"A star is born": The Government's strategy with Joan Simonet that slows down Vox but not the countryside crisis

PalmaJoan Simonet has not changed his phone number: almost the entire agricultural sector has his personal contact. The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries has his own profile that, in recent months, the Government has tried to exploit by publishing videos where he appears hunting snakes, soaking at Es Trenc and walking around the port. “A star is born”, claim sources from the Executive, who consider the goal of preventing Vox from making inroads in the countryside—one of the far-right's fixations—to have been met. But despite the minister's popularity, the crisis in the primary sector does not subside. After the closure of iconic companies such as Agama, Piema, S'Esplet, and Carob, it is now also in doubt whether the agrarian law will move forward, a regulation on which Simonet has worked throughout the entire legislative term.

For Prohens, hiring Simonet was a safe bet. “He is the complete package”, assure sources from the president's team. An agricultural engineer by profession and former president of the agricultural entity Asaja, he was mayor of Alaró with the PP and managing director of Fogaiba, and he knows the primary sector from the inside. As minister, he has demonstrated alongside farmers in a tractor protest against European Union bureaucracy. Furthermore, various consulted sources confirm that it is not unusual for him to personally take charge of managing the problems of farmers and fishermen. One early morning, when he had not yet been formally appointed minister, he showed up at the Fish Market to learn how the fish market operates.

Bureaucracy, one of the main obstacles

“We have a direct line to the minister,” assures Joan Gaià, from Unió de Pagesos. “He himself, as an engineer, suffers the difficulties of the sector,” he continues. In his opinion, “Simonet has made a sincere effort to try to accelerate the payments of economic aid from the European Union.” As he explains, he himself has appeared on several occasions at the Agrarian and Fisheries Guarantee Fund (Fogaiba) to “supervise files.” However, “the excess of bureaucracy” of the Administration has not been resolved in this term, he considers: “That the minister has to go and chase down files is also a demonstration that the system does not work.” “The best measure and the one the countryside needs is the one the Government will not take: implementing aid for landscape maintenance,” considers the spokesperson for Unió de Pagesos, Joan Gaià:“These aids worked very well for small farms.”

For the president of the Balearic Federation of Fishermen's Guilds, Domingo Bonnín, the fact that Simonet was already part of the sector is a differential factor. “I knew him when he was not a minister, and that makes the treatment now one of more trust,” he assures. He highlights the fact that he kept Fernando Fernández as director general, who had been initially appointed by Podem, as a gesture towards several representatives of the sector who asked him for it. But also in this area he has run into the wall of Brussels: “We have the misfortune that all aid regarding fishing depends on Brussels, and we are very tied up.”

Sources from the Ministry of Agriculture admit that bureaucracy is “one of the great challenges” of the department, as well as “one of the main complaints from farmers, ranchers, and fishermen.” In this regard, they highlight that direct aid to the primary sector through CAP (EU Common Agricultural Policy) subsidies reached 38.25 million euros in 2025, 39.6% more than in 2022, thanks to greater recognition of insularity.

Sources from the Ministry assure that the future agrarian law must also respond to this need. “It is not a text that has been drafted in a few months: it is one of the projects we have worked on throughout the legislature and it has been built based on a broad dialogue with the sector,” they point out. But for it to move forward, the PP needs Vox. The left opposes the regulation. Among other issues, due to one of its most controversial points: it provides for an increase in tourist spots known as agrotourism on farms. But the far-right, immersed in the middle of an electoral pre-campaign, has not guaranteed support for the regulation either. Party sources indicate that this, ultimately, will depend on the party's strategy in Madrid.                      

“The sector will miss a great opportunity if the agrarian law does not move forward,” laments the president of Asaja in the Islands, Joan Company: “We need solutions for agrarian investments and a clear vision.” Although he applauds the minister's management, Company considers that there has been “less” progress in “circular economy and local product” than in other areas. “The hotel sector has not helped us,” he laments. Despite Ministry policies such as the Local Product Vouchers, the Tourism Law, which stipulates that at least 3% of the food products acquired by hotels must be local, is not always complied with.

Companies in the sector are closing

Simonet's mandate has also been marked by the closure of iconic companies in the primary sector: Piema, S'Esplet, Carob, and Agama have shut down, causing concern within the industry. Sources from the Ministry highlight that these are isolated cases and that the Administration has sought alternatives for producers.

For the president of Apaema, Miquel Coll, these closures are proof that “the food industry is being dismantled.” “If we do not address key elements for the survival of the primary sector, we will not finish resolving issues that affect us transversally,” he asserts. In his opinion, this implies calling upon the Government as a whole. “We have always asked for a serious approach to be taken: a moratorium that prohibits construction in rural areas, if we want to protect agricultural activity,” he explains: “If we do not address this issue, we can pass all the agrarian laws we want.”