A mayor from MÉS responds to Ferran Rosa: "Only a well-off political official could think of that"

PalmThe mayor of Esporles and former spokesperson for MÉS in Parliament, Josep Ferrà, has harshly criticized the deputy Ferran Rosa in a letter sent to the party's membership. In the letter, which ARA Balears has accessed, he makes it clear that the ecosovereigntist's statements on the podcast L'hora de la sesta, in which he said that MÉS did not "push enough for degrowth" and that "the PP is the one who has best read why the left lost" the 2019 elections, have offended a sector of the party. "Only a comfortable political official could think of this," Ferrà states in the text, in which he criticizes Rosa for having questioned the party's action during the Pact of Progress "with a certain arrogance and relaxed on a sofa, and with an absence of coherent self-criticism from someone who held positions in the PSIB and Podem ministries at the end of the 2015-2019 Pact and throughout the 2019-2023 Pact".

In the letter, of nine pages, Ferrà responds one by one to the critical statements about MÉS, and especially about the previous eco-sovereignist parliamentary group and also the former president of the Consell de Mallorca, Miquel Ensenyat. "I agree that any political project that wants to move forward must be able to review what it has done, recognize mistakes, and learn from them. MÉS per Mallorca must never be afraid of self-criticism," Ferrà's text begins: "But one thing is self-criticism and another, very different thing, is to turn it into a rejection of the entire work done by the colleagues who, for years, took on institutional and party responsibilities." In the mayor's opinion, who assures that he represents a group of dissatisfied militants, Ferrà warns: "This is not self-criticism, Ferran; it is a disqualification, and I believe it is unfair and misguided."

"What is relevant is that these statements are not opinions expressed in private by a militant: they are public statements by a deputy, a member of MÉS's Permanent Committee and head of Communication; that is, by someone who represents us," he insists. Rosa said on the podcast that "MÉS per Mallorca should not have entered the Government in 2019." He also lashed out at the management of some of his party's leaders, and specifically Ensenyat: "Leading is doing things properly, not a Miquel Ensenyat, who builds a highway in Campos and goes to see how Fra Juníper Serra is canonized." Furthermore, he pointed the finger at the previous leadership of the party and the parliamentary group, considering that the eco-sovereignists should have pressured the PSIB more to limit tourism. "Those who were supposed to do this work within MÉS did not do it, and they should not do it within the Government, but within the party or the parliamentary group," he remarked. Regarding the Government, he considered that, although "very good regulations were made," the Pact's policies were "continuist" rather than "transformational." "We have gone downhill as a society," he said. The summary video of the podcast shared on Instagram, in which he expresses part of these criticisms, has spread like wildfire among the internal cadres of MÉS per Mallorca.

In the letter disseminated among the membership, Ferrà reproaches him for making these criticisms public instead of channeling them through the party's executives and open assemblies. "We are a group of militants who feel with pain the contempt towards us as a result of your statements and we think we must answer them," he laments. Firstly, he questions "the resounding assertion that the left should have lost in 2019": "It sentences that the PP, Vox and Cs tandem should have added a majority against a left that did not deserve to repeat." "What you're saying makes no sense, Ferran, apart from despising all of us who worked with our hearts and with passion to reverse the four horrible years of policies of the PP of José Ramón Bauzá," he snaps: "Although the expectations generated – which were very high – were not met one hundred percent, there was credit and trust for four more years."

Regarding the opinion expressed by the deputy that MÉS per Mallorca should not have entered the Government in 2019, he justifies that this decision was voted on in assembly. "With all this, from someone who came from a position between 2018 and 2019 and accepted another between 2019 and 2023, I would expect at least self-criticism and a bit more humility in his statements, because I do not recall any intervention from you against the Pact nor any leadership to not repeat it," he states. Among other issues in the long text, he also attacks Rosa's assertion that MÉS was "excessively loyal" to the PSOE, which he defines as a "smear": "We were loyal to the Pact".

Regarding the criticisms of the previous leadership of the parliamentary group and the party, Ferrà assures: "You show a significant degree of ignorance (...) However, excluding the Government, where you were seated and said nothing, perhaps for fear of a scolding from your Podemos bosses". During the previous legislature, Rosa was the managing director of the Balearic Energy Institute, which depended on the Ministry of Energy Transition. Despite this, the mayor of Esporles defends the work done by the previous Executive and questions the criticisms of the left for not curbing tourism during the covid-19 pandemic: "Was this the time for the people of Mallorca to worry about tourism? Only an accommodated political official could think of that". Despite the harshness of his statements, Ferrà ends the letter by accepting that an internal discussion on these matters should be opened. "Some colleagues from MÉS and myself do not understand if with your statements you want to open a debate", he considers: "If so, I accept it, and I believe that the best forums are the MÉS per Mallorca bodies or an open assembly".