Launched by President Prohens in May, the social and political pact for economic, social and environmental sustainability will enter its second phase in January.
Following meetings of the twelve working parties that were established, this second phase will involve crystallising contributions and arriving at a unifying document to serve as a framework for future decision-making. This document is scheduled to be presented during the first quarter of 2025.
While the pact's title doesn't expressly refer to tourism, it was tourism and its impacts that inspired the pact. The launch predated the protests that started in the Balearics in May, but by the time of the launch there had been protests in the Canaries. The social movement was evident, and so the pact was a response, an innovative one in that it brought together all main stakeholders, e.g. businesses, activists, unions, academics as well as politicians - 140 constituent entities.
In addition, the pact was to take account of the views of members of the public. An exercise in listening, a specific website has received over 500 contributions. There have also been some 50 studies, including that of the Council of Mallorca in respect of traffic and possible limits. Land transport is one of the twelve working parties, and this has in fact received more contributions than any of the others.
A participatory process, the pact has come in for criticism. Its procedures are laborious; there are accusations of a lack of transparency; its make-up is too biased towards business; there is an obsession with data collection and analysis. For some critics, such as the environmentalists GOB, the appointment of Professor Antoni Riera was an indication as to where the pact and its deliberations would be heading. An economist, Riera is the technical director of the Fundació Impulsa, a joint venture for competitiveness involving the Balearic Government and the Confederation of Balearic Business Associations.
The Forum for Civil Society has been the main source of criticism. It formally announced its withdrawal from the pact three weeks ago. Groups under the umbrella of the forum - GOB, the Palma federation of residents associations - have since announced their specific withdrawals.
The government's vice-president, Antoni Costa, accepts that these withdrawals were "a wake-up call" but clings to the hope they will be reversible. He has asked for patience from groups who "maybe had slightly different expectations". "I would ask them not to suspend the process permanently and to continue making their contributions in the second phase."
The process, he concedes, has "a methodology that may have its shortcomings because it is an innovative way of working". But he stresses that the government "has not wanted to give lessons to anyone at any time". "The objective is very clear: the economic transformation of the Balearic Islands, something that cannot be done in two days."
Meanwhile, Prohens has stated that measures to address overtourism will be announced in January, leaving some to feel that these will be pre-emptive and to question the role of the pact. Are its deliberations not meant to act as a guide to or even a determinant of measures? In this regard, the government's intention to increase the rate of the tourist tax from June to August has also been looked upon as pre-emptive.
There is scepticism. Can this pact truly deliver on a promise that it will define the next generation, that it will form the basis for what Prohens has referred to as "the third tourism revolution" in the Balearics? In 2025 we will begin to find out.