Balearic linguistic identity
The question of Balearic identity is a hotly debated topic, just as it is in Catalonia and the Basque Country. In fact, it is strongly linked to language. Since the Balearic Islands became an autonomous community, Catalan has been the archipelago's official language. Accompanied by Castilian (Spanish), it is, in fact, a co-official language, according to the terms used in the legal texts. The majority of islanders claim to understand Catalan, but around 30% do not speak it. In reality, the use of Catalan is essentially limited to political institutions. State schools are supposed to offer teaching in both languages from nursery school onwards, which would make it easier to find a job in Catalonia, or to continue university studies on the mainland. But once 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 José Ramón Bauzá (PP) government's reform of the education system, which proposed a trilingual Catalan-Castilian-English system, reducing Catalan hours 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 set to regain a balance within schools. As a result of highly-developed tourism, some foreign languages, especially Italian and German, are also widely spoken on Formentera. On a Balearic scale, however, Catalan remains the most widely spoken language (especially on Formentera): 73% of the population can speak it and almost 90% understand it, making Catalan a true linguistic mainstay. Despite this attachment to a traditional identity cradled in centuries-old habits and customs, the population has changed dramatically in recent years. Today, the island is very cosmopolitan: around 30% of its population is foreign.
A diverse summer population
In addition to the foreign population permanently settled on the island, there are a good number of seasonal workers, as well as the many holidaymakers who visit the island during the summer months. Before the Spanish Civil War, there were just two guesthouses on the island. It wasn't until the 1960s that the island opened up to tourism, triggering the development of the construction sector. Ten years after the 1973 oil crisis put the brakes on, the tourism boom took off again, with the number of beds rising from around 2,700 in 1980 to around 4,600 in 1996. Over the same period, tourist apartment rentals grew by a spectacular 150%. While the first tourists to arrive in the 1960s tended to be hippies, 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: the majority of businesses, especially hotels and restaurants, are now run by Italians!
