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

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”, assure sources from the Executive, who consider the goal that Vox would not gain a foothold in the countryside—one of the far-right's obsessions—to be fulfilled. 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 go ahead, a regulation on which Simonet has worked throughout the legislative term.

For Prohens, signing 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 the bureaucracy of the European Union. Furthermore, several consulted sources assure that it is not strange 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 find out how the fish market works.

Bureaucracy, one of the main obstacles

“We have a direct line to the minister,” assures Joan Gaià, from the Farmers' Union (Unió de Pagesos). “He himself, as an engineer, suffers from the sector’s difficulties,” he continues. In his opinion, “Simonet has made a sincere effort to try to accelerate the payments of the European Union’s economic aid.” As he explains, he himself has appeared on several occasions at the Agrarian and Fisheries Guarantee Fund (Fogaiba) to “supervise files.” However, “the excess bureaucracy” of the Administration has not been resolved in this term, he considers: “The fact that the minister has to go and chase down files is also proof that the system does not work.” “The best measure and the one the countryside needs is the one the Government will not take: implementing landscape maintenance aid,” considers the spokesperson for the Farmers' Union, Joan Gaià: “This aid was very good 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 means that now the relationship is more trusting,” he asserts. He highlights the fact that he kept Fernando Fernández as director general, who had initially been appointed by Podemos, as a gesture towards several representatives of the sector who asked him to do so. But in this area too, he has come up against the wall of Brussels: “We have the misfortune that all aid regarding fishing depends on Brussels, and we are very tied down.”

Sources from the Ministry of Agriculture admit that bureaucracy is "one of the department's greatest challenges," as well as "one of the main complaints from farmers, livestock breeders, 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 entire legislative term and it has been built through 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, because of one of its most controversial points: it provides for an increase in tourist spots known as agro-estates on farms. However, the far-right, immersed in the middle of an election pre-campaign, has not guaranteed its support for the regulation either. Sources from the party indicate that this will ultimately 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 agricultural 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, generating 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 fully resolve 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: a moratorium that prohibits construction in the countryside, if we want to protect agricultural activity,” he explains: “If we do not address this issue, we can pass all the agricultural laws we want.”