Editorial: Old foes

Arch-rivals who have ruled the Balearics for the last three decades. Poles apart in their ideology but difficult times call for difficult decisions. The outgoing President of the Balearics, Jose Ramon Bauza, called yesterday for a pact between his centre-right Partido Popular and the Spanish Socialist Party, led by Francina Amengol. Bauza said that he wanted to halt the rise of the “far left” who have already started to court Amengol as regards a possible coalition government. The chances of the Spanish Socialist Party agreeing to a pact with their arch-rivals, the PSOE, are slim, but an offer has been made. The two parties polled the lion´s share of the votes in the last local elections last month but both came well short of an overall majority. A left-wing coalition between the PSOE, the protest party Podemos and the left-wing nationalist party Mes looks like the most likely option at the moment and talks have already started on forming a coalition. But there are problems. There is speculation that Amengol may not be offered the presidency of the Balearic government and Podemos and Mes want to introduce a tourist tax. There is concern in some circles on the island over the rise of Podemos and Mes. Their ideology is not close to the PSOE although they do share some key policies, such as eduction. I suspect that Bauza´s offer yesterday was his last throw of the dice as he is expected to stand down in the coming months. A PP-PSOE pact is not possible? Or is it?