The Government, in 'stand-by' and to the rhythm of Caribbean dances

PalmaThe apocalypse is approaching while the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, learns to dance bachata and someone in her cabinet, in a fit of inspiration, decides this is relevant enough information to share with the world. As could be expected, the PSIB reminded everyone of this throughout the six hours of the Parliament session on Tuesday. The Chamber increasingly resembles a stand-up comedy stage: everyone brings their prepared monologue, and if it goes well, the audience might even laugh for a while.

The award for originality in making reproaches goes to the spokesperson for MÉSper Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, who used a tactic based on irony, if we understand irony as saying the opposite of what we want to be understood: “I won't tell you that the problem you have is a bachata.” And, in this way, he said it, in addition to using a classic of political accusations: “The problem is that you are very far from the people, thousands of kilometers away.” This criticism has a known variant, which consists of demanding that the Government leave the bunker of the Consulate. In fact, the PP specialized in talking about Francina Armengol's bunker last term.

The stars of this week's show were the Minister of Health,

Manuela García, and the Minister of Business, Self-Employed and Energy, Alejandro Sáenz de San Pedro, who, one year before the end of the legislature, has shown that what he lacks, precisely, is a bit of energy. Beyond these illustrious representatives, the Executive's image is not exactly one of frenetic activity. Besides the law to accelerate strategic projects, there is not much else to do this legislature, beyond rubbing their hands with the right-wing shift that is spreading across the peninsular communities.

The race for measures

The PSIB could boast: just four days earlier, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, had announced a package of measures to cope with the impacts of the Iran war. So, along with the batxata, the other socialist mantra was that Moncloa had taken measures before the Executive had said a word.

The socialists repeatedly proclaimed themselves winners in the race to alleviate the effects of the war, in all their speeches, while the populars dedicated themselves to mathematics: they recalled that Armengol took 34 days to announce initiatives to cope with the effects of the Ukraine war. As Minister of Economy, Antoni Costa finished off the mathematical operation: “If Prohens’ Government gets there before April 3rd, we will have moved faster than Armengol’s Government”. It is clear that the PP wants to win the championship.

For their part, Prohens confirmed the veracity of the PSIB’s accusation. The socialists assured that the Government would not present anything without the president in the photo. And so it was: the president's photograph was taken on Friday.

From cliché to cliché

Llorenç Pou interpellated Sáenz de San Pedro with a very simple argument: if he has done nothing during three years of normality, what does the former director of Asima have to offer now that it is so important to move industry forward? In his response, the minister put on a display of clichés: “Geopolitical tension increases costs”, “The current situation worries us greatly”, “There is concern for industry and it would be a mistake to deny it”, “Industry with added value must be strengthened”, “We must move towards industry 4.0”, “We see the company as a focus of solutions”: “We are working on a paradigm shift”... Faced with such a display of oratory, Pou's reply was a show of his astonishment: “When I get home, I will take ChatGPT, I will put his speech in it and ask it if there is anything”, he said.

The PSIB also interpellated Manuela García. Pilar Costa demanded explanations for the “caotic” situation of public healthcare in the Balearic Islands. Thanks to the Minister of Health, it was possible to discover that the fault for everything lies with Pedro Sánchez, that the PSIB is lying, and that what the perverse socialists want is for citizens to never trust the Health Service again.

It all happened while the President of the Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne, was celebrating the far-right's party in Hungary, precisely now that the European Union has requested explanations from President Victor Orban for spying for Putin. Another huge surprise, which could not have been foreseen. But the truly important thing, what we all wonder about at this moment is: did Le Senne have the opportunity to learn the csardas, the traditional Hungarian dance?

It must be said that Le Senne's absence did not go beyond someone wondering who the highest authority in the Balearic Islands was without the head of the Executive or the President of the Chamber. At the end of the plenary session, the satisfaction of the first vice-president of the Board, Mauricio Rovira, and the second vice-president, Mercedes Garrido, was evident, thanks to the still-on microphones: “Plenary session passed!”, she exclaimed; “We’re paid double!”, he replied. And then there are those bad ones who say that it is not important to do the job with enthusiasm.

But not everything is a party in democracy, as was verified on Thursday during the plenary session of the Palma City Council. Citizens affected by the de-registrations from Cort explained to the mayor, Jaime Martínez, something he surely knew when he decided to apply such an inhuman measure: they have lost their most basic rights.u