<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - legislature]]> 10 <![CDATA[Three years governing for the people from here]]> Citizens and citizens of the Balearic Islands, this week marks three years since my investiture and taking of office as president of this Autonomous Community, of this immense honor that I have thanks to the trust of a broad majority of citizens, who three years ago called for a change in policies and in the way of doing politics in these Islands. A change from centrality, from moderation, from good sense and for the people from here.After three intense years and a lot – a lot – of work, I am aware that there is still a lot to do, I am aware of the challenges ahead of us, and I am aware of the concerns of the families of these Islands, and I will not fall into conformity, self-satisfaction, or indifference. Because we cannot afford it, and, therefore, my commitment is to give it my all.With these lines I want to share with all of you my balance of these three years of work, of these three years of legislature, which I believe can be summarized mainly in three evidences.The first, what has been my obsession since day one: the fulfillment of the given word. Because that's how they taught me at home, the value of the given word, to fulfill what is promised. The first commitment fulfilled was to form a government on my own. A promise that no one believed in, that some saw as impossible and even mocked. But I said that if I had a sufficient majority of citizens, I would do so. The citizens responded, and I delivered. And, obviously, governing in a minority has not been easy, but this has allowed us to set the tone and pace, and to prevent the instability that has been experienced in Parliament from ever being transferred to the Government.From that moment on, we have not only not crossed any of our red lines, but we have fulfilled and launched 95% of our government program. 10 days later we began to lower taxes with the elimination of the inheritance tax —which has already benefited more than 35,000 families— and with the elimination or bonus of the tax for the purchase of the first home, which has benefited more than 5,000 young people. 50 days later we fulfilled by making the free education for the entire stage from 0 to 3 years a reality, which today benefits more than 15,000 families. 100 days later we approved the Royal Decree-Law on residential emergency, as a first package of measures to address the housing challenge. And so we have been fulfilling our program for three years, with the zero quota for the self-employed, the recovery of numerical grades, more hours of mathematics and languages, the plan to attract health professionals, the Work-Life Balance Law, the Simplification Law, the Coastal Law, as well as so many and so many measures that we included in our program and that today are a reality.Secondly, the fact that the script predicted by the left-wing parties has not been fulfilled, that the discourse of fear of cuts in public services, cuts in rights, and social tension has not been fulfilled. On the contrary, for three years we have allocated more resources than ever to our public services; we have improved the conditions of our healthcare professionals, our teachers, and all our public employees; we have advanced in new rights, such as aid for ALS patients, 24-hour care for pediatric palliative care, free adapted leisure for children with disabilities, the price limit for school canteens and psychologists in classrooms and health centers, among other advances.Everyone, through dialogue and agreement. Because we are a government of pacts and understanding, as demonstrated by the achievement of such important agreements as the Pact for Sustainability, the Pact for Health, as well as the Pact for the Legislature with the public service board, the agreement for the recovery of the healthcare professional career, and the Pact for Marine Conservation.And, finally, an evidence of which, as I began by saying, I am fully aware: that there is a lot of work to be done. We were faced with a poisoned inheritance, with soaring housing prices, with the Islands at their limit, the result of 115,000 tourist places authorized in eight years, and with public services strained by a population growth pattern that is today absolutely unsustainable. During these three years we have laid the foundations to change course, changing laws, planning and allocating resources, because there are no magic solutions and the situation does not change in a day, but thanks to our different laws we have more than 10,000 affordable homes in process; affordable homes and for the local people, among which there are more than 1,000 of public promotion, the works of which will begin this legislature. And, of course, we are talking about housing at affordable prices, with prices between 30% and 50% below market price and for the local people, with at least 5 years of residence. Because it is about housing for those who already live in the Balearic Islands.Although there is still a long way to go for it to reach citizens, we are beginning to see signs of a change in trend with the reactivation of multi-family housing development, with a 60% increase in one year, and which for two years now has again surpassed single-family homes, that is, more apartments than houses, according to the latest data from the College of Technical Architects and Surveyors. Also with a 33% decrease in housing purchases by foreign citizens, according to data from the College of Notaries. Because now, housing development is once again oriented towards affordable housing and for local people.And we are working to transform our economy and move from growth in volume to growth in value, a model that bets on the diversification of our economy towards innovation and knowledge, as we have done with the ParcBit boost plan and the Law for the acceleration of strategic projects, and with a clear strategy of tourism containment, which sets zero growth for new tourist places, prohibits new tourist apartments, and agrees to reduce the number of cruise passengers, the purchase of public land to protect our natural spaces. And we will end the legislature with the entry of rental tourist vehicles and cars limited to the four islands. Because yes, we have reached the limit.We must move towards a model that does not require the continuous recruitment of workers from outside, because we have to change the pattern of population growth. As we also need to put a stop to the continuous arrival of irregular immigration to our Islands. Because we have always been a land of welcome, but we need immigration not only linked to a work contract, but one that also takes into account the integration capacity of our land, always demanding respect for our laws and values. Otherwise, the result is that we see how the physiognomy of our towns and neighborhoods is becoming blurred. No, not everyone fits here.We are the Government that most resembles the people of this land, a Government that makes decisions with common sense and tranquility, that does not hide problems in drawers. We have come to roll up our sleeves to solve the structural problems of these Islands.From here on, some policies need a final push and others need to consolidate over time to bear fruit. And with this objective we will work this coming year, working hard to respond to the main concerns of citizens, to broaden their trust and to achieve a majority of stability that allows us to continue with the change from centrality, from moderation, from common sense and governing thinking only of the people here.

]]> <![CDATA[Will it be possible to limit vehicle entry in Mallorca before the end of the legislature?]]>

Mallorca is one step closer to being able to limit the entry of vehicles to the island, after the plenary session of the Council approved the law regulating vehicle influx on Friday. The norm must go through Parliament to come into force and cannot be implemented this summer. The question here is whether the president of the insular institution, Llorenç Galmés, will have the law ready for next season, because the legislature could end without the popular leader fulfilling one of his most important commitments. Be that as it may, Mallorca continues to be stuck, as the Council acknowledges in the preamble to the law, where it points out that “the number of tourists Mallorca receives each year has not stopped growing” and that the island “suffers notable and growing pressure on its road structures”.

]]> <![CDATA[The countdown begins]]> One year exactly until the end of the term. At the end of March next year, Parliament will be dissolved and elections will be called, and the PProhens-Vox pact will have completed its (first?) cycle.Despite the usual excuses – the fateful previous eight years, the unsupportive state government, the very lengthy preliminary studies...– it is starting to be time to assess the rupture, in case one absurdity has been burying the previous one and now, in Trumpian style, we can only recall the latest massacre.The general stench of the legislature is exasperating. The 2025 budget pact, for example, included the refusal to host immigrant minors from other territories or opposition to the European Green Deal. “Two issues that at no time have been an obstacle to negotiation,” Prohens enthusiastically stressed.The legislature has not been very democratic – neither in dialogue nor social dialogue – nor very scrupulous with procedures, with the abuse of opaque processing, such as amendments to the law on strategic projects, which aim to modify up to 50 laws through the back door. The body of parliamentary lawyers has already unanimously warned about this repeated modus operandi and its possible unconstitutionality.Another attribute of the mandate is the dissonance between the music – freedom, efficiency, streamlining...– and the lyrics: urbanistic amnesty, construction on rustic land, increase in urbanistic development rights, construction in flood-prone areas, privatization of public space...Or between what is said – promoting access to housing, fighting against tourist saturation...– and what is done: failure of secure rental programs and the Anti-squatting Office, refusal to limit rental cars and to increase the eco-tax, permissiveness with illegal tourist rentals...It has also been the legislature of euphemisms. See the emergency glossary: ‘freeing up land’, ‘paving the outskirts’; ‘boosting the economy’, ‘benefiting speculators’; ‘freedom’, ‘privileges of the elites’; ‘simplifying’, ‘eliminating controls and guarantees’; ‘accelerating procedures’, ‘outsourcing the Administration’...The educational legislature has been marked by the fiasco of the pilot plan – a stratagem to inject 21 million euros annually into 19 subsidized centers in exchange for violating the spirit of the linguistic regulations – and by the contradiction between what is said – the improbable creation of 77 new educational centers and an aerostatic ‘City of Arts’ is announced – and what is done – dismantling of IES Politècnic and CEIP Felip Bauçà, 3rd line in CEIP de Pràctiques...The Conselleria has clearly opted for educational privatization: private vocational training, subsidized 0-3 year olds and baccalaureate programs, diversion of students to subsidized schools, new private universities, complicity with employers... And for school segregation with the introduction of a single school zone and points per former student, which secures family privileges, blurs the neighborhood school, attacks equity, and makes equal opportunities impossible.Above all, it will have been a legislature daily enlivened by spectacular – and ghostly – projects: a train to Llucmajor that goes underground through Palma, a train to Alcúdia that pierces two entire mountains, various underground works (Gesa, Plaza Mayor, Paseo Marítimo...), exhibition centers, botanical gardens...Just now a metro line has been announced that will start... in 2029! and that (they say) will cost 230 million euros. Does anyone keep track of so many unrealistic projects? It would be advisable, because it is not until this year that we will have finished paying for the Palma Arena (90 million euros) and the Ibiza highways (2003) will not be fully paid off until 2035!The render is smoking, yes. Reality, however, follows a different pace: maximum tension in the old prison; the Catalina Valls theater closed since 2022; none of the 26 announced parking lots in Palma will begin construction this term; paralysis at the s’Aigo Dolça swimming pools (under construction since 2022), at the Son Forteza bridge, at El Tirador...; two years without collecting the fee from the bars in Parque de la Mar, inability to close the two illegal gas stations in Palma...The situation is getting complicated: 90,000 people on the waiting list in public healthcare, loss of 180 hectares of rustic land annually, project to destroy the west flank of the port of Palma: large repair area, Ibiza waste treatment plant, 10 hectares of new concrete docks...And few qualms in ideological matters: dental tests for immigrant minors, repeal of the memory law, hearing in parliament of ‘National Uprising’ and ‘Crusade of Liberation’, abandonment of people in situations of social emergency, obsession against Catalan (discounts, regressions, bites, exceptions...), 895 healthcare professionals without knowledge of Catalan...I'm starting to feel like moving a bit. Aren't you?

]]> <![CDATA[Equivocal Ecuador]]> President Marga Prohens and her executive can congratulate themselves on reaching the midpoint of the legislative session having approved two consecutive budget laws: no easy feat in times of speculative politics. Speculative politics, to put it bluntly, works the same as land and housing speculation: prices are inflated to create a bubble that bears no relation to reality, and which benefits a few while harming the general interest. When politics isn't speculative, approving budgets is usually done through parliamentary debates that can be intense but also measured: everyone (including the opposition) understands that the government needs a budget to govern, and therefore strives for its approval to be relatively smooth. Doing otherwise is understood (used to be understood) as a form of obstructionism.

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