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Interview with Pedro Homar, managing director of the Fundació Turisme Palma 365 of Palma City Council

The scenario the pandemic will leave behind is very uncertain. What is the Fundació Turisme Palma 365 working on at the moment?

Throughout the last few months of the pandemic, we haven’t stopped promoting Palma for a second at the Foundation, reinventing everything to do with tourism promotion. We have been focusing on digital channels and working on the virtual environment, aiming at a very specific target audience and, of course, changing the messages to include items like health safety.

How do you assess this very atypical season currently drawing to a close and what outlook do you have for summer 2021.

The assessment is grim. The only positive thing we could highlight would be the pilot test carried out, which demonstrated Palma’s resilience as a tourist destination. Looking at the future, it’s a changing situation and it’s all very uncertain, but what we have noted is that people are “impatient to travel”.

Do you think that events like these, which have changed our lives since last March, are going to change the tourism model in general, and in the Balearic Islands in particular?

I don’t know if it will change, but I do think it should. We have to be more competitive in what we do well. Currently, technology is one of the cornerstones of tourism promotion.

We have been talking for years about encouraging the de-seasonalisation of tourism on the islands, but dependence on the high season is still high. In the current situation, the role of de-seasonalisation could be key to mitigating the winter economic slowdown. How do you see this from your point of view?

De-seasonalisation is a challenge and the Palma 365 project was set up 8 years ago to meet it. Up to 2019, the data was spectacular: as an autumn-winter destination, Palma was growing 6% per year. But to have good mid-low seasons, we first need to have a great high season.

What challenges is the Fundació Turisme Palma 365 setting for the next few months?

First, to accelerate our digital transformation process, and second, to continue to develop the Plan Impulsa Palma, a three-year project we have been working on throughout the summer, supported by the Ministry of State for Tourism, with 12 structural and contextual projects for the promotion of tourism in the capital with the aim of achieving a 100% digital environment, from the promotion, customer experience, etc., points of view. We must also be capable of communicating the need to make this leap in small and medium-sized companies in particular and, lastly, study how to incorporate smart tourism and database management into our day-to-day promotional strategy.

Interview with Antoni Riera, technical director of the Fundació Impulsa Balears and professor of Applied Economics at the UIB

Allusions to another potential economic crisis have once again become an every-day occurrence in the media. What is your point of view as an economist and what data does Impulsa Balears have to hand to forecast what is to come in the short term?

2019 is ending, in almost all the world’s economic areas, with a lower growth rate than that of the previous year. The Balearic Islands are no exception. The economic forecasts available for 2020 pull down the Balearic Islands’ economic growth marker still further.

Still, the indicators aren’t necessarily pointing towards another recession, but rather towards a period of “low growth” or stagnation as occurred in Japan after its real estate bubble burst in the nineties. The indicators are very clear on this. Most, irrespective of their badge, are losing acceleration, which is a prelude to lower growth rates.

In any event, the intensity and duration of this bout of deceleration will depend, on the demand side, on families’ ability to maintain their expenditure and, on the supply side, on the ability to maintain public and private investment and redirect it towards improvements in productivity. We have sufficient margin to do this. Otherwise we will suffer the consequences in 8 of 10 quarters’ time.

This region’s GDP depends on the tourist industry. What measures should be taken to ensure that our model continues to be an international benchmark and, at the same time, to achieve a strong economy less dependent on the loss of purchasing power in the source markets?

The Balearic Islands is and will continue to be a tourist economy. Nevertheless, we have to acknowledge that the location-prices-rooms equation is getting out-of-date. It no longer guarantees the return we deserve, either from the private or from the social point of view. Improving sector operators’ return on investment and guaranteeing tourism’s contribution to regional revenue and its positive contribution to the social and environmental balance of the islands today means reformulating our strategy. With good reason, reformulating is the first step towards creating a new reality. We have to do away with the idea that the Balearic Islands is a mature destination and start proclaiming that it is a sophisticated destination.

We know the product, we know the channels, we know the customer…We can and must find the formula by which we can stand out based on a very resolute commitment to create more value. Volume no longer highlights our attractiveness.

Can you explain the main role of the Fundació Impulsa Balears, with whom the Bufete Buades law firm works directly.

The Impulsa Balears Foundation is the result of a strategic commitment by CAEB, The Government of the Balearic Islands and an ever-increasing number of companies in the islands, convinced that promoting the archipelago’s global competitiveness is key to facilitating the Balearic Islands’ economy’s transit towards a more advanced state of economic development, in a context in which the islands are rapidly falling back down the order. To do this, the Foundation provides the region’s stakeholders with the strategic knowledge and the mechanisms necessary to move forward together, through the identification of strategic needs, the proposal of new value-generating formulas and the optimum exploitation of the existing capabilities.

If you were responsible for this autonomous region’s economic and employment policies, where would you aim them in order to promote stable business sectors that are alternatives to or complementary to the tourist sector.

If I found myself in that predicament, I would orient policies, not only the economic and employment policies, but also the environmental and social policies, towards focusing on the “how we grow”. Today, most of the proposals that aim to alleviate the tension between the economy-environment and society continue to focus on “how much will we grow” or “how much should we grow”.

However, the solution to our problems is in the “how we grow”. Because behind the “how we grow” hides the degree of efficiency with which society is using the resources it has available. Because behind the “how we grow” hides the degree of innovation a society has when it comes to conceiving technical solutions that enable value creation. Because behind the “how we grow” hides the degree of equity with which society distributes revenue and guarantees the ability of its members to contribute to and benefit from progress.

Three issues: efficiency, innovation and equity, a path on which the Balearic Islands have a long way to go and will find it difficult to complete if they continue to focus on the how much.

The word competitiveness is uttered again and again when talking about the economy. What specific measures are required to strengthen it? Is wage containment absolutely necessary? Doesn’t this directly reduce consumption and therefore companies’ turnovers? What other options are there?

In a rapidly-changing context like the current one, not only is technology, geopolitics changing. The concepts, the paradigms are changing too. Today, we can no longer approach competitiveness from the traditional and reductionist concept of competitiveness-price and put prices, wages and the exchange rate at the centre of a competitiveness strategy. Because nothing today is the same as it was yesterday. Today competitiveness depends on a broad set of factors that determine the ability of a country or region to generate goods and services that meet the requirements of the international markets and to improve the quality of life of its population at the same time.

From this point of view, in the latest reports published by the Impulsa Balears Foundation, the archipelago lies in 173rd place in the global competitiveness index comprised of 264 European regions. This result continues to put the islands in a “low” competitiveness segment that encompasses strengths and profound weaknesses. With this in mind, we obtain a good score in basic pillars –such as health (12), infrastructures (38) and basic education (81)–, but we fail in efficiency drivers –such as higher education (223) and employment market efficiency (196)– and in innovation drivers –mainly in terms of businesses’ sophistication (163) and innovation capacity (195).

We have to improve these positions, there’s no other option. Work on competitiveness to gain in prosperity. Be, in short, both parties to and participants in the future.

Photo: Alberto García Alix

Interview with the internationally recognised Mallorcan Joan Valent, conductor, composer and musician

How does it feel to be the ‘only living Spanish person published by the Deutsche Grammophon classical music company’?

Yes, it seems this fact has made me legendary.

Well, it’s a nice thing, at least from the emotional point of view. When I was young, a teenager, one of my priorities on picking up a few “shillings” for my birthday was to go to the Galerías Preciados to buy a record by that company, which published all the great conductors, pianists and composers I adored. Being under this same roof is very nice, and shoulders you with a great responsibility in terms of the quality of the music you write and how you have it played. You can’t imagine how demanding they are when you send them a new work and they issue their value judgement on it.

This year you presented your latest work, Poetic Logbook. How would you explain what the record is about to someone who doesn’t know your work? Poetry put to music, melodies put in verse…?

Poetic Logbook is the first record of a trilogy in which I am seeking to show where I am musically and my own path through the world’s poetry, poetry which at a certain time in my life captured me. I consider poetry to be the most sophisticated vehicle human beings have to uplift their existence, to explain the most profound, beautiful and horrible things our species has to offer. The word gives meaning to what we understand, and with the music I try, with the utmost respect, to bind this meaning through the music.

You have sought inspiration in the USA, Mexico and now in Mallorca, which of these three muses has been the love of your life?

Más que perseguir la inspiración, he perseguido la supervivencia y la posibilidad laboral. Durante treinta años he vivido en el extranjero y en Madrid donde podía desarrollar profesionalmente mi oficio. Como arreglista, como compositor para cine, como compositor sinfónico… nunca me gusto la docencia, y el ejercicio de compositor en Mallorca es complejo, no salen muchas oportunidades de las que sacar un mínimo provecho para salir adelante. Ahora es diferente, ya no necesito ir a buscar trabajo, el trabajo me llega, eso es un lujo, y es fruto de muchos años de trabajo. Y en esa situación, el mejor lugar donde escribir, vivir, es sin duda Mallorca.

His work for film has been widely acknowledged outside the classical circuit, with Goya nominations in 2014 for «Witching & Bitching” (Álex de la Iglesia) and the Golden Globes in 2015 for the music from the film “Birdman” (Alejandro González Iñárritu). Nevertheless, you recently said you wouldn’t work for the commercial film industry, why?

I love working for film, what I hate is the industrialisation of the musical creation process. And out of need, or because I had the opportunity, there were years in which I devoted a great deal of my musical production to film, finishing one and starting another, without stopping to think what kind of music I really wanted to make. Now I love being able to choose where I want to work, and this is where the film director and I can develop a common language in which the music and the creative act have a special place, a clear meaning within the film’s dramatic form.

Could you explain when your personal or professional relationship with Bufete Buades began and what it is like now?

My relationship with Bufete Buades started outside the office and for reasons more to do with love than with law. Teresa and Juan are without a doubt friends I keep very close to the heart. With them I have experienced, and continue to experience, moments that are very close to the most beautiful that friendship can provide.

What upcoming professional challenges are you excited about.

An interview with Maria Frontera, President of the Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca (FEHM) (Hospitality Business Association of Mallorca)

In the space of barely a month, two different sets of elections have taken place, one national and one regional. These, among many other issues, have affected Balearic Island tourism regulations. What does the FEHM expect for the sector in the immediate future?

We still haven’t managed to get the current government to advance at the same pace as the private hospitality industry, which has made an unprecedented effort to reposition itself. It has contributed significant through diversifying their offer, extending the tourist season, creating employment, improving profitability… Notwithstanding, and as I said, the government has not been agile in this sense and has not stood behind the industry with fiscal incentives for investment, through public events or by improving infrastructure or reducing bureaucratic obstacles.

We need a campaign that showcases and supports the value of tourism. Public-private collaboration, which we have always endorsed, should be real and effective in order to get the positive results our community needs. The political parties that make up our new government body should share this vision of tourism and outline a clear and well-defined road map for it.

Just a few days ago, you were asserting the urgent need for “judicial security” in order to stabilise this industry, which the majority of the families in this community depend on, directly or indirectly. What criteria should these legal guarantees be based upon?

It is essential that tourism be considered a “matter of state” and that a comprehensive tourism policy be enacted, giving tourism the priority it deserves. We demand a broad regulatory framework that comprehensively addresses tourism and is responsive to its transversality.

Another fundamental aspect is the need to reduce administrative burden and fees borne by companies with special attention to the matter of double charges. Government formalities should be simplified, thereby cutting back on fixed costs for companies. We should have a fiscal policy that incentivises, not penalises. These are key issues for improving productivity and competitivity.

One of the hospitality industry’s priorities is continuing with the transformational process that was begun years ago under the 4th additional provision (DA4) of Spanish Law 8/2012 on tourism. To that end, we must have urban regulations that promote investment and provide continuity to hospitality industry reforms. These reforms have made it possible for us to increase quality as well as improve efficiency and the services offered.

One of the topics that currently sparks the most controversy is the regulation of holiday accommodation. What is the FEHM’s opinion on this subject and what does it believe should be done across the diverse accommodation spectrum of shared, single-family, urban and rural accommodation, among others?

The FEHM has always been very clear on this matter. Hired tourism accommodation has always existed and coexisted with hotel accommodation. The problem, as we all know, is rooted in the emergence of commercialisation platforms over which there is absolutely no control. As tends to occur, private development has progressed faster than governmental initiatives, which have been overwhelmed and, once again, “shown up late” due to their slow reaction time.

What we ask is for tourist accommodation to carry the necessary licences since, without them, clandestine operations continue to be protected. Likewise, they should be subject to the tax obligations derived by their operation, whether as natural or legal persons, specifically, the declaration and payment of Spanish personal income tax, value added tax, corporation tax, etc., as applicable.

They should also be subject to quality and service requirements just like the rest of the hospitality industry, and undergo the same inspections as traditional operators. What we want is for tourism inspection to avail of sufficient personnel and material means in order to guarantee compliance with regulations in equal conditions by all players. As of now, it is incomprehensible that the current government does not have powerful technological tools for inspections and cross-reference tourism data with tax agency data in order to detect illegal operations.

In connection with the prior topic, what is your opinion on mass tourism in Mallorca? If you believe this to be the case, what role has holiday accommodation played in this perception?

We need to be very careful about the words we use when we speak about mass tourism. We are continually projecting messages about this and the burden falls upon our outward-looking markets. At specific trade fairs, tourism operators have asked us whether the Balearic Islands have a problem with tourists, and that is worrisome.

It is clear that the emergence of new business models, which have used the misnomer “sharing economy” as an umbrella to defend themselves, jeopardise our islands’ delicate natural balance with the unbounded and uncontrolled growth of this type of offer.

For this reason, we believe that the question is sufficiently important as to merit attention beyond regional government regulations with the intervention of the Spanish national government. They should stop this by passing a national regulatory framework, within their competencies, which is common to all regions in Spain and is aimed at guaranteeing the right to housing, quality of community life and security for companies, workers and our guests, as well as curbing intrusion and the shadow economy. This does not just apply to the hire of accommodation, but also to transport, leisure and business, to mention but a few examples.

Bufete Buades advises the FEHM on legal matters. Which areas tend to require the most legal advice? Is the appearance of new technology for client accommodation and hire systems resulting in new and important cases?

Yes, the FEHM has worked closely with Bufete Buades on highly important matters such as claims against air traffic controllers for the events that occurred in December of 2010. The FEHM makes specialised legal aid concerning the diverse legislation affecting tourism companies at the European, state, regional and local levels available to associated establishments. The most-frequently requested consultations focus on the diverse government procedures regarding the sustainable tourism tax (ITS), intellectual property management, construction law, the practical application of tourism regulations and questions regarding health and food safety, swimming pools, industrial safety and accessibility, among others.

There are so many regulations that apply to the hospitality industry that legal aid has come to be an extremely important player in the FEHM’s activities, both through the legal department and specialised external advisors.

In your opinion, what key business practices should every hospitality establishment in Mallorca implement over the coming years in order not to lose their competitive edge?

First, continue investing. We have invested heavily in quality and in repositioning our hospitality establishments and can boast an investment of 1,800 million euros to date. We need to continue along this path insofar as legislative tools allow us to do so.

Digitalisation is a lever that has changed traditional consumer habits. Today, the Islands are a strategic location for entrepreneurship and the development of tourism technology. The standing government’s involvement is crucial. We need to develop plans for innovation that situate the Spanish tourism industry at the technological forefront as the global leader and tourism powerhouse it is. We also need to implement programmes to help companies develop R&D+i plans with an overarching and integrated vision of tourism.

Furthermore, we need to promote education and training. Available training must correspond to real needs. We need to refocus vocational learning to increase employability in this industry. We are willing to collaborate with the standing government on the design of educational programmes in order to reach this goal.

Whilst the last tourist season on the Islands was particularly noteworthy, a significant decrease in hotel occupancy is predicted for the future. What does the FEHM predict and why?

Just as we have predicted, first at the FITUR fair (Madrid, Spain) and then at ITB (Berlin, Germany), reservations are slowing down as a consequence of a decrease in growth in leading European economies, among other factors.

We are noticing a downturn in reservations, most notably among German and Scandinavian tour operators, owing to a variety of reasons, including the continued rise of competitor destinations along the southern and eastern Mediterranean coast, as well as in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia, which enjoyed double digit surges in 2018. That has continued in 2019.

The uncertainty generated by Brexit, the devaluation of the Turkish lira, which makes their tour operator packages more attractive for the price, and the appealing climates in visitors’ home countries in 2018 have already been felt, and everything points to a similar situation for 2019. Domestic travel is a significant source of competition for us,

in addition to the adoption of certain policies, such as unwarranted double taxation in the form of the ITS, which have contributed to the decline in our competitive nature as a destination. These measures do not reflect the great lengths the private sector has gone to in order to improve our tourism product’s positioning and revalorise this destination, actions that have contributed to strengthening the weave of the fabric of regional business.

Interview with Queta Amengual, Head of Administration of Bufete Buades, recently retired with a career of more than three decades behind her at the firm

1986 was in swing when Queta Amengual entered Bufete Buades for the first time to work with the office. At that moment, “Who could have known that this would be my home for more than three decades?” recalls the woman who was its financial director over the last decades. For Amengual, this whole timespan was a very important life experience. “Thirty-two years of my life have gone by, during which I loved my work at the firm. A lot.”

Halfway through the 1980s, Queta enjoyed a comfortable, stable placement in a government agency that, in her own words, was monotonous. “A mutual friend told me that the firm was looking for someone who could help them out in the afternoons. I was interested in increasing my earnings, so I said yes. One year later, in 1987, they offered me a full-time contract and I didn’t even think twice about it. That didn’t go over so well with my family because of the uncertainty that comes with leaving a stable job that you basically have for life to go to an unknown job in the private sector, but I had already made the decision. I knew what I wanted,” relates the Majorca native. Feeling motivated about your work and living with that essential professional tension that helps you to solve problems and face the challenges set in front of you is too sweet a joy not to jump for “I learned a lot, jumped both feet first into work and I developed a very close relationship with Joan and Teresa from the very start. I liked going to work every day and my family felt that right away. They soon forgot their fears about having left my old job,” Queta recalls clearly. Neither has she forgotten that she worked together with Antonio Tugores, who had joined the firm barely a fortnight beforehand and with whom she “really hit it off”.

Her life reached a turning point with the arrival of her first daughter. Our protagonist tells the story: “My old company offered me the option of coming back to help balance my career with maternity leave. I presented the idea to the firm because I didn’t want my obligations as a mother to be a burden to them. They told me to put it out of my head, that they wanted me to stay. They offered me part-time work so that I could balance it with my personal life. That was when it was absolutely proven to me that they were truly great people, and most of all, how much I really liked them. I decided to turn down the first offer and stay with them.”

All of this came to pass when the Bufete Buades offices were still located on Sant Miquel street in Palma. The change of headquarters to Jaume III came with the 90s, and with it, the growth of the office staff, progressively integrating new members into the management and legal teams. After a growth period, the firm consolidated during the first decade of the 21^st century, which simultaneously meant a large professional change for Queta Amengual in the company. “Teresa was going to stop taking on the office’s financial duties and Joan suggested that I take over responsibility for management. I didn’t know anything about managing the financial part of a company, nor about the responsibilities involved in management, but I loved the proposal and, even if it frightened me, I accepted with it all of the excitement and energy I could muster. I put my heart and soul into learning to understand and appreciate my new work, to learn the language and know the concepts so I could perform my new tasks with ease, respond positively and maintain the trust they had placed in me,” explains Bufete Buades ex-manager.

When we ask what she’s taking away from all of these thirty-plus years of professional association with the firm, Queta doesn’t hesitate for a second: “Personally speaking, I won’t ever forget the immense love and respect that my father felt for Teresa and Joan. He was so thankful for the opportunity that they gave me… If I had to hold on to a challenge, the biggest one would be having had to learn everything from scratch about numbers and the firm’s accounting, no doubt about it. And in terms of general memories, what comes to mind when I think of Bufete Buades, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything, is the absolute camaraderie and teamwork over my long career with the firm, I think. My colleagues have been and continue to be, for me, friends. Very, very good friends. And, of course, I’ll take away the memory of how well I got along with the majority of clients that, still today, if we pass each other in the street, they stop to say hello. This is my summary of the best memories I’m taking away from my thirty-two years in the office.”

Interview with Julio Capilla, president of the Balearic Islands Institute of Chartered Auditors and partner at RSM in Palma

What are your impressions of the last two years at the head of the Balearic auditors?

The previous single-candidate agreement meant that the elections held two years ago were the first elections to be held in many years. My fellow candidates and I were very honoured to be elected by our own colleagues. The challenge began from that moment. Frequent criticism of this profession is born out of a lack of understanding of our occupation, and one of our main responsibilities is to raise awareness so that people know what we do, why we do it and how it makes sense. We therefore welcome interviews and the chance to collaborate with the media. Raising our public profile and increasing understanding of the value we bring to businesses and business transactions is a critical objective for us.

Another objective we have pursued during this period is to maintain ongoing training to all our chartered members as a key element in the provision of that value. In our profession, as in the legal profession, the value to your client is in the service you provide. You can’t provide that value without a solid business background, legal knowledge and knowledge of new technologies, among other things. It is true that the auditor has to be independent of his client, but that doesn’t stop us from offering a helping hand and acting as consultants when a client is interested in new markets, investments, etc. The greater the quality and quantity of training you have received, the more you will have to offer your client.

Finally, we need to know what will happen to our profession in the future. In a study carried out on the state of auditing in Spain, the demographic aspect was illustrated with an inverted pyramid, depicting the loss of many experienced people to retirement over time. We need today’s university graduates to see auditing as a profession with an attractive future in terms of their professional development. Nor is unemployment an issue, because the need we have for human resources is such that the supply outstrips the demand. Every year new auditors find positions in firms.

What is the current situation in the auditing sector in this community and in Spain in general? In other words, what are the challenges and opportunities to be considered?

The first great challenge is the one we have just raised: insufficient incentives for young people. Though they are the future of the profession, young people fail to perceive the advantages of auditing as a career path. We are in fact a reserve of management potential for companies, with most management boards in Mallorca drawing heavily on auditors. We have the advantage that, if you don’t fancy being an auditor, you will be able to find employment anywhere, given the technical value and managerial skills we can offer to companies.

If we want to foster and attract young talent, it must be well paid, and the client must understand that

At the same time, if we want to foster and attract young talent, it must be well paid, and that is something clients must understand. Our work requires many hours and a great deal of training from our audit teams, so the service must be provided at a competitive price. Increasingly, our clients are involved in business projects and complex company operations outside Spain, meaning that we need to be aware of accounting legislation in other countries and many other things, and invest time in study. All of this has an impact on the price clients must pay if they want quality. If we cannot provide a well-paid, quality-assured service, we will find ourselves in the untenable position of being professionals offering our services at low-cost prices. When we sign a report, we are responsible for ensuring that the figures are correct, because inaccuracies could mean problems for our client and the whole audit team. The auditor is the person that guarantees that a company’s figures are correct, for the benefit of the users of that information: shareholders, employees, banks, the general public, etc. That kind of responsibility requires many hours, dedication, and a well-trained team with up-to-date skills. All that comes at a price. Any professional activity that fails to monitor its profitability is doomed to failure, and even more so if quality of service is not made a priority.

Another current threat is the challenge to adapt to new technologies: how to make efficient use of each company’s information, given the immense amount of data increasingly handled by companies, and use the appropriate software for handling this data. Adapting to new technologies allows the auditing profession to be perceived as a sustainable profession delivering superior quality service to its clients.

The profession of auditor is highly regulated, not only by the ICAC, but also by the Bank of Spain and the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission, among others. There are many public bodies observing the work of the auditor. Following the financial crisis, it was said that a guarantee of transparency was lacking, and the regulations governing auditors were tightened up somewhat as a result. This means that these days it makes no sense for an auditor to work alone. A team of people and sufficient and appropriate structure is needed to meet regulatory requirements and the demands of the market. We are required to be much more competitive and to associate or merge with other companies in the sector. It is a great opportunity for small audit companies that were very much on their own in terms of resources, but now have access to bigger clients through company alliances within our sector.

What should audit companies be doing to get the public sector to be accountable to its citizens with the utmost transparency?

A law relating to the internal control of regional public-sector entities will come into force in July 2018 and is going to require more self-auditing from the public administrations> above all, the town councils and, specifically, their related entities. It is one of the things we have been pushing for, because we believe it makes no sense that local town councils are not audited. Commercial enterprises like Emaya perform audits, but the corporation, the town council itself, has public expenditures for services to citizens which are funded by our taxes, and these are not audited. The town council says it has its own audit which reviews its accounts, but this is done without the intervention of an external auditor who ensures the application of a methodology and set procedures. Moreover, the results or conclusions normally come out only after much delay. If the internal controllers don’t do it, they should externalise part of that function and use external auditors so that citizens can enjoy timely access to information that assures transparency and enables them to find out what their taxes have been spent on.

At the same time, the auditor needs to begin to be seen as a professional with the training and experience to perform operations audits. We see and we visit many companies in both the public and private sectors. That enables us to analyse many procedures and ways of doing things and distil the best practices. We know that, on occasions, the public sector is inefficient, due to duplication of functions and problems with monitoring. These are areas which must be greatly improved, and in which we could put our knowledge and experience to good use. The public sector should be subject to the same requirements as the private sector. The former has existed for years in a situation in which short-term measures are taken without regard to broader reforms that could result in a more efficient, cost-effective and productive public sector.

The introduction of criminal liability for legal persons has obliged Spanish companies of all sizes to have a compliance programme. What is it and how does it affect the internal organisation of companies?

There is always a risk that someone will bypass the controls and commit an offence, but that risk must be minimised

A company may have the figure of partner director, sole director, or board of directors, any of which is required to manage the company diligently and with good practices. In recent years, these figures have been embroiled in scandals when they have failed to exercise responsibility in the performance of their duties. Some of these figures signed the particulars represented in the financial statements and later, when held to account in the face of a dispute, they excused themselves saying they just signed the papers they were given. The reality is that the work of a director consists of a bit more than just signing their name; the director is accountable for those figures and how they got there. The most recent amendment to the Capital Companies Act —and this is something that the people at Bufete Buades are well aware of— reinforces the accountability of those directors as a key figure in improving the corporate governance of companies. It is linked to the reform of the Criminal Code, which states that the company must be indicted for an offence; but where the legal person is an entity, that indictment is going to be delegated to the natural persons and the directors, should they be shown to have failed to establish the appropriate controls to prevent certain corporate or other financial offences from being perpetrated in their organisations. The company’s management must ensure that the company abides by the legislation and introduces controls to prevent any possible infringement. In the past, a company director strived to maximise profits, but now what they want is to achieve the best profit, which is not the same thing.

Corporate governance has two premises: meet company objectives, and do so within the applicable legislative framework. Procedures need to be created which demonstrate the reason for every action, that checks are being performed, that there is an internal review process, effectively imposing measures so that, in the event of a failure to comply, nobody is held accountable. Evidently, an offence can be committed in any company, but at least the necessary measures were taken to try to prevent it. The reform of the Criminal Code kicks in if you have not exercised a minimum of diligence in your management practices, and you can be indicted for not justifying and demonstrating that you did everything possible to prevent the perpetration of the offence. If all the necessary measures have been taken, this will be a mitigating factor considered by the judge, in that you have acted appropriately by imposing measures and controls. There is no such thing as zero risk: there is always the risk that someone will bypass the controls and commit an offence, but that risk must be minimised as far as possible.

You have collaborated professionally with Bufete Buades in your capacity as a partner at RSM Spain in Palma. How far does your relationship go back and how would you rate the experience?

We first met professionally a few years ago through clients we have in common: Bufete Buades are our go-to legal consultants, and we are their auditors. We believe in collaboration with other companies that provide professional services, having meetings with them and assigning tasks according to each company’s area of expertise, to the benefit of our mutual clients. Bufete Buades is of the same mind, and this, together with the satisfaction of those mutual clients, is what creates the mutual trust that motivates us to continue to work together.

In our collaboration with Bufete Buades, we provide the auditor’s perspective while they offer the legal view

Another connecting link has been everything to do with what is known as compliance. Joan Buades and Llorenç Salvà saw that companies needed them to advise on introducing models for which the firm supplies the legal assessment, and we supply a methodology of the controls a company must have to prevent offences being committed within it. The problem with compliance is that all companies considered of public interest, like listed companies, are now obliged to demonstrate compliance within a framework of corporate governance requirements, yet non-listed companies are reluctant to introduce it. However, gradually both we and Bufete Buades are working to convince them to see the need and the definitive value they will add to their company by introducing models like these, as well as complying with current criminal legislation.

And that is how we came to join forces with Bufete Buades, working together in an area in which, in order to provide a service, they needed more of an auditor’s perspective and we needed more of a legal perspective on the introduction of compliance models. On occasions, we also work with the firm’s lawyers as independent experts, producing expert reports for lawsuits the firm is involved in.

There is nothing better than mutual trust, a handshake is worth so much more to us, and we see in their offices the same practices we value in our own: rigour, client-oriented operation, helping the client to resolve problems, etc.

What are the coming challenges for you as president of the Balearic Islands Institute of Chartered Auditors?

We want to continue to be very transparent with our chartered members, which is why every year we publish an annual activity report with details of what we have done. It is one of the ways we can be transparent with our associates, with those who voted for us as well as those who didn’t.

Then there is the challenge of training, since we need to do training courses to keep abreast with changes in the legislation. We have a programme in which we do more than 90 hours of training a year. Auditors are obliged to accumulate a minimum of 120 hours every three years, and a minimum of 30 every year. We do 90, much more than the minimum required by law, because we consider it very important. The training is not limited to just accounting, commerce and tax. Increasingly, we offer more training in team management, office management, commercial topics, etc.

We want to continue fostering alliances in our sector, and we have activated a section on our website for posting jobs wanted and jobs offered by firms of auditors

On the question of human resources management, we have to consider that professionals starting out on their career today don’t think the same as I did when I entered the profession. We either learn how to manage this with flexibility —the work-life balance problem can be resolved with teleworking, for example— or we will lose them. We can’t treat them as we were treated 20 years ago. All of this has to be explained to auditors, because they are going to have to do something so that the new generation feels comfortable and doesn’t just leave their offices. It is also important to learn to speak in public, because if you have to take part in a meeting of a board of directors, you must be able to clearly and convincingly explain the results of the audit to the board members, or, in a court of law, ensure that the judge understands you. This is what training is all about, and the challenge is to introduce it into our plans in a way that is appealing.

Another issue is to continue to defend the interests of our chartered members in the event of a dispute. As we mentioned earlier, we also work to continue to foster alliances in our sector, and we have activated a section on our website for posting jobs or opportunities wanted and jobs or opportunities offered by firms of auditors. For example, if someone wants to sell their client portfolio because they are retiring, they can connect with someone who is interested in buying it to expand their audit group or company.

Finally, we set ourselves the two-pronged challenge of persuading the public sector to understand the need for the figure of an external guarantor who attests to the accuracy of their figures, and of convincing the private sector to perceive auditing as another asset, rather than an inconvenience. I would love it if lots of companies would agree to be audited, despite not being obliged to, to open up the market. More and more small companies not obliged to do so are volunteering to be audited to gain credibility with third-party stakeholders, apart from the banks and their partners.

Interview with José Carlos González, General Manager of Universal Hotels Group.

A delegation from Bufete Buades attended the Universal Hotels 70th anniversary celebrations on 15 September 2017. What was it like to take part in such an emotive event alongside the Erhart family, and is there any single defining moment that will stay with you?

It would be hard to single out any one special moment: the whole event was very emotive, from first to last. A 70th anniversary doesn’t come around very often, and it was a great pleasure for us to bring together all the generations of the company, our leading partners — including Joan Buades and his son— and the President of the Balearic Islands Regional Government, Francina Armengol.

The company, which currently owns sixteen hotels, has grown and evolved enormously in the 70 years since it was founded by Dr. Alfred Erhart, a pioneer in the organisation of holiday tours. In your opinion, what key factors have been decisive in the consolidation of the business so far and what is it that makes Universal Hotels different?

There are probably numerous factors, but I would begin with hospitality, personal approach and quality service. Secondly, investment in quality and in people, through training and motivation: at Universal Hotels we consider the human team our principal asset, and customer satisfaction is always the goal. And finally, our hotels are uniquely situated right on the beachfront.

Bufete Buades has been advising Universal Hotels for many years and there is a close connection between the two companies. How long has this special relationship existed and what kinds of administrative matters do you entrust to the firm?

Aside from our professional relationship, my friendship with Bufete Buades —and especially with the firm’s founder, Joan— has endured a great many years and generated mutual appreciation. We are of a similar age and I have been with the company for 35 years and, if I remember rightly, we have known each other for more than 25. We have always relied on them for consultation and defence of our interests in relation to all kinds of commercial, planning, administrative and other issues.

One of the keys to consolidating a business is the personal approach, offering a quality service

With an eye to the future, what direction will the group be taking in the years to come and what services or lines of business will be the focus?

The future can be difficult to predict but we will continue to modernise our existing hotels and expect to grow through the acquisition of additional hotels in areas such as Playa de Palma, where we currently have no assets.

The tourist season in Mallorca has been exceptional, according to the visitor numbers and occupancy rates. What is your opinion of the whole debate surrounding the alleged tourist overcrowding and the effects of holiday rentals on the regulated tourism on offer?

I would say that the tourist season has been very good, as it was last season, though I’m not sure exceptional is the right term to describe it. I have information that, in July and August, some hotels were offering promotions because their occupancy rates were not what they should have been for the time of year. In terms of tourist overcrowding and the effects of holiday rentals, I support sustainability of the territory and we all need to agree on the setting of a tourist ceiling. And to do that, whether we like it or not, the holiday rental market has to be regulated and, above all, controlled.

One last question. Based on Universal Hotels’ vision, experience and expertise, how would you define the tourist that stays in your establishments? Do you get a lot of repeat business?

Universal Hotels is proud to have a very high repeat business rate, hovering around 45% every year. We have loyal guests who have been coming back every year for 50 years. Some even come back to the same hotel and book the same room. As I have already said, we put this down to our personal approach, always being available to guests to meet their needs and making sure they are happy during their stay.

Dr Roman: “We are fighting to ensure that these children have the opportunity to be children and be able to choose their own destiny, as our children do”

For those who don’t know you, Dr Roman, how would you define yourself and your career as a doctor?

I am a paediatrician. I studied medicine at the University of Granada, did my doctorate in Barcelona and then interned at a hospital in northern Germany for a year. After that, I completed postdoctoral stays abroad, particularly in the United States. When I returned, I began working at Son Dureta and had the privilege of being the first woman in Spain to be appointed Head of Service, of the hospital’s paediatric unit in this instance, a role I fulfilled for many years until I retired.

Another highlight of my career was being invited to join the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine in 1978 and so becoming the first female member of one of Spain’s highest academic institutions; Carmen Conde was the second woman to do so when she became a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in 1979.

How and when did you first feel the spirit of solidarity that drives you to take care of children and adolescents in disadvantaged countries?

I began my journey in the world of cooperation 25 years ago in the Brazilian Amazon, hence the name of our foundation: Fundació Amazonia. We developed many health projects there because the child mortality rate was horrific and the sanitary conditions were appalling. We created health centres and, eventually, everything came together in the opening of what is now a fully operational hospital.

The second critical stage of my development in cooperation coincided with the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in Central America. I was sent to the sight of the disaster by the Balearic Islands regional government to identify and implement important victims’ assistance projects.

What projects is Fundació Amazonia currently involved in?

Currently the foundation is in a third phase entirely focused on Bolivia, the poorest country in Latin America with the highest child mortality rate continent-wide. We have begun to work with the Bolivian street children in a project that we are currently developing on a humble yet ambitious scale. We have a home for 80 street children who were homeless and living in an environment of extreme poverty, where they tended to be exploited and marginalised. At the same time, we have a home for girls from environments with extreme social conditions, and nurseries in very depressed areas. We have set up a nursery in a prison to care for children who, though they are innocent of any crime, are incarcerated in subhuman conditions for crimes committed by their parents. It is the first nursery to exist in a Bolivian prison. Another of our projects is a bakery workshop where we train bakers. We call the project “From street-life to real-life” because, as the name suggests, we are concerned with the whole process: habitat, shelter, nutrition, support, schooling, vocational training, etc. We currently have six children at university, kids who were alone on the streets and are now students of architecture, for instance.

It is very intense, very hard work. In the past, we could count on state aid for this, but 1,200 million euros were cut from international cooperation in 2012 and we were left with zero funding. As a result, we are funded by our members and donors and whatever funds we can generate using our own resources. We make presentations at all the trade fairs and conventions that come up and, in fact, this last centre came out of a project sponsored by a Swiss foundation.

We set ourselves the challenge that in ten years these street children would have disappeared from the streets of the city [Sucre]. And they really are going to disappear, because we have been engaged in the programme for seven years now and when we go out on the streets there are no longer children in those conditions, they have almost disappeared. We have 80 children in our programmes, some of them now at university. Our motto is “We can because we believe we can”, and this is truly an ongoing project.

Our ultimate objective is to reduce human suffering for these children who have been unfortunate enough to be born in a world so unjust; to fight to give them a chance so that at some point, like our Spanish children, they can choose their own destiny and cease to be slaves; to ensure they don’t have to clean shoes or windows at eight years old and do have the chance to be children, not the miniature adults they are now, lost and ignored on the streets.

What support does Fundació Amazonia receive and how are projects like those in Bolivia organised and carried out?

Our group of volunteers is very important and, in fact, we receive more applications than we can accept. We hold concerts with the UIB [University of the Balearic Islands] in Palma and with the Complutense University of Madrid. A placement on a programme like ours in Bolivia has a tremendous impact on a volunteer. Meeting reality face to face marks a before and an after in their lives. Many of them are young, full of enthusiasm, maybe a bit spoilt, but they come back having experienced considerable personal growth.

We also have a section for sponsorship of children by children, which is unusual. Spanish children sponsor a Bolivian child of their own age and it raises their awareness, they have their photos at home and they actually worry about how they are, whether their sponsored child might be cold or need some shoes, and they will administer their savings or their birthday money to be able to buy them what they need. In this way, children develop a spirit of solidarity, something which is not so easily acquired as an adult. And lastly, we are organising a party on 1 June in the Palacio March or people to get to know what we do and contribute whatever they can. We are being donated the use of the palace for the occasion.

The era of public financing of NGOs seems to be at an end. How can private initiative be involved in the task?

One message I would like to get across is the issue of companies and collectives taking part in projects. The traditional concept of charity is finished. Everything has evolved: globalisation, new technologies… When I think about offering a project to a company or entity, what I think about is offering the opportunity to be involved, the satisfaction of making a tangible contribution to a specific endeavour or action, going beyond the simple handouts of the past. We are currently developing a solidarity nursery, for instance, and the project, like all our projects, is defined and coordinated to perfection, and I offer them the opportunity to be a part of it, to make their own modest contribution, and they are asked how they want it to be, what ideas they, as patrons, have thought of, so that these can be considered and included in the development of the project. Our projects are totally transparent and anyone taking part in them can find out at any time what stage the project is at and what steps are scheduled to follow.

As well as all these contributions, there is considerable tax relief, and ultimately the name of your company is there on a plaque acknowledging your contribution, because we only really act as intermediaries. Being involved and making an active contribution is thoroughly gratifying for companies applying the principle of corporate social responsibility, and for private initiative in general.

An indelible memory or testimony that stands out for you from all these years of commitment to solidarity.

I have an indelible memory associated with this Bolivian phase, which explains why we devote our efforts to the street children. I arrived in Bolivia and was staying in a hotel. I am a very early riser and I love to wander around the streets. I got up at six in the morning and went out for a walk around Sucre, the old capital. The streets were silent and deserted until I got to a plaza where there was a tremendous commotion and ambulances and I asked what was going on. They told me: “A boy has died.” I had the good luck or the misfortune to see that boy there on the ground. These children seek out shelter to sleep at night: the Altiplano is intensely cold with extreme temperatures. They shelter in ATM lobbies or they climb up into the trees, which have bushy canopies and plenty of foliage. That boy climbed up into the tree, went to sleep and fell to the ground. The image of the boy on the ground disturbed me so much that I said to myself, “This cannot be,” and decided there and then that I would do the impossible to prevent it happening. The experience has haunted me ever since, in its contrast with the lives of our children in the western world.

Some time later I wrote a book, The Flowers of my Sobs, which relates the impact I experienced when I discovered Bolivia, where hydrocarbons are valued more highly than children. It is a developing country, with a growing GDP and cities that are changing for the better, though huge inequalities exist between the upper middle class and the poor. In Bolivia, children are still a scourge, and they have no vote. Many of them are of indigenous origin and are caught in a spiral of extreme poverty.

How and when did your relationship with Bufete Buades begin?

Teresa is my niece by marriage and the fact of being your nephews’ paediatrician gives you a certain sense of familial ancestry. I am very fond of Joan and Teresa and the special relationship persists despite not seeing each other very often. Teresa, who is a truly remarkable, kind-hearted woman, was all set to come with me on one of the association’s first trips, but ultimately it was impossible for her to go. We are delighted to be able to look forward to her presence at our next event, which she has already confirmed she will attend.

Interview with Francisco López Simó, Professor of Procedural Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB)

Francisco López Simó succeeded Santiago Cavanillas as Dean of the UIB Faculty of Law in July 2014, since when he has worked vigorously at the head of the 1500 students and 125 lecturers involved in Law and Labour Relations studies on the university’s Palma campus. The Faculty has a large deanery team, which includes the Dean, five Vice Deans and a Secretary.

– This month you will have been Dean of the UIB Faculty of Law for two years. What is your appraisal of this period and what challenges do you see for the Faculty in the near future?

-My appraisal is a very positive one. On a personal level, I have been hurled headlong into the unfamiliar and stimulating world of university management. As well as an honour and a privilege, it is an enormous professional challenge to be in charge of the Faculty, striving every day to move forward improvement projects to maintain and raise the university’s high national ranking.

On a wider level, I am satisfied with the work so far, because during my first two years as Head of the Faculty, I’ve been working, the whole deanery team has been working towards the ANECA (National Quality Assessment and Accreditation Agency) accreditation, to bring our new study programmes into line with the requirements of the European Higher Education Area and the Bologna Process. Finally, after a year of really hard, intensive work in 2015, with hundreds of reports, meetings with all the groups involved, assessment visits and so on, we can say that the accreditation process has gone very well, to the extent that we now have preliminary reports indicating that our study programmes —the Degree in Law, Degree in Labour Relations, and the Master’s in the Practice of Law which we run in conjunction with the Balearics Bar Association— comfortably comply with ANECA’s quality assurance standards. It is gratifying to know that ANECA’s assessment is that the Faculty of Law operates splendidly, that our academic offering is of a high standard. Even more gratifying, if that’s possible, is the knowledge that employers rank our graduates among the best in the country, according to the Everis Foundation’s most recent ranking (https://es.fundacioneveris.com/informe_universidad_empresa_2016.pdf). Lecturers, administrative and services staff, students, all have reason to feel very proud of this Faculty!

As for new challenges for the Faculty over the coming years, I have plenty of projects in mind. Creating a judicial oratory chair which will enable us to provide students with adequate training in this crucial skill for any legal professional; promoting the internationalisation of the Faculty by offering more subjects in English; increasing our Erasmus agreements; even setting up a Spanish-German group within the Degree in Law programme. The purpose of all of these proposals is the same: to strive for excellence and ensure that this Faculty of Law is recognised and highly-regarded in Spain as well as overseas. And we can achieve that, we have the resources to do so.

– Which aspects do you think are significantly better for UIB law students today, compared with thirty years ago when you graduated in Law from the UIB?

– A great deal has changed, and, in my opinion, for the better, in the orientation of Law studies at the UIB and Spanish universities in general. The study programme I followed (the 1953 Programme) was a five-year programme, with 25 subjects each year, based on purely theoretical explanations which we had to learn by heart, by swotting. Lengthy law manuals, legislative codes: it was very much memory-based study. Today things are different. Law studies are completed in four years, with 40 subjects each semester, combining theory and practice in approximately a 65:35 ratio. Beginning in the first year, degree students have theoretical and practical classes in all subjects, which allows them to acquire skills and abilities we didn’t acquire in the whole of our time at university: how to draw up a contract, a report, a claim. I would say that, as a result, by the time our students leave university, they are well prepared to enter the professional workforce, in law firms, companies, wherever. On the other hand, they find it harder to cope with public-sector entrance exams, which is logical, because they’re not used to swotting. I believe the whole approach to public sector entrance exams (for appointment of notaries, judges, etc.) should change; it should be appropriate to the education received by students at today’s Faculties of Law.

[roto lado=”left” texto=”The accreditation process has gone very well, as we comfortably comply with ANECA’s quality assurance standards”]

– How prepared do you think Faculty of Law students regard themselves at the end of their studies? Have you noticed any professional concerns among students in relation to, for example, the field of new technologies and Internet law?

-Throughout their degree, students complete a series of surveys that are an indispensable part of UIB’s quality assurance system. At the end of each semester, students answer a satisfaction survey on the subjects they have taken and the lecturers they have had. The survey is conducted anonymously, so that students can answer with complete freedom. At the end of each academic year, they also complete a survey on their general level of satisfaction with the study programme they are following and how the Faculty is organised and operated. Finally, students about to complete their studies in the fourth year complete a survey of around fifty questions related to the skills they should have acquired in the course of their degree, in which we ask them, for example, if they feel capable of drafting a private prosecution or an administrative appeal. And, generally speaking, our students’ responses in all of these surveys indicate a fairly high degree of satisfaction, with lecturers, study programmes, Faculty organisation and level of training receiving a rating of around eight out of ten.

With regard to new technologies, clearly these are having a profound impact in all areas, Law included. Internet is throwing up a lot of new legal issues such as the use of the Internet as a vehicle to commit crime (cybercrime), and the cancellation of personal details supplied to websites (the right to be forgotten). This is a new area of Law which stimulates a lot of interest among the students, because they have been born and raised surrounded by these new technologies, they are part of their daily lives. Conscious of this, we have core subjects (Civil, Penal) within our study programme that tackle these new legal issues. We even have some optional subjects like “Electronic and Internet Commerce”, designed to educate students about these issues on the cutting edge.

– You are a professor of Procedural Law. How would you explain what the subject is about to someone who knew little or nothing about it?

-Very briefly, I would explain that when a legal dispute cannot be settled amicably through negotiation, the only alternative is to apply to the jurisdiction of the courts for a resolution of the conflict through legal proceedings. Procedural law is, basically, the discipline that explains all of that: the jurisdiction, the process, and the rights and obligations of those involved.

I would also say, from the impassioned point of view of someone who dedicates his life to it, that I consider it a very important subject, indispensable for anyone involved in the practice of the law. You cannot be a good lawyer, procurator, judge or public prosecutor without mastering procedural law! And I think that students also perceive, very early on in their degree, that it is one of the lynchpins of their legal education.

– With Spain a member of the EU, European law is increasingly setting the legislative agenda. In your opinion, how much coherent coordination exists between European and Spanish regulations? In which direction should we be heading?

-European law (the treaties, rules, directives) is an integral part of the legislative system of the member states. Those member states are primarily responsible for its correct application, and they must also, where necessary, transpose EU directives into their own nation’s law within a stipulated period. Sadly, some states —and ours is one of them— quite often fail to meet this commitment, repeatedly violating EU legislation. The EU has had to give us a slap on the wrist on numerous occasions: the “health centime”, the Parot Doctrine, aid to Spanish steelworkers and football clubs, the European Health Insurance Card, and so on. This is not the way to proceed. If you want to be a member of a club, you have to accept and comply with all its rules!

I am a staunch defender of the EU, of European integration, because Europe guarantees, not only the single market economy, but also freedom, democracy and security. Right now with so much talk and concern about the United Kingdom’s Brexit, we want the process of building Europe to be irreversible. We must continue moving forward, in political, economic and social union as well as in legislative union. More Europe, and more European law!

– What kind of relationship do you have, or have had, with Bufete Buades?

[roto lado=”right” texto=”We must continue moving forward, in political, economic and social union as well as in legislative union. More Europe, and more European law!”]

-Although I had heard a lot about him previously, I met Mr. Joan Buades personally at a postgraduate course on the new Criminal Procedure Act organised by Dr. Isabel Tapia and myself, which took place in Palma in the autumn of the year 2000. Mr. Buades took part as a speaker. I saw immediately that his professional background was very interesting, that he could be a good “signing” to the Faculty. And the opportunity arose during the 2001/2002 academic year, when I was Vice Dean of Academic Governance. The Faculty was implementing the so-called 1997 programme, a UIB Degree in Law study programme that was somewhere between the old 1953 programme and the current Bologna programme. An important part of the programme was the Practicum, a course taken by students in the second semester of the fifth year. The course was entirely practical, so we thought it should be run by practising legal professionals such as lawyers, judges and prosecutors. Mr. Buades was awarded one of the nine Associate Lecturer places we offered for the course. He was an Associate Lecturer on the Practicum course —specifically, in Court Practicum, lecturing in Civil Procedure Practice— until 2009. Subsequently, with the current Degree study programme, he became —and still is— a lecturer in the Department of Private Law, collaborating in the teaching of the fourth year subject option “Alternative means of conflict resolution”, a field in which he is highly specialised. In recent years he has also given a seminar on Company Arbitration and Bankruptcy Mediation to students of the Master’s in Advocacy, run by the UIB in conjunction with the Balearics Bar Association (ICAIB). So, in spite of his multiple commitments, Mr. Buades has been collaborating with us in teaching tasks for many years now, for which we are very grateful. It is very necessary, indeed essential, that the Faculty includes successful professional lawyers among its team of lecturers. No one is better qualified to offer students that practical vision of the law that the Bologna programme aims to promote.

As for his law firm, Bufete Buades, I don’t think I’m giving anything away if I say that it’s among the most important “local” law firms in the Balearic Islands, both for the number of cases it handles and the number of lawyers working there —some of whom, incidentally, were former students, good students, of this Faculty. Several of the firm’s lawyers have followed in the wake of Mr. Buades and got involved in university lecturing: Carlos de la Mata, Lorenzo Salva and Miguel Reus have all joined the Faculty as Associate Lecturers.

To sum up, my relationship, this Faculty’s relationship with Bufete Buades is a longstanding and fruitful one, in the academic sense. As I’ve just explained, the firm is —if you’ll forgive the expression— a good pool of Associate Lecturers for the UIB. And I hope it will continue to be so.

– There has been no shortage of major cases being tried in Balearic courtrooms in recent years. From your experience as a judge, and purely from a technical point of view, what is your opinion of the conduct of the Nóos case trial, one of the most, if not the most closely followed by the media in recent Spanish history?

-We could be talking for hours, for days, about the investigation and trial of the Nóos case. There is enough material there to fill several doctoral theses in penal and procedural law: the charges made and dropped against the Spanish Infanta during the investigation phase; the attempt on the part of Iñaki Urdangarín’s defence and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor to remove Judge Castro from the case and have it tried instead by the Valencia Supreme Court of Justice; the Prosecutor’s attempt to accuse [and therefore disqualify] the lawyer representing Manos Limpias, the only party bringing a charge against the Infanta; the “procedural crossfire” exchanged between judge and prosecutor. All this, and much more, went on for no less than five and a half years of investigation and six months of public hearings, with six charges, eighteen defendants and more than 300 witnesses. From the start of this “macro-trial” to the sentencing, more than six years will have gone by. And it won’t end there, for the sentence will surely be appealed by one or other of the parties. In other words, the judicial response will come, but it will be a long, long time coming. Slow justice is still justice, I think, but less so.

We don’t have the time here to go into these and many other fascinating aspects of the case, but I feel one thing must be emphasised above all. The trial of the Nóos case has shown that, despite assertions to the contrary, all citizens are equal before the law. In the end, Cristina de Borbón, sister of the King and Spanish Infanta, had to sit in the dock; she was not spared that shame by the Baleares Provincial Court, which ruled not to apply the so-called Botín Doctrine. It remains to be seen what judgement the court will hand down, whether or not the Infanta will be convicted of cooperating in her husband’s tax fraud. Whatever the result, I think it is important to point out the extraordinary professionalism, independence and impartiality shown throughout the public hearing by examining magistrates Samantha Romero, Eleonor Moyá and Rocío Martín (incidentally, Romero is a former student and Moyá a former associate professor of this Faculty). One of the positive outcomes of the Nóos case is that, on this occasion, the judicial system has functioned correctly.

– In recent weeks there has been a lot of talk about the latest reform of the Criminal Procedure Act and its attendant issues, which public prosecutors warn will result in a huge number of cases being dismissed. What do you think of this reform, which came into force on 6 December 2015?

-The 2015 criminal procedural reform is the nth “patch-up” reform of our ancient Criminal Procedure Act of 1882, and, in my opinion, it should be viewed in a positive light overall. This latest reform introduces important new criminal justice measures to aid expedition and investigation (regulation covering technological investigation, both necessary and urgent since the Criminal Procedure Act up to now only included the interception of postal, telegraphic and telephone communications) and strengthen procedural guarantees (substitution of the term “accused” with “under investigation”, generalisation of the second instance in criminal cases, establishment of a review mechanism for sentences handed down by the European Court of Human Rights, and reinforcement of the right of defence in all stages of the penal process).

New measures introduced by the 2015 reform to expedite criminal justice and avoid needless delays in proceedings include modification of the rules on criminal connections, in order to avoid an increase in huge-scale “macro-cases”; no police statements relating to “unknown perpetrator” crimes are to be referred to the courts and the prosecution service; and the regulation of a new proceeding known as “acceptance by Decree” of the Public Prosecutor, which aims to provide a very rapid punitive response to minor offences. Doubtless the most significant measure, and the one to have attracted most media attention, is the setting of maximum terms for the investigation phase. The investigation phase of a criminal proceeding is limited to six months for straightforward cases and eighteen months for complex cases, terms which the legislator of the 2015 reform defines as “realistic” and “reliable”.

Prosecutors’ associations have warned of the risk of impunity inferred by these maximum terms. However, this doesn’t seem to me to be a very significant risk in reality. The 2015 reform has established a fairly extensive list of circumstances under which the investigation can be considered “complex” and therefore in practice it will be fairly common for an investigation that hits a problem and needs more time to be declared complex and so be permitted to run to a maximum of 18 months. That term may also be extended, for an equal or shorter term, at the petition of the Prosecutor, and in exceptional circumstances may even be extended again, at the petition of both the Prosecutor and the other participating parties, provided there are sufficient grounds to do so. And that’s not all: all of the terms mentioned are suspended for as long as proceedings are carried out in secrecy, or when a temporary stay of proceedings is agreed (new wording of Article 324 of the Criminal Procedure Act). The reality, therefore, is not an insurmountable and relatively short time boundary, but a flexible one that can run to as much as 36 months, three years!

– When you’re not expanding your knowledge of the law, what other kinds of books do you like to pass the time with?

-I like historical novels very much (Robert Graves, Pérez Galdos, Hugh Thomas, Santiago Posteguillo, Ken Follett), especially ones set in the Egypt of the Pharaohs (Christian Jacq, Terenci Moix). Then, biased by my profession, obviously, I also like fiction with a legal theme (John Grisham, Scott Turow, Robert Traver, Harper Lee, Borja Martínez-Echevarría).

However, reading is not what most entertains me in my free time these days, I suppose that’s an unconscious reaction to my work, which obliges me to read for so many hours every day. At weekends and on holidays, my favourite pastime is sport, mostly tennis and padel. I’m a tennis fan, I’ve been passionate about it since childhood and I take it up again in the summer holidays. I go into training and enter some veteran’s competition or other: I love the adrenalin of competition. Naturally I’m a big fan of our Rafa Nadal, I follow him on television and in action whenever I can. It would be fantastic to see him bite his tenth Musketeers Cup in Paris.

I also love travelling, getting away with just my wife or together with our children or friends. For me, it’s the best way to break with routine and really unwind. Mallorca is a wonderful place to live, but the world is far too beautiful to just stay at home and never get to see it!

Interview with Xisco Jiménez, the Mallorca astrophysicist who took part in the detection of gravitational waves

Xisco Jiménez is a physicist and member of the Relativity and Gravitation Group at the University of the Balearic Islands, the only group in Spain affiliated to the LIGA and GEO international collaboration projects involving 1,000 scientists from fifteen countries. This observatory’s mission is the detection of a phenomenon suggested by Einstein, that of gravitational waves.

– How does it feel to have contributed to one of the biggest scientific discoveries of the year, the detection of the gravitational waves theorized by Einstein exactly a hundred years ago?

– It was amazing and highly emotional, especially for us as the youngest researchers who are new recruits to the field of science but had the good fortune to experience it directly. I say that because many people worked on this project, but for us, who practically just happened to be there, we found we had won the lottery just a few years after starting out. We had direct information available to us because my thesis colleague was right there where the detectors are located and was able to see what was happening in real time on the big screens. Imagine it, to experience such elation and then, for various bureaucratic reasons and confidentiality commitments, not be able to share the discovery beyond the team members. Fortunately we were in contact and were able to discover it almost instantaneously, first-hand.

– Imagine you are in front of a class of 10 to 12 year-olds. How would you explain this phenomenon so that they could understand it?

– As you know, the scientific article talks of two black holes colliding and disturbing that strange something that is spacetime. This begins to vibrate and it is then that these vibrations reach us. But that’s too complex and technical. So to put it into real, everyday terms, imagine you are standing in front of a lake that is absolutely smooth, still and stable, and you throw a stone into it. Imagine you’re blind as well and that you’re standing with your feet on the bank, then you would observe that something was happening in that smooth lake because you would begin to notice oscillations in the water caused by the impact of the stone. So if, instead of a small stone, you start to throw bigger and bigger stones, those waves or disturbances would be bigger and bigger and therefore the impact you would feel would be much greater.

So the analogy would be this: we need objects that are truly massive and very compact, like black holes (the stones), in order to make space (the lake) vibrate. What these holes do is move the points of space, causing them to vibrate, and with them ourselves and everything else contained in space.

– Right now you are immersed in your doctoral thesis, based on the study of gravitational waves. Tell us a little about where you’re at with that and what you still have left to do.

– The thesis is in its final stages now. I am currently in the writing stage and I hope to defend the thesis by the end of December. Evidently all this new material that has appeared since last September, since this discovery, that is, is going to be very useful, to make the thesis more attractive, at least. Future projects? We will try to carry on researching. For the sake of the health of science, that will probably take place outside Spain; also because the possibilities are limited here. It’s not easy for young researchers to work in this country.

– How is a project as big as this coordinated at the UIB through your research group?

– How do you coordinate a programme on such a large scale? Well, imagine how discussions arise in a family of four, five or six people: it’s no different in a large community of researchers. But the fact of having these different visions from such different countries and from so many people bringing different ideas to the table is what makes this type of project successful. In fact, this collaboration actually began as an exclusively American project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). But they quickly realized they needed the input of minds from other continents and went beyond the American continent in order to bring about a vastly increased development of pure science and theory.

– The UIB has a very good reputation internationally in certain fields of scientific investigation. What do you think of the work being done in the different subject areas, and in particular in the field of physics?

– I think it is a university categorized with a seal of excellence, on the official level. Unofficially speaking, clearly there is always room for improvement. In other words, we are a small faculty, we don’t have many students, that much is true, but if I had a complaint it would be about the lack of interdisciplinarity that exists among the physicists, the scant contact that exists between adjacent offices. And how this reality may be projected in exhibitions of work to the general public, something which is of equal benefit to all. The most obvious example is in the lack of interconnection that I, as an astrophysicist and physicist in the Physics department, have with the Constitx observatory, that’s to say, there is practically no contact. It looks as if some new ideas are currently being handed down, but until now there has been no coherent, continuous collaboration with this observatory that we have here, and it is something that students could greatly benefit from.

– When did you know that you wanted to be a physics researcher?

– I knew from when I was a small boy. I knew then that I really enjoyed observing the sky and the stars, but I enjoyed it like any kid who likes to play at being a scientist, all the while getting more and more curious about the night sky. Then, as the years went by, I got other ideas, until I ended up studying Physics because of that old, somewhat bucolic idea of the boy who wants to be an astronaut or an astrophysicist. Then I said to myself, why not? When I started the first year of my degree I came across teachers with genuine expertise who were really interesting from a scientific point of view, and that confirmed my expectations.

– How do you think your passion for science has influenced your life? Do you think you have had to sacrifice social life because of your dedication to science or has it instead given you the opportunity to meet fascinating people and create new friendships?

– Personally, I’ve always been ranting because I saw that in other degrees the work programme seemed to be totally different to mine. But I certainly didn’t miss out when it came to the partying, let’s put it like that, so socially I haven’t been limited in any way, though it is true that the mechanics of the work were genuinely different to that of other fields of study where people tended to do things almost at the last minute, whereas my work needed to be followed continuously throughout the academic year. It is also true that this degree has enabled me to meet really respected scientists and some amazing characters. Above all, it gave me the opportunity to travel to congresses and get to meet many of those scientists with pages on Wikipedia packed with information. Having the opportunity to ask Roger Penrose or Stephen Hawking a question in person is a priceless experience. You have the photo, at least.

– What is your relationship with Bufete Buades?

– My relationship with Bufete Buades is one of friendship verging on family because of the direct link with my aunt and uncle, who are long-standing personal friends of Joan and Teresa. This has meant that I have met up with their son, Biel, on many occasions, and we have played together since we were small. It’s a friendly relationship.

– When you get away from the waves, what do you do with your free time?

– I love football and I’ve played nearly all my life. When I’ve tried to give it up, football hasn’t wanted to give me up. It’s a love-hate relationship and I’m still involved in it. Sport is my second passion – as a fan, obviously. Right now I play in the Third Division for Playas de Calvià. Sport is necessary. The experience you gain from your other competitive side, from another professional aspect, is invaluable, and the sum of the two parts is always a bonus.

– Where do you see yourself going professionally after you finish your doctoral thesis linked to gravitational waves?

– To answer that quickly, I would say with a post-doctoral stay, which are usually one, two or three years long, and abroad, if I’m lucky. Outside Spain they don’t seem so hard to come by as they are here. After that, I don’t know but I don’t rule anything out. Even a change of field is appealing, I mean, not working in pure science but trying to move into one of the many branches with a greater application in the corporate world. I have friends working in financial and consultancy companies, for instance. Of course, I would like to be able to develop my professional activity in teaching, but I can’t look further ahead than the next two or three years, or even one year.

Your refrigerator is never out of…

Water.

To achieve maximum concentration, you usually practise…

Sport.

Your favourite Mallorca dish and who makes it best

Definitely Arròs brut (Mallorca-style risotto with wild mushrooms and game), and I have to name two chefs: my mother Amelia and my aunt Mercedes.

The image that best encapsulates happiness in your childhood

That would probably be on a football field, celebrating a win.

A historical figure you would have liked to meet and why

I would like to have met Albert Einstein, but away from a scientific context, probably with a guitar and three beers too many, having a conversation that wasn’t all about science but about other aspects of life.

The quality you most admire in a person

Courage.

Xisco Jiménez is never away from…

His friends.

A place you would like to escape to for a time

If I had to go somewhere really extreme, I would go to India to work for a year, for example. Nearer home, who knows, I would go to any country…

Entrevistas anteriores:

Albert Pinya: “In art, intuition is more important than reason”

Miquel Roca: “Suicide is the major cause of death in under-35’s”