It occupies us, it worries us, we do not look the other way... We are working

Psychologists Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein, and Thomas Toppino named the illusory truth effect in 1977. According to this cognitive bias, people tend to perceive information they have heard repeatedly as more true and reliable than information they receive for the first time. In other words, repetition is an effective tool of persuasion: it makes a message gain credibility through the act of hearing it. That said, I do not know if our politicians have ever studied the illusory truth effect, but they certainly master it to perfection, even if only intuitively.

The Minister of Housing, Territory and Mobility, José Luis Mateo, is a good example of this. “We are going to work along these lines”; “we continue working along these lines”; “we are going to continue working along these lines”; “we are going to work to improve the service”; “we are working along these lines and we are going to continue along these lines”... It is clear that ‘to work’ is his favorite verb, which he repeats session after session, until the listener is clear that his department is working hard, even though he cut train frequencies by 52% this August in Mallorca, contradicting the mandate given to him by Parliament, and that the housing emergency has become entrenched in the Balearic Islands, with rooms of just over 10 m2 reaching 800 euros per month in rent. Mateo works along whatever line it may be, because he has never specified what “these lines” means.

Regarding housing, what the Government repeats most, with President Marga Prohens at the helm, is that public housing will be built “for the people from here”. It will be built. If the people from here do not have any now, they can always sign up for the Ibavi waiting list, which hovers around 10,000 families from here, not from there.

Prohens did not clarify whether she is willing to limit the purchase of housing by citizens who are not residents of the Islands. It is one thing to promise public apartments for the people from here, and another thing entirely for wallets from there to not continue straining the real estate market, with prices that we can find in places like the French Riviera and Tuscany, albeit with less glamour. “The Government will apply all legally viable and effective measures.” Prohens said and repeated in Tuesday's plenary session. A way like any other of not clarifying this issue.

The president boasted that there are 10,000 affordable homes in the pipeline. A month ago there were 8,000, according to the Government's website. Be that as it may, this tsunami of apartments has not yet become a reality.

In fact, announcing thousands of homes has already become a tradition in the Islands, whoever is governing. The former socialist minister Marc Pons proclaimed in March 2019 that the Government had 1,039 apartments from large holders (for a period of seven years). But by 2021, 16 had been expropriated, and by 2023 only 4 of those 16 had been rented out. The current minister inherited this propensity for grandiloquence: Mateo assured that the Executive expected between 2,000 and 3,000 homes to join the Secure Rental program in its first phase and on Tuesday he updated the figure when he listed the milestones of his management: there are 113 homes. In this way, it is only a matter of time to see what will become of the 10,000 that are in the pipeline. For the moment, the only thing that has been built is the narrative.

Ceuta, axis of Balearic politics

“We have reached the high point of Balearic politics this week, regarding the problems affecting citizens and the Government’s policies.” This is how the spokesperson for Més per Menorca, Josep Castells (some of us will miss his common-sense interventions when he is no longer here next legislature) began his speech during the debate on the PP’s Non-Legislative Proposal (PNL) in defense of the territorial integrity (of Spain) and in support of Ceuta. Of course, neither the PP nor Vox are willing to miss the window of opportunity that the autonomous city represents to wear down a Spanish government that, with its management, is capable enough on its own of walking towards the electoral abyss.

As is customary every time the PP winks at the far-right, deputy Cristina Gil defended the initiative, and demonstrated that elegance and politics do not necessarily have to go hand in hand. Gil compulsively recalled the nickname of the Minister of Defense, the Pájara (The Birdie), I don't know if with aspirations to make people laugh or cry. She also raised her voice when she spoke about the defense of Spain and its territorial integrity, amidst the ovation of her bench, which is sometimes confused with a group of fans at a football match.

However, Gil’s proclamations did not soften Vox deputy Manuela Cañadas, who appealed for the deployment of the armed forces in Ceuta. “National sovereignty is not begged for,” she said visibly angry, before demanding the PP’s support to activate article 102 of the Constitution to make “Pedro Sánchez sit in the dock.” For a traitor, of course, lest a week go by without mentioning it.

While she was at it, Cañadas criticized that “the PP and the PSOE approve 90% of the initiatives in Brussels together.” Don't ask why 90% or how many initiatives they have pushed forward together. It is about tossing out a percentage like someone throwing a stone into the sea. Next week it might be 95% or 80%.

Just in case, the far-right representative warned that Ceuta is the mirror of what awaits the Balearic Islands. Exactly that, the mirror.