A new political party has been formed in Mallorca and it appears that it is only going to add further fuel to the debate over foreign residents and tourism. ‘Being Mallorcan is not inherited, it does not come from names and surnames, you have to earn it by respecting our identity and interests,’ stated Joan Serra, coordinator of the PI, which on Friday officially merged with the political project SOM Mallorca, led by the former leader of ERC in the Balearic Islands, Joan Lladó. ‘There is no room for more people here,’ added the regionalist leader to applause from the audience at the presentation of Coalició Per Mallorca held in the centre of Palma.
The PI, a party that for years has opted for a moderate discourse, which has led to a loss of representation in election after election, has sought another way out. ‘Until recently, I was a moderate, calm, conformist Mallorcan, but today, before everyone, I declare myself radically Mallorcan,’ confessed the party’s president, Toni Gili.
In favour of self-government, with an insularist vocation, pragmatism on the margins of the left and right, and defender of plurality of identities, but with Mallorcan identity at the centre. This is how its promoters have defined this new political adventure with which they aspire to govern in town councils, in the Council of Mallorca and in the Govern. ‘We are a project that wants to break Madrid, to remove the puppets,’ added Gili.
‘They will want to place us on the right or left, depending on what suits them so that we do not compete with them, but our focus is Mallorca,’ said its leaders, who have insisted on Mallorcan identity as an element of cohesion to change the economic model that is overly dependent on tourism. ‘Not being able to grow indefinitely,’ commented Joan Lladó, shortly before launching a message aimed at seducing residents: ‘If someone wants help, they have to have been living here for 15 years. We are in a moment of emergency and that would be fair. People who have been contributing for decades and have structured this territory should be able to access these benefits.’
Lladó elaborated on his opposition to further migration: 'Twenty-eight per cent of Mallorcans were born abroad, and in human geography it is said that when this figure exceeds 20 per cent, there is a replacement. Ghettos are being created throughout Mallorca. And this is science,‘ he said, reiterating that denying this situation and failing to gain political power will mean ’ceasing to exist as Mallorcans.‘ In fact, he criticised the ’irresponsible do-gooders of the left‘ for how they have dealt with the ’demographic bomb‘ that has brought ’cultures very different from ours and some religions that set us back'.