Balearic linguistic identity
The question of Balearic identity is a subject rich in debate, in the same way as in Catalonia or the Basque Country. It is in fact strongly linked to language. Since the Balearic Islands became an autonomous community, Catalan has been the official language of the archipelago. Accompanied by Castilian (Spanish), it is, in fact, a co-officiality, according to the terms used in the legal texts. The majority of the islanders claim to understand Catalan, but approximately 30% do not speak it. In reality, the use of Catalan is essentially limited to political institutions. Public schools are supposed to teach both languages from kindergarten onwards, which would help people to find a job in Catalonia, or to continue their university studies on the mainland. But again, the reality is different: in schools, Castilian is the majority language in the classroom, and local dialects (formenter or formenter in Formentera) are mainly spoken in the playground. The latter have even become symbols of nationalism for the older generation.
This official model was nevertheless threatened from 2013 onwards by the reform of the education system of the government of José Ramón Bauzá (PP), which proposed a trilingual Catalan-Castilian-English system, reducing the hours of Catalan in favor of English. Despite its annulment by the Supreme Court in 2014, this reform has been the subject of much debate. Currently, with the Socialist Party in government since June 2015, tempers have calmed and the two languages are expected to regain a balance in schools. As a result of a highly developed tourism, some foreign languages, Italian and German in particular, are also widespread on Formentera. However, on a Balearic scale, Catalan is still the most widely spoken language (especially in Formentera): 73% of the population can speak it and almost 90% understand it, making Catalan a true linguistic pillar. In spite of this attachment to a traditional identity cradled by age-old customs and traditions, the population has changed significantly in recent years. The island is nowadays very cosmopolitan: there are almost 4,000 foreign residents, a third of the total population of Formentera)
A diverse summer population
In addition to this foreign population permanently settled on the island, there are a good number of seasonal workers and also many holidaymakers who visit the island during the summer. It is important to note that before the Spanish Civil War, the island had only two guesthouses. It was not until the 1960s that the island opened up to tourism, leading to the development of the construction sector. Ten years after the oil crisis of 1973, the tourist boom resumed with a vengeance: from nearly 2,700 beds in 1980 to about 4,600 beds in 1996. The renting of tourist apartments also experienced a spectacular growth of almost 150% during this same period. If the first tourists who arrived in the sixties were more of the hippy type, the island now attracts a more affluent clientele in search of exclusivity. First the British, then the Germans and now the Italians have made Formentera their own little paradise: 70% of the businesses, especially hotels and restaurants, are now run by Italians. If an air of bohemia still floats in the air of Formentera, it tends to be rarefied.
