Early exam for Prohens

The PP had been calling for general elections for months. However, it would have preferred the early election to take place during the Ceuta crisis, and not during the housing protests. In last Tuesday's plenary session, both the president Marga Prohens and the Minister of Housing, José Luis Mateo, were questioned up to eight times about housing, and the opposition will not stop asking why the Government refuses to limit rental prices until the moment to vote arrives. The elections have become an early test of the Executive's management.

]]>

Tourist saturation is one of the star topics of the legislature, especially when four years will have passed without structural measures having been applied to mitigate its effects. “The transformation of the Balearic Islands' economic model is the first challenge facing this autonomous community.” These words are part of the speech that the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, gave at the General Policy Debate on October 1, 2024. It is lucky that it was the first challenge two years ago, because if it had been the third or fourth, the residents might have already had to exile ourselves to the 'emptied Spain' to be able to breathe. “While being clear that we are a hospitable land where tourists are welcome, we all agree that we can no longer continue to grow in volume, and that the transformation of our model is non-postponable.” I am sorry, but here we must contradict Prohens: time has shown that the transformation of the model is entirely postponable. Two years later and about to end the legislature, the facts remind us of that Julio Iglesias song that said “la vida sigue igual”.

]]>

Just one year after taking office as councilor of the Costitx City Council, journalist Bernat Ramis leaves the councilor position. This is what he has made known to ARA Balears and the reason, as he explains, is very clear: "I have been invited to leave and give up the councilor position, as they did not want to hold primaries within the party".

]]>

He was widely admired, also in the Balearic Islands, until the judicial affair that affected his family broke out and from which he has been excluded due to his delicate health. Before that, Jordi Pujol was, for decades, the benchmark of Catalonia par excellence, with certain ties to the Islands. We remember them as half a century has passed since the controversy generated, in May 1976, by his supposed 'disembarkment' as a shareholder in the Majorcan magazine Cort, in the midst of the political Transition.

]]>

The afternoon of February 18, 1976, in an apartment on Catalunya street in Ciutat, the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands was presented to the media. A drizzle of drizzle barely wet the road, while a squad of police from the Social Political Brigade was lurking in the street. It had been barely three months since the dictator's death. A broad group of citizens with a firm and active commitment to anti-Francoism had participated in the creation process of the new party: from Bandera Roja (who came from the Communist Party of Spain, which they had joined a year earlier), from the Popular Socialist Party and other left-wing organizations, trade unionists, from nationalist circles, and independents who had participated in a debate process around the idea.

]]>

Island Social Promotions. This was the name displayed half a century ago on a premises on the central Can Verí street in Palma. Near where the newsroom of this media outlet you now hold in your hands, or on your screen, is located. Perhaps some might wonder what these promotions were. The answer is as simple as this: it was the front for a political party, then illegal, like all the others: the Socialist Party of the Islands (PSI), whose initials coincided with those of this entity. And that was its headquarters. Fifty years ago, on January 18, 1976, that PSI, which would later become the Socialist Party of Mallorca (PSM), made its presentation to the press.

]]>

The Vox spokesperson in Manacor, Esteve Sureda (Manacor, 1977), recently took to the streets accompanied by the president of the Balearic Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne, on a tour that the party presented as a warning about the "worrying Islamization" of the municipality. With an almost urban safari-like feel, they toured the streets of the capital of the Levante region to "glimpse" a reality that the far right considers threatening.

]]>

Vox registered a bill last Monday that, if approved, would oblige the Government of the Canary Islands to "establish requirements for accreditation of Spanish language training for teachers." But when questioned by journalists, the legislators admitted they had not verified whether this is feasible, since powers over the Spanish language fall under the jurisdiction of the Spanish government. "We will consult," the spokesperson, Manuela Cañadas, stated. The anecdote exemplifies a day-to-day situation in Parliament, where parties formulate maximum proposals that may clash with state and European powers, or would require validation by supra-regional institutions that are already known to be unwilling. These are desiderata that allow them to position themselves and establish a profile with the electorate, but they are difficult to implement.

]]>

Renewal or discontent? These are two issues that divide the people of Sencelles regarding the resignation of three of the four councilors of the regionalist party El Pi en Sencelles.

]]>