Even by Mallorca's bizarre standards, last week was a decidedly odd one for the island's political classes. One party changes its name, one politico slams judges and prosecutors for getting above their station, and another defends the previously indefensible.
The Unió Mallorquina is dead. Long live the Convergència per les Illes Balears. How are we now supposed to anglicise the party? No more is it "unionist". Is it convergenist, whatever this might mean? The new party has swiftly adopted an abbreviation - CxI - which is even more obscure, except for an "x" marking the spot of where the old UM body is buried.
Ex-UM mayors and councillors have been similarly swift in discarding their past, rushing to converge on the Convergència, every good man and not so good man coming to the aid of the new party. As if anyone will buy it. They're dead men walking towards the cliff's edge of falling into oblivion, and the new party as a whole might yet tumble with them if a judge's demand for a 1.6 million euros bail, levelled against the UM, is upheld. What a political party is supposed to post bail for is beyond me. You can't exactly bang up a party as such. Or maybe you can. The alacrity with which the UM transmogrified into CxI might have been expedient in the hope that the UM would no longer be liable. For whatever it is supposed to be liable.
The judges and the prosecutors are having a jolly old time of it. The UM, even in death, is the gift that keeps on giving and keeps on allowing the legal system to throw out wild statements about bail amounts and demands for time in clink. While politicians, accused of getting up to their usual shenanigans, are unseemly, so also is the publicity blaring of the m'learned-friends institution. A million euros bail here, a twenty-year stretch there. Do I hear a million and a half or thirty years? It's the prosecutors' public auctions for guilt not yet proven. And the press, of course, love it. Where would it be in Mallorca without its outlandish headlines of how much and how long?
Into all this has emerged the odd figure of Ramón Socias. Odd, because he pops up now and then, disappears for a while and then re-appears, offering some grand insight into the less-than-healthy state of Balearics' political or social life. The central government's delegate for the islands, he's a bit like the Governor-General of Australia. You don't really know what the point of him is, but he's there, nevertheless.
Or perhaps he's like an honorary head of state, were the Balearics to be a state, which they most certainly are not, as José María Aznar would fervently insist. Though Francesc Antich is "president", in the same way that Zapatero is "president", neither can, in strict constitutional terms, be thus. You don't get presidents in monarchical democracies, which would mean that Socias is a sort of über-non-president.
Whatever Socias is, he gave the judges a ticking off for acting in a "disproportionate" fashion in hounding the poor former UM-ists who have allegedly been siphoning off Palma town hall moolah for some political advantage. Cue all manner of indignation. Unseemly the process of arrest and publicity may be, but there is also meant to be such a thing as the independence of the judiciary from the executive. Socias had a point, but whether he was wise to express it is another matter, and the head of the judges' deanery was one who did think it unwise. On balance though, Socias's intervention might yet be seen to be wise, if it cuts out what is the real disproportionality, namely the media-manipulated fandango of the prosecutors' song and dance.
While Socias, by implication, some might suggest, appeared to side with the allegedly corrupt, the Partido Popular's leader, José Ramón Bauzá, entered the fray to seemingly support former president Jaume Matas. He praised the investments of the ex-PP president and reckoned that court cases involving him were "for show". So, do we now have to believe that Mallorca is engaged in Stalinist-style show trials? Maybe we do. Bauzá's intervention was doubly peculiar, given the brownie points he has won for not allowing candidature of any politico implicated in corruption and his avowal of legal reform to tighten the noose around future corruption.
One might have thought it wiser for Bauzá to keep quiet where Matas was concerned, especially as Jaume has to try and scrape together the odd million or so in order to stay out of nick. Again. Another headlining bail demand, this time for his nights at the opera building that didn't get built. Disproportionate? All for show? Maybe Bauzá should have a word with Socias, and together they both keep mum. Or perhaps he should suggest that Matas changes his name.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Ramón Socias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramón Socias. Show all posts
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A Fair Cop But Society's To Blame - Mallorca's Corruption
It's not quite to the day, but it is only a couple of days out. Last year (8 December: We're Only In It For The Money), the Balearics delegate represented in Madrid made a speech about the state of local politics. It's easiest if I repeat what I reported then:
Speaking about politicians in Mallorca and the Balearics, Ramón Socias said that: "They should not see politics as something to depend upon or to see it as a means of a salary or privileges that cannot be obtained in other ways. They should be politicians for a 'determined period' as a way of curbing corrupt practices. And in the Balearics, there has been a failure of control mechanisms that has led to corruption, itself a fault of the system."
Nothing much seems to change or to improve. Socias has this year also criticised anti-corruption measures being considered by the regional president as not going far enough. These measures would involve legislation that would force a politician, embroiled in a corruption case, to resign. This seems fair enough. Credibility is strained by the stain of corruption, even if charges do not stick, though there is a slight unease with this: the hint of a presumption of guilt where no such guilt may ultimately be proven. Moreover, this measure does raise the possibility, only a possibility perhaps, of spurious charges being levelled for some political gain, something that does echo what the Unió Mallorquina (UM) is alleging - that the current spate of accusations made against its members is somehow a socialist plot. This allegation may seem far-fetched, but something similar could not be completely ruled out. Nevertheless, for the credibility of government, it is safest if a politician does resign: it shouldn't really need legislation to force the issue. Miquel Nadal's credibility had been stretched to the limit, having stayed in post for some eight months since he was initially implicated.
Electorate perception is also important, and for this reason, doing the honourable thing makes sense. A poll suggests that around a half the local population believes that the scandals will turn people off voting. There is, though, a lot of water to pass under bridges before the next regional elections due to take place in 2011, unless the coalition does indeed prove to be unworkable and an earlier election has to be called. A Facebook- inspired demonstration against political corruption is due to take place in Palma this weekend; so it is with the subversive but democratic will of an internet people. All power to their social network.
The latest potential pitfall facing the Antich administration surrounds the appointment of a replacement for the tourism minister Nadal. The UM has nominated his predecessor, Francesc Buils, the one who had to resign because he sacked people he wasn't entitled to. Antich has knocked this back, largely because it was Buils who was making those allegations of a socialist plot (Antich, remember, is from the socialist party). On the face of it, Buils' re-appointment would make sense, but he himself has made such a re-appointment nigh on impossible, which all goes to prove that it is probably best to maintain a dignified silence. And one who has been conspicuous by his absence in the media since the scandals erupted is Alcúdia's UM mayor, Miquel Ferrer. Much as he said nothing publicly after the train was dropped, so he has kept his powder dry regarding the corruption cases. Ferrer's name entered the frame as a potential successor to Nadal, the main problem with this being that it would involve time - he would have to stand down as mayor and ensure a smooth transition in Alcúdia. And time is short. The tourism post cannot be left vacant at such a crucial period for the industry. Yet Ferrer has indeed been named tourism minister.
A new tourism minister, the coalition holds together; moving pieces around the chess board until the next time. Socias is not wrong in anything that he has said either this or last year. But it is what he has not said which is most instructive, for he has spoken only of the political class and not of the culture and the society that gives rise to corruption. Mallorca is not unique when it comes to Spanish corruption, but the situation is exacerbated by the mores of an island, by the closeness of families and the complexity of politics that affords so many opportunities to those who might wish to exploit it for less than ethical purposes. Socias would be making a more telling contribution were he to address this cultural dimension, for it is this, more than the political system per se, that causes the cases of corruption arise.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Without Young, here are the others, including Graham Nash who wrote it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_vBBjqF3g. Today's title - which sketch does this come from and who spoke the words?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Speaking about politicians in Mallorca and the Balearics, Ramón Socias said that: "They should not see politics as something to depend upon or to see it as a means of a salary or privileges that cannot be obtained in other ways. They should be politicians for a 'determined period' as a way of curbing corrupt practices. And in the Balearics, there has been a failure of control mechanisms that has led to corruption, itself a fault of the system."
Nothing much seems to change or to improve. Socias has this year also criticised anti-corruption measures being considered by the regional president as not going far enough. These measures would involve legislation that would force a politician, embroiled in a corruption case, to resign. This seems fair enough. Credibility is strained by the stain of corruption, even if charges do not stick, though there is a slight unease with this: the hint of a presumption of guilt where no such guilt may ultimately be proven. Moreover, this measure does raise the possibility, only a possibility perhaps, of spurious charges being levelled for some political gain, something that does echo what the Unió Mallorquina (UM) is alleging - that the current spate of accusations made against its members is somehow a socialist plot. This allegation may seem far-fetched, but something similar could not be completely ruled out. Nevertheless, for the credibility of government, it is safest if a politician does resign: it shouldn't really need legislation to force the issue. Miquel Nadal's credibility had been stretched to the limit, having stayed in post for some eight months since he was initially implicated.
Electorate perception is also important, and for this reason, doing the honourable thing makes sense. A poll suggests that around a half the local population believes that the scandals will turn people off voting. There is, though, a lot of water to pass under bridges before the next regional elections due to take place in 2011, unless the coalition does indeed prove to be unworkable and an earlier election has to be called. A Facebook- inspired demonstration against political corruption is due to take place in Palma this weekend; so it is with the subversive but democratic will of an internet people. All power to their social network.
The latest potential pitfall facing the Antich administration surrounds the appointment of a replacement for the tourism minister Nadal. The UM has nominated his predecessor, Francesc Buils, the one who had to resign because he sacked people he wasn't entitled to. Antich has knocked this back, largely because it was Buils who was making those allegations of a socialist plot (Antich, remember, is from the socialist party). On the face of it, Buils' re-appointment would make sense, but he himself has made such a re-appointment nigh on impossible, which all goes to prove that it is probably best to maintain a dignified silence. And one who has been conspicuous by his absence in the media since the scandals erupted is Alcúdia's UM mayor, Miquel Ferrer. Much as he said nothing publicly after the train was dropped, so he has kept his powder dry regarding the corruption cases. Ferrer's name entered the frame as a potential successor to Nadal, the main problem with this being that it would involve time - he would have to stand down as mayor and ensure a smooth transition in Alcúdia. And time is short. The tourism post cannot be left vacant at such a crucial period for the industry. Yet Ferrer has indeed been named tourism minister.
A new tourism minister, the coalition holds together; moving pieces around the chess board until the next time. Socias is not wrong in anything that he has said either this or last year. But it is what he has not said which is most instructive, for he has spoken only of the political class and not of the culture and the society that gives rise to corruption. Mallorca is not unique when it comes to Spanish corruption, but the situation is exacerbated by the mores of an island, by the closeness of families and the complexity of politics that affords so many opportunities to those who might wish to exploit it for less than ethical purposes. Socias would be making a more telling contribution were he to address this cultural dimension, for it is this, more than the political system per se, that causes the cases of corruption arise.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Without Young, here are the others, including Graham Nash who wrote it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_vBBjqF3g. Today's title - which sketch does this come from and who spoke the words?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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