Problems don't go on vacation, but politicians do
PalmaBetween traffic jams, saturation, housing shortages, healthcare waiting lists, and the anticipation of a new tourist record, Parliament bid farewell to the political year on Tuesday with a squabble among deputies over holidays. Citizens' problems will not disappear and will wait until September, after three months without parliamentary activity, which does not mean that there won't be any absent-minded person working during this time. Even the vice-president of Vox on the Consell de Mallorca, Pedro Bestard, will be able to enjoy a quiet summer after the PP and Vox have shelved his case. Lest anyone forget, Bestard used three public vehicles exclusively, for both public and private matters, while his department (Environment) has about twenty unusable cars and the civil servants suffer from their shortage.
One of the deputies who will most enjoy the summer will be the popular Marga Duran, who shouted "Bieeeen!", in good Spanish, when the last plenary session ended with no extraordinary sessions on the horizon, because the PP and Vox voted against convening any to process the law limiting vehicles in Mallorca. Duran usually shows she has a good voice in all the plenary sessions, but on this occasion her joy is remarkable. The socialist deputies took every opportunity to mention holidays, as if they had to work in a mine all summer: "It would be good if you didn't go on holiday with your homework undone" (Ares Fernández); "you will go on holiday with people stuck in traffic" (Ares Fernández); "you will close Parliament and go on holiday" (Carles Bona); "you will go on holiday and the rest of us will be left on hold [at the Health Service]" (Irantzu Fernández); "to go on holiday, you must first do your work" (Llorenç Pou); "do you want to go on holiday now?" (Mercedes Garrido, from the Parliament's desk).
It was necessary for Josep Castells (Més per Menorca) to step in and restore order, because the excitement was the same as during the last hour of class on the last day of school. "It's a pathetic spectacle. We already know what citizens think of us, we just need to pretend we don't want to work. If the problem is taking holidays, we should have asked for a month to process important matters," he told his colleagues. In short, the limitation of car entry into Mallorca will have to wait until autumn. Anyway, this summer it was already inapplicable and we Majorcans will once again enjoy the traditional avalanche of rental cars that add color to the roads with their roof racks and make driving more fun with their unexpected turns, their braking because they're unsure which motorway exit to take, and their distracted drivers clinging to the steering wheel with their heads very close to the glass.
As the last day of class passes, the work of the last plenary session of the course will not go down in history. No matter how much the opposition asks again and again about the same issues, the counselors of Marga Prohens' Government have developed an enviable gift for not answering, and even more so with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Leire Díez, the mask case and Begoña Gómez on the horizon. Sometimes they want to be funny, but only they laugh, as when the Minister of Agriculture, Joan Simonet, told the socialist deputy Malena Riudavets, who was asking about improper uses of agricultural land, "Teletubbie who lives in the land of Yupi."If we are to talk about the land of Yupi, the Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauzà, continues to make a party of the effects of tourist containment; the Minister of Housing, José Luis Mateo, could not help but say that he is working hard; and the Minister of Health, Manuela García, believes that public healthcare is going great. One hopes she won't have any problems during her vacation, because if she goes to the emergency room at Son Espases, she might lose half the summer in a waiting room."I will not answer your questions"
Beyond the plenary session, José Luis Mateo appeared on Thursday to talk about the new features of the Lloguer Segur program, which in almost two years has captured 92 of the 3,000 homes that the Government announced. There is one thing to be thanked for the minister, and that is that he announces his repetitions: "I will repeat", "I will say again", "I will insist"... This can catch the audience prepared. As a communication strategy, Mateo reiterated the same idea almost every two sentences of his interventions: "Affordable housing for the people here", he said again and again, yes, with the same enthusiasm, as if he had not brought 2,908 fewer homes than were announced.
It is a shame that Mateo did not want to deviate from the arguments prepared by his cabinet, because the deputy of MÉS per Mallorca Ferran Rosa, couldn't help but say that he is working hard; and the one from Health, But Mateo did not have the information at his disposal, beyond ensuring that a lot of work is being done to have "affordable housing for the people here". "Today I will not answer your questions. The appearance was about new features. If you want, formulate them in writing and the Ministry will answer you. If you don't like what I answer, I'm sorry for you", he said at the end of his appearance.
