The President of the Government defines Queen Sofia as “one more Mallorcan, one more citizen of the Balearic Islands”.

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Marga Prohens presents the Ramon Llull Awards and the Gold Medal of the Balearic Islands

In her speech, she took the opportunity to demand compensation for the insularity and funding that corresponds to the Islands.

The president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Margalida Prohens, this afternoon presented the Ramon Llull 2024 awards to the sixteen winners and also the Gold Medal, the highest distinction of the Autonomous Community, to Her Majesty Queen Sofia, of whom she highlighted her ties and social commitment to the Islands, and whom she defined as “one more Mallorcan, one more citizen of the Balearic Islands”.

Prohens defined Queen Sofia as “the wife, the mother, the grandmother and the sister who discovers for decades, year after year, these islands with her family, who finds in our corners and streets a refuge, who finds intimacy and discretion, who preserves here memories of a lifetime, who transmits to her grandchildren the passion for our sea, who is interested in our culture, our people, who cares about the most vulnerable, who immerses herself in the life of these islands until she becomes, for all of us, one more Mallorcan, one more citizen of our islands”, just before presenting her with the Gold Medal.

The President of the Government also recognized the work of the sixteen recipients of the Ramon Llull Award for their contribution to the Balearic Islands. Bàrbara Mestre, director general of Mater, spoke on behalf of all of them, describing the Balearic Islands as “a land of people who know that a life is not embellished with appearances, but with realities. Brave, non-conformist and creative people who, one day, decided to bet, often starting from nothing, for their dreams. Dreams that rest on the roots that sustain us and that are structured with the values that guide our unique way of being, doing and feeling,” he added.

This year’s award went to palliative care physician Enric Benito Oliver; marine ecologist and IMEDEA professor Beatriz Morales-Nin; water resources engineer José Antonio Fayas Janer; the social entity Mater, dedicated to education, training and the social and labor insertion of people with disabilities, for its 60 years of work; the historical site Menorca Talayotic, a UNESCO World Heritage Site; to the Museum of Contemporary Art Es Baluard, for its 20th anniversary; to the Ibizan historian and disseminator Joan Planells Ripoll; to the Xavier Fiol Gallery, for its 35th anniversary; to the singer Lorenzo Santamaría, for his 50 years of musical career; to the Illes Balears Palma Futsal team, for its sporting successes achieved in 2023; to the Mallorcan women’s World Cup champions with the Spanish national team Mariona Caldentey and Cata Coll, and to the designer Sebastià Pons. Three Ramon Llull awards were also presented posthumously: to the businessman Gabriel Sampol, to the teacher and founder of Formenterers Solidaris Teresa Costa, and to the historian and disseminator María José Massot.

The president of the Government has used her speech to demand fair funding and autonomy for the Balearic Islands. Prohens has mentioned a whole generation of people who, from the agreement and harmony, worked to achieve an autonomy that identifies us. “A generation of references, as the one who was president of the Inter-island General Council and the Parliament, Jeroni Albertí Picornell, whom today, on a day like this, it is a debt and an obligation to remember,” he said.

In this sense, Prohens also referred to fair funding for the Balearic Islands. “We are islands that do not want to be more than anyone else, but not less, that only claim what they consider fair,” he insisted. Therefore, he called for “recognition and compensation for insularity, to ensure services to citizens and to allow companies to compete on equal terms”.

The institutional act of the Day of the Balearic Islands, which was attended by nearly 700 people, began with the performance of musicians and groups of dancers representing the four islands. Specifically, it began with the group of dancers Es Broll d’Eivissa; from Formentera, the groups Es Xacoters and Es Pastorells; the group Arrels de Sant Joan de Ciutadella, dancers from Menorca, and the dancers and musicians of the School of Music and Dances of Mallorca. The gala also featured a musical performance by singer Júlia Colom, with the interpretation of the song “Olivera”. To conclude, the event ended with a performance by the string quartet of the Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands, which played three pieces by Enrique Pastor.