Marga Prohens (Campos, Mallorca, 1982) aspires to wrest the Balearic Government from Francina Armengol. It is the first time that she heads the PP list and her ambition is to govern alone. Until now, she has been a deputy in Congress. Most polls give her victory, but she is insufficient to govern alone.
He insists on governing alone, but for now no survey gives him any options.
We only contemplate having a sufficient majority to form a government. We have a program that is our commitment to civil society and our electoral program is not going to be marketed to other parties. Governing alone gives stability and forces you to talk to a lot of people, which is what politics is about. I do not contemplate not governing.
Do you mean that it will be Vox who decides whether to support you, if that is the case?
I run to win the elections, unlike Francina Armengol, who runs to lose and lead a bloc. I speak for myself and my party. When someone appears to lead a bloc, they become responsible for the commitments made by the other parties. I have freedom and autonomy and I only commit to my electoral program.
You met a few weeks ago with a former leader of your party, José María Rodríguez, convicted of corruption. That can harm you.
He has given all the explanations about a private meal, in a private house. This topic has no further journey.
His mantra: lower taxes.
Yes, and we will do it in the first hundred days by eliminating the inheritance tax on direct line inheritances, the most unfair on these islands. Many older people come to me and burst into tears after hearing this proposal at rallies. Nothing is more unfair than a death tax.
But the main problem in the Balearic Islands is not this, but housing. How is it solved?
Not burdening individuals with the problem, which is what the Sánchez law does, which is not about housing, but about access to your home; the owners are the big losers of this law. Housing has become a social and economic problem, because there are no workers, also citizen security because the police do not come and public health, because there is a lack of health personnel. Promoters must cede public land to build rental housing and there will be an elimination of taxes on the purchase of housing for young people.
You accept the ecotax for the first time.
We accept it, but we will change the destination of the money. With this money the purchase of scooters is being subsidized and that is a failure. Invest in improving tourist areas.
Is it necessary to limit the arrival of tourists?
The left talks about degrowth. Armengol appears in a block and is responsible for what that block proposes, which is to decrease. The PP will always be in front because this message is made from an office with a secure salary. Decrease in tourism means losing jobs and quality of life; decreasing means that tourism will cease to be the social elevator of the Balearic Islands.
But the feeling of saturation is real and it exists.
Limits must be set while being sustainable, both in terms of the environment and the economy, but environmental regulations that imply losses for residents cannot be approved. The left has not wanted to manage the saturation because it needs to sell the story to be able to talk about degrowth. They have done it intentionally because they know in advance how the seasons are coming and they have not acted to improve the situation: there will be a lack of taxis, there will be traffic jams and public transport will be saturated. They want it to happen.
His predecessor, José Ramón Bauzá, provoked a great confrontation with the Catalan.
I will not make a battle for Catalan because it is not on the streets. We are lucky to have two languages that are used cordially. In the health field, the unions say that it is an obstacle to getting health workers, so I will eliminate the requirement of Catalan to access health.
And in education?
The young people have to finish the compulsory stage with a command of both languages, which must be vehicular, respecting the idiosyncrasy of the centers. It is necessary to favor the choice of language in the first registration and it is necessary to introduce it in a determined way in the teaching of English. In any case, the problem of education is not the language, but a LOMLOE that nobody wants and that Armengol has applied the first one here. We will leave it in suspense.
You had a very good relationship with Casado, do you feel comfortable with Feijóo?
I share a generation with Casado, but also with Ayuso. With Feijóo I feel comfortable, relaxed and calm because he understands the singularities of this community, he understands the problems of the periphery, and he has given us a lot of confidence and freedom. He wants us to win, but he understands that there is no single way to apply the PP program.
