The Spanish government despises Francesc Antich

This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers of the Spanish government awarded the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Charles III posthumously to two recently deceased former Socialist regional presidents: Javier Lambán, who was president of Aragon, and Guillermo Fernández Vara, who was president of Extremadura. However, they did not award it to Francesc Antich, who died last January and served as president of the Balearic Islands for two terms. This act can only be considered a snub, which has caused outrage among the Balearic Socialists and protests from all groups in the Balearic Parliament (except Vox, which further honors Antich's memory).

Let us remember that Antich was the first progressive president of the Balearic Islands and that he led a left-wing coalition government, the Progress Pact, which—especially in its first edition, from 1999 to 2003—was a pioneer in policies that still shape the public agenda today: environmental protection, tourism regulation, and the promotion of the Catalan language and the national identity and sovereignty of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. As has happened so often, and still happens now, the Balearic Islands were ahead of the curve from the periphery of many of the social and political debates that later become central. And since they come from the periphery, these advances almost always go unnoticed in the capitals and in the circles of power, for whom the Balearic Islands are a place to go and sunbathe in the summer, and that's it. Pedro Sánchez himself, the first time he appeared in Mallorca, declared himself happy to be in the Balearic Islands. the island of PalmaHe only acted like so many Spaniards, and—if we're being blunt about it, and this sounds even worse—so many Catalans.

The Grand Order of Charles III is, let's face it, a tacky piece of nonsense with no interest whatsoever. But the fact that it was awarded posthumously to Lambán and Fernández Vara, and not to Antich, means several things, none of them good. One: Antich was a Catalanist, while Lambán and Fernández Vara were two ruined, and often obfuscated, Jacobin Espanyolists. Two: Antich "only" served as president of the Balearic Islands, which, as we said, are little more than a pleasant tourist curiosity with the oddity that the natives insist on speaking Catalan, while Lambán and Fernández Vara actually presided over two Spanish communities. Three, the interest in honoring the Felipe-Guerrista faction took precedence, and they simply, rudely, forgot about a former Socialist president who had long since lived away from the spotlight. All of these options, separately or combined, are appalling, and they show that the Spanish government's commitment to linguistic and cultural diversity is mere rhetoric that in no way permeates day-to-day political action. Francina Armengol, as president of the Balearic Islands and a friend and heir to Francesc Antich's political vision, must surely be displeased.