Who is Marga Prohens, from translator to president of the Balearic Islands?

Margalida «Marga» Prohens Rigo was born on 24 May 1982 in Campos, a small town in southern Mallorca. She grew up on the island before moving to Barcelona to study, earning a degree in translation and interpreting from Pompeu Fabra University, specialising in legal and sworn translation for Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later completing a master's in communication and public relations at EAE Business School and the University of Barcelona.

Before entering politics, she worked as a translator for the NGO Intermón Oxfam in Barcelona, then for the Club Náutico de la Ràpita, before becoming a language mediator at Palma city hall. She took her first political steps through Nuevas Generaciones, the youth wing of the Partido Popular (PP), chairing its Campos branch from 2005 to 2009 before becoming its Balearic vice-president.

Her career as an elected official began in 2011, when she entered the Balearic Islands Parliament as a member for Mallorca; she was re-elected in 2015 and served as PP group spokesperson until 2018. In April 2019 she was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies in Madrid, a term she renewed that November and held until 2023. In July 2021 she took over as leader of the Balearic PP without internal opposition, succeeding Biel Company.

In the elections of 28 May 2023, the Balearic PP gained nine seats and became the largest force in the regional Parliament with 26 seats. Marga Prohens was sworn in as president of the Government of the Balearic Islands on 6 July 2023, with 26 votes in favour, 25 against and 8 abstentions from Vox lawmakers, who did not join the executive but simultaneously backed the election of Gabriel Le Senne as Parliament speaker. Her government was formed on 10 July 2023.

Three years on, her grip on the Balearic PP is unambiguous: meeting in regional congress in Palma, the party re-elected her leader on 23 May 2026 with 99.93% of the vote. She kept her leadership team in place, with Sebastià Sagreras as general coordinator and Sandra Fernández as general secretary.

Her relationship with Pedro Sánchez's central government remains marked by recurring disagreements over regional funding, housing and migratory pressure on the archipelago. On 24 July 2026, after an audience with King Felipe VI at the Almudaina Palace in Palma, she summed up her exasperation to the press with a question that made headlines locally: what have the citizens of the Balearic Islands done to deserve this? These exchanges fit a familiar institutional tug-of-war between a PP-led regional government and a Socialist-led national one; no judicial proceedings target Marga Prohens herself.

Photo credit: official portrait of Margalida Prohens Rigo released by the Govern de les Illes Balears on 10 July 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.

This portrait was prepared with AI assistance, then cross-checked, verified and edited by our editorial team, who take full editorial responsibility for it. Facts verified on 18 August 2026.