Guys, the holidays are over: eight months to reach the ballot box alive

The Balearic Islands are nearing the end of a summer that, thanks to climate change, is more of a thermal penance than a period of leisurely pleasure. Curiously, the last summer of the legislative term has served for the PP to close the circle: Marga Prohens the term began with massive protests against saturation, and it ends the same way. However, there is a difference, because in the summer of 2023 the police did not assault the protesters. The island society continues to await the report commissioned by the Spanish government delegate, Alfonso Rodriguez, who assured that he had given instructions to remain calm. Better not to think what would have happened if he hadn't given them.

Fortunately, we have enjoyed iconic moments, such as the one gifted to us by the mayor of Campos, Francisca Porquer, when she tried to hinder the demonstration in defense of Es Trenc in a bikini, because, according to her, she was at an event for multiple sclerosis. Why not link a solidarity event with an exhibition of behavior with an anti-democratic flavor? Opportunities like this should not be wasted.

We cannot forget the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, Joan Simonet. He is like that definition that Mariano Rajoy made Catalans do things. We saw him harvesting carobs and happy that the price has risen a little, a few days after a real estate company bought Carob, a company specializing in this crop. He put on the yellow Ibanat polo shirt to manage things better on the day of the eclipse – the Minister of the Presidency, Antònia Maria Estarellas, the blue vest of Emergencies shone. He fearlessly grabbed an invasive snake to talk about the lizard. And, of course, he also dipped his feet in Trenc. All to show that the Government has changed the regulations simply for the pleasure of changing them, because this spot in Mallorca will remain just as protected.

An uneven final stretch

You have to prepare yourself for what's coming, because the final stretch of any legislature is a matter of endurance. There will be a constant barrage of announcements, promises, celebrations, and smiles. Also accusations, furious criticism, and overacting. As they say: bad students try to save the course when there's little time left for it to end.

On the right, the PP tries to convince the audience that everything related to overpopulation is the fault of the two legislatures of Francina Armengol and that Prohens's Government has implemented containment measures. The problem isn't whether or not they have been implemented. The question is which ones have been implemented, what effectiveness they have had, and whether we citizens of the Balearic Islands are living a little, even a microscopic bit, better.

At this point, the point of living better, the Minister of Housing, Territory and Mobility, José Luis Mateo, will have little to say, after tormenting public transport users in Mallorca throughout August and practically not having started any public housing promotion in the Balearic Islands.

There are those who continue in search of the Pact for Sustainability that the Government announced in Armengol's style: with a spectacular photo and then with a PowerPoint, thanks to the director of the Impulsa Foundation, Antoni Riera. The legend says that 540 proposals arrived at an online platform, but their exact content is unknown.

For its part, the left is still looking for some kind of leadership, however small. The PSIB has opted for Rosario Sánchez. That is, the socialists consider that the Secretary of State for Tourism is the alternative to Prohens amidst a festival of protests against tourist saturation and with a good part of the society of the Islands cursing Aena for making us swallow the expansions of the airports of Palma and Ibiza.

It is not just any position, the Secretary of State for Tourism. The question is: if Sánchez truly wants to bet on Balearic Islands exhausted by overpopulation, shouldn't she have resigned already? Because the contradiction is too great to be sustainable at the polls in May 2027.

For its part, MÉS per Mallorca does what the left does best: hurling reproaches at each other. The reflections of the deputy Ferran Rosa on a political podcast and his criticisms of the Pact's management have shown the wounds of the eco-sovereignists and have brought to the table how complicated it is to be part of the system and be against the system at the same time. Because at this point, we must give the PP credit. The saturation is not new, and all of us, regardless of our political color, have participated in this party that has now given us a colossal hangover. Does no one remember that even Juan Carlos I said "I have made a mistake” after killing an elephant? Is it that complicated?

We will have to pay attention to the uproar that Vox may cause in these months, so important for marking their profile. The far-right sees how the PP is swallowing it up and has to become more extreme if it wants to retain the votes of the most fervent. However, it will be difficult for it to move from its niche, which is based on attacking Catalan, migrants, feminism, and the LGTBI collective. One cannot ask for sophistication from a party with basic pillars.

And it remains to be seen what role Coalició per Mallorca will be able to play. Will it opt to be the Catalan Alliance of the Balearic Islands? Will it get rid of the backpack of El Pi and the remnants of UM? Will it be able to unite the remains of a Mallorcanism that seems to be more part of the island's past than its future?