Juanjo Ferrer calls for an end to the “historical grievance” of not having one’s own representative in the Senate
The senator from Ibiza and Formentera, Juanjo Ferrer, has requested that the next reform of the Spanish Constitution be to create the senator for Formentera, a demand that has been waiting for a solution for years. Ferrer, who has given his support to the constitutional amendment to delete the term “diminished” from the Magna Carta, has expressed his displeasure that this opportunity has not been taken to also address the historic issue of the senator for Formentera. “It seems that we do not have the same political rights as the rest of the island territories of the Spanish State. Do justice, through the back door, through the front door, through whatever door you want, but do it. It is in his hands”, said the senator, addressing the Plenary.
Article 69.3, an anomaly and a democratic injustice
Ferrer explained that article 69.3 is an inconsistent article in its own terms with respect to Ibiza and Formentera. “It’s an anomaly. It is a mistake, it is an injustice, as was the addition of article 49 which we are now reforming. It is a democratic injustice. It is a manifest inequality whose update has not only counted on the unanimity of the parties in Formentera, but also those of the Balearic Parliament and those of this House”, said Ferrer.
The senator recalled that the Popular Party agreed to process the reform of article 49 of the Spanish Constitution, which affects people with disabilities and which eliminates the derogatory term “diminuít”, on the condition that no further points are modified. In this way, a PP-PSOE pact was closed as a matter of urgency to vote on the amendment, which has been approved in both Congress and the Senate with the favorable vote of all political parties, except VOX.
Formentera’s trajectory towards institutional and administrative fullness
Ferrer reviewed the history of Formentera, from the depopulation and the beginning of the definitive repopulation at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 19th century, until the creation of the Insular Council of Formentera, in 2007, which suppose the institutional and administrative fullness of the island. “In the last century and a half, the island has experienced profound social, demographic and economic changes, which have occurred in parallel with the institutional changes experienced in all areas by the country in general and by the island of Formentera in particular During all this time, a Formentera identity has been definitively consolidated in all areas, which can no longer be linked or subsumed within the Ibizan identity as in past times”, explained Ferrer.
The senator recalled that the approval of the 1978 Constitution led to the restoration of democracy in the peoples of Spain, providing for the Senate (article 69, paragraph 3), as a unique assumption, that the grouping of Ibiza-Formentera islands would choose a senator. “The administrative dependency of Ibiza has historically been linked to the possibility of electing its own senator. This is evident in the various milestones that have led to the creation of the Insular Council of Formentera”, said Ferrer.
Ferrer pointed out that since 2004 the plenary session of the Formentera City Council unanimously approved that this island can choose, as its own constituency, a representative in the Senate, different steps have been taken to advance this claim. “In 2009, the Senate Plenary itself approved, unanimously, urging the State Government to promote the necessary modifications so that the citizens of the islands of Formentera and Ibiza can choose, each of them, a senator of their own. However, more than a decade later, the amendment to the Constitution that should make this historic and unanimous claim possible has not been carried out”, concluded Ferrer.
