One of the good news stories of the summer, and there is one, was that in just a couple of days, the GOB managed to raise more than enough money to cover the legal costs of the appeal it filed in 2020 against the expansion of the illustrious and never-beloved Son Sant Joan Airport.
However, the bad news is that the GOB has lost the appeal in question, because the TSJIB (High Court of Justice) has rejected the environmental argument and ruled in favor of Aena, which has carried out the umpteenth expansion with impunity. In any case, the worst news—clearly catastrophic—is the expansion of an infrastructure that dramatically affects our country model and over which we have absolutely no say.
We're in this situation, similar to Barcelona, with its equally important airport—accounting for 52% of Aena's annual profits across the country—and constantly in controversy over expansion projects and their impact on the country's future.
The confrontation with the airport giant –1.934 billion euros in profits in 2024– is absolutely unequal and is always surrounded by suspicious secrecy –the last data specified by territories are from 2014–, which Aena practices without hesitation: "Aena does not break down its data by airport.". And so wide.
Indeed, Aena's operations are a kind of fourth mystery of Fatima. Therefore, it's worth remembering once again that this is a company with 51% public shareholding and listed on the stock exchange since 2015, yet it always seems outside the logic of public service and institutional control. They do as they please without being held accountable, but they do distribute dividends to the true "owners" (the other 49% of the shareholders).
And if we frame the issue in terms of decentralization, it reaches a climax. So much so that we could surely end up detecting in some of the most long-standing Spanish institutions—the Casal Borbó-Rocasolano, the Civil Guard, the Tax Agency...—greater flexibility and empathy for territorial diversity than the Jacobin Aena demonstrates year after year.
The fact is inexplicable. Barcelona and Palma, two extremely important airports—55 and 33 million passengers annually, respectively—with such a significant impact on the economic, social, and cultural development of their areas, are a kind of autonomous entities that govern our destinies outside of legitimate institutions and representatives, without a minimum of transparency, operating under a monopoly and controlled by the government. Ultra-capitalist microcosms embedded in the heart of the country, governed by objectives and principles neither planned by society nor audited by institutions.
With all due respect for Ricarda's botched jobs, the truth is that, poor things, they've made us somewhat lose sight of the true dimension of the problem of the expansion of El Prat airport, which goes beyond the protection of a specific wetland area and actually connects—or should connect—with a certain vision for the country. This is the issue. This isn't about a duck colony, you'll forgive me. This is about climate change, the energy model, sustainable mobility, territorial balance, correcting overcrowding, prioritizing residents over visitors, and reflecting on the model. low that has brought us here... And, as Toni Soler says, not only because tourists are a nuisance, but because runaway tourism is destroying the housing market, destroying the personality of the region and turning us into a country "with low wages, skyrocketing prices and an increasingly weak civic fabric."
Not to mention the vulnerability of the system, which needs to feed off millions of passengers. low cost and is based on reckless faith, on a flawed premise: the planet's oil reserves. For those who haven't yet overcome this dangerous anachronism, a fact: oil production peaked in 2005 and has since fallen by 14%. As Antonio Turiel says, the collapse is not a physical or technological issue, but a cultural one: "It collapses because we persist in a mistaken idea."
In a few years, we'll be asked to explain so many things... and we won't be able to explain why we didn't stop him. Thank you, GOB, for trying.
Final, unrelated but unavoidable thought:
In Gaza, for two years, a regime of terror has destroyed schools and hospitals, and civilians—often children—are killed while queuing for food. Since the start of Israel's offensive—don't call it a "war," because it isn't—238 journalists have been massacred so they couldn't report on it.
If you can, tell it, publish it, spread the word. Above all, don't get used to it.
