearance was so that he could work on his performance. "More aggression, Mariano. Blame the press. Blame Rubalcaba for damaging the reputation of Spain. What was that, Mariano? Yes, there is still a reputation that can be damaged. Just about. If you must, give the baying hordes a little bit. Say you're sorry for having trusted a criminal. That'll be enough."
Uncle Alfredo, along with the other baying hordes, would have known full well that Mariano wasn't going to make a resignation speech and call for an election. And there will be plenty who will argue that there was no basis for him to have to resign. It isn't as if he has been found guilty of anything. Which is true, but then what is the truth?
What we have to ask ourselves, and we are none the wiser after Rajoy's ranting, is whether "El Mundo" and "El País" were taken in by the Bárcenas papers, whether Bárcenas has engaged in some elaborate fabrication and whether, in the case in particular of "El Mundo", the paper had sought to manipulate and distort Bárcenas's documents in an attempt to bring Rajoy down and so create political instability.
Some parts of Spanish society which have been paying any attention and not preferring to lower their ears and eyes under warm seas in the Mediterranean will believe that Bárcenas has indeed made the whole thing up and has attempted to hang an innocent man. Other parts, and they are in a majority, won't know what to think or what to believe other than that the accusations implicit in the Bárcenas papers are symptomatic of the rotten core of Spanish politics.
Rajoy's admission that he made a mistake in trusting Bárcenas was akin to the willingness to make a concession in a negotiation. But Rubalcaba was right to press him on the text messages which showed him offering support to Bárcenas until earlier this year. He was only implicated at the time, argued Rajoy, not condemned. Even if they were just messages born of friendship, they raise questions as to Rajoy's judgement. And, admission or concession, they do not remove the doubts that will linger.
Rajoy's previous evasion was not just typical of him as a person, it was typical of a political system that cannot bear scrutiny. His feistiness in parliament was as much a show of personal slight having been taken as it was of indignation that he should even have to answer questions. He should, or so you would have thought in a supposedly democratic society, have made statements far earlier. But he didn't. And now, despite his admission of a mistake, he has failed to convince. A combination of his own uncommunicativeness, his tardiness and a political system that puts far too low a premium on accountability and ethics draws many to conclusions at variance with what, finally, he told parliament.
More could of course emerge. Bárcenas has only one thing in mind. Revenge. He has been hung out to dry and he doesn't care who he takes down with him. But even were more to emerge, who would know what to believe other than that the whole affair stinks of the stench of an unaccountable political system.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Tourism law passed; Catalan law an insult
The Balearics parliament has approved the new tourism law today, while the debate regarding the modified public service law has been enlivened by the PSM Mallorcan socialists suggesting that it represents an expression of "que se jodan" towards Catalan speakers. This is a reference to the swearing by Partido Popular deputy Andrea Fabra in the national congress when she used the expression during the announcement of cuts by Prime Minister Rajoy. Fabra has now been censured by her party for inappropriate language. She said that she directed the expression towards the opposition, but some have claimed that it was directed at the unemployed. The expression means "fuck you" or "fuck that".
Sunday, July 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics tourism and public sector laws to be approved Tuesday
A significant day beckons this week in the Balearic parliament. Two bills, both contentious in different ways, are set to be approved on Tuesday. One is the new tourism law, the other the modified law for the public sector, key to which is the dropping of Catalan as a requisite for working on behalf of the regional government and therefore in various jobs, such as those in the health service.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Thursday, March 17, 2011
This Fascist Groove Thing: Political insults
The parliamentarians of the Balearics will be breaking up soon. Their spring holidays will be a time for preparing for government - the next one - or for looking around for gainful employment if and when the elections on 22 May add them to the statistics of the unemployed. A dozen deputies will be given a little bonus, six grand's worth of payment to tide them over between parliament's dissolution on 28 March and the results of the elections being announced. Not exactly huge parachute payments, but nice work if you can get it.
One among the parliamentary ranks, finance minister Carles Manera, has been making plans. He will, assuming he is no longer in charge of the islands' coffers come the end of May, be dividing his time between the universities of Palma, Barcelona and the LSE. He may not be Milton Friedman, but future economists of Britain will be able to say that they were once taught by the chap at the helm when the Balearics' economy went into meltdown.
At the penultimate session of parliament, Manera has been doing his best to play down charges regarding irregularities with the islands' public companies, by which are meant organisations that are in effect government agencies. Hey ho, always an irregularity or several to keep local politicians occupied.
Manera will be just one of the jolly figures who has kept us entertained over the past four years to duck out of local politics. Some have already said that they are calling it a day, opportunely perhaps. Catalina Julve, she of the waste-collection scandal, is to quit politics. Presumably, she won't be emptying the bins anywhere near you soon.
Miguel Grimalt, our old friend "Enviro Man", is to be recycled into business somewhere. How much we once enjoyed him. We saw him here, we saw him there, we saw Enviro Man everywhere; one day planting a tree, the next reclaiming a dune, always immaculately turned out, even when he put on some wellies to go and dig to save the planet.
The dying days of the current parliament are a time for politicians to make hay while the sun sets. If not the finance minister and his attempts at regularising the allegedly irregular, then any number of the honourable gentlemen and ladies having their acerbic centimo's worth. Peculiarly, you might be interested to know, there is an insistence that decorum prevails and deputies are afforded the respect of being referred to as "honourable", just as in Westminster. Rarely has an adjective become so abused.
And abuse has been flying in the parliamentary chamber, as warring politicos engage in last-minute recriminations and pitch for the electorate's affections. Parliamentary speeches, Balearics-style, are with the aid of microphones, making the deputies like karaoke politicians, reading from a monitor of insults. Ravens, crows or vultures, the word "cuervos" can mean them all, and is but one affront to be traded as predatory Partido Popular politicos circle to pick over the carrion of the decaying body of the Antich administration.
Another insult is "fascist", an expression of contempt loaded with historical resonance, and one coming from the Partido Popular's Antoni Pastor in the direction of the Antich socialists. Why fascist? It doesn't much matter why, and it doesn't really hold much weight when the one using the insult is seated next to his party leader (José Bauzá) who, one suspects, he dislikes more than he does the opposition.
"Fascist" may count more as an insult in a country that was once so, but it is still an easy term to toss around, rather as it used to be in my days of student politics when everyone was a fascist. Unless you know someone to be the genuine article, and it was my misfortune to have known one (a key strategist with the BNP, though it wasn't realised that he was at the time), then it's an insult best left on the grooves in the political karaoke database.
But maybe this fascist thing is appropriate. As spring beckons, and some politicians (the Partido Popular's probably) will look forward to the darling buds of a return to power in May, we might remember Mel Brooks' song from "The Producers". "Springtime For Hitler" ... (substitute as and if you feel appropriate).
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
One among the parliamentary ranks, finance minister Carles Manera, has been making plans. He will, assuming he is no longer in charge of the islands' coffers come the end of May, be dividing his time between the universities of Palma, Barcelona and the LSE. He may not be Milton Friedman, but future economists of Britain will be able to say that they were once taught by the chap at the helm when the Balearics' economy went into meltdown.
At the penultimate session of parliament, Manera has been doing his best to play down charges regarding irregularities with the islands' public companies, by which are meant organisations that are in effect government agencies. Hey ho, always an irregularity or several to keep local politicians occupied.
Manera will be just one of the jolly figures who has kept us entertained over the past four years to duck out of local politics. Some have already said that they are calling it a day, opportunely perhaps. Catalina Julve, she of the waste-collection scandal, is to quit politics. Presumably, she won't be emptying the bins anywhere near you soon.
Miguel Grimalt, our old friend "Enviro Man", is to be recycled into business somewhere. How much we once enjoyed him. We saw him here, we saw him there, we saw Enviro Man everywhere; one day planting a tree, the next reclaiming a dune, always immaculately turned out, even when he put on some wellies to go and dig to save the planet.
The dying days of the current parliament are a time for politicians to make hay while the sun sets. If not the finance minister and his attempts at regularising the allegedly irregular, then any number of the honourable gentlemen and ladies having their acerbic centimo's worth. Peculiarly, you might be interested to know, there is an insistence that decorum prevails and deputies are afforded the respect of being referred to as "honourable", just as in Westminster. Rarely has an adjective become so abused.
And abuse has been flying in the parliamentary chamber, as warring politicos engage in last-minute recriminations and pitch for the electorate's affections. Parliamentary speeches, Balearics-style, are with the aid of microphones, making the deputies like karaoke politicians, reading from a monitor of insults. Ravens, crows or vultures, the word "cuervos" can mean them all, and is but one affront to be traded as predatory Partido Popular politicos circle to pick over the carrion of the decaying body of the Antich administration.
Another insult is "fascist", an expression of contempt loaded with historical resonance, and one coming from the Partido Popular's Antoni Pastor in the direction of the Antich socialists. Why fascist? It doesn't much matter why, and it doesn't really hold much weight when the one using the insult is seated next to his party leader (José Bauzá) who, one suspects, he dislikes more than he does the opposition.
"Fascist" may count more as an insult in a country that was once so, but it is still an easy term to toss around, rather as it used to be in my days of student politics when everyone was a fascist. Unless you know someone to be the genuine article, and it was my misfortune to have known one (a key strategist with the BNP, though it wasn't realised that he was at the time), then it's an insult best left on the grooves in the political karaoke database.
But maybe this fascist thing is appropriate. As spring beckons, and some politicians (the Partido Popular's probably) will look forward to the darling buds of a return to power in May, we might remember Mel Brooks' song from "The Producers". "Springtime For Hitler" ... (substitute as and if you feel appropriate).
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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