SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, December 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Plenary of the Parliament of the Canary Islands has approved this Tuesday the General Budgets of the Autonomous Community for 2022 with the support of the quadripartite (PSOE, NC, Sí Podemos and ASG); “prudent and realistic” budgets to consolidate a “solidarity growth” between citizens and territories.
In total, the budgets totaled 9,098.3 million, 7.3% more than this year (624.2 million more) with 75% of non-financial spending allocated to social policies and public services.
The four parties that make up the so-called ‘Pact of the flowers’ have highlighted that the budgets are prudent and necessary for the economic recovery of the Islands due to the coronavirus crisis and for the reconstruction of La Palma, while the opposition formations – -CC, PP and Cs – have been labeled unreal.
At the end of the voting, the Vice President and Minister of Finance, Román Rodríguez, thanked the work carried out by the Chamber and the Government. He indicated that we are in a “difficult” moment, especially on La Palma, and asked citizens to “take care” because the pandemic “is at its worst moment of expansion.”
A “GIANT WITH MUD FEET”
The spokesperson for the Mixed Group, Vidina Espino, affirmed that these budgets are nothing more than a “giant with feet of clay” because they foresee income that is not in line with the growth forecasts of the economy for next year.
Vidina Espino also regretted that none of the amendments that the Mixed Group has presented to the accounts have been taken into account with the aim of starting certain commitments from the Canarian Executive, the first with the island of La Palma.
He criticized that the groups that support the Government do not accept the amendments based on whether or not they are good for the Canaries, but based on who makes them, those who do not exercise opposition work or who criticize the Government “quietly” .
The PP spokesman, Fernando Enseñat, recalled that his party presented an amendment to the totality of the accounts because they are “useless” to get out of the economic crisis and “unreal and irresponsible” in income and growth forecasts.
“[Los presupuestos] They are the demonstration of the failure of the Government and its social and economic policies. The Canary Islands are always among the worst in Spain and are incapable of solving a single one of the real problems of the islanders, “he said.
The popular deputy at this point denounced the “arrogance” and “complacency” of the regional Executive, about which he said “he does not listen and does not allow himself to be helped.”
“The 2022 budgets aspire to be the continuity of 2021 … because in 2021, with the largest budget in history, you have been unable to solve even one of the real problems or improve any of the indicators. The pandemic It cannot be the trench where the government’s incompetence hides, “he said.
He explained that in front of these budgets, the PP presented a “plan b” with 321 amendments with “proactive” and “effective” proposals, to support families, workers, and the productive sectors, with a reduction in taxes and with measures to create employment, for which he regretted that only twelve have been approved.
For the Canary Nationalist Group, the deputy Rosa Dávila condemned the absence of the president, Ángel Víctor Torres, in the debate and called the budgets “continuists” because they do not present “any substantial innovation” and because they show that the Government of the Pact of Flowers He keeps making “the same creative accounting mistakes.”
According to Rosa Dávila, they are also accounts that “can feed a well-oiled propaganda” but “do not solve” the problems of citizenship and do not place the Archipelago on the path of recovery; ensuring, furthermore, that they are assumptions that will be “defeated” by reality and that they commit “the same mistakes and improvisations” as the previous two.
PREPARED “THOROUGHLY”
The deputy Melodie Mendoza (ASG) emphasized that these budgets have been drawn up “conscientiously”, taking into account the “difficult” situation that the Autonomous Community is going through, especially the island of La Palma, and betting on health, education and health, to which three out of every four euros are allocated.
Melodie Mendoza stressed that we are facing “the best accounts the Canary Islands could have for next year” and that “they include most of the demands and needs of the eight islands.” In short, he said that they are “necessary” budgets to consolidate the archipelago’s social and economic recovery, as well as “progressive and realistic.”
The spokesman for Sí Podemos, Manuel Marrero, stressed that these are “expansive” but “prudent” and “necessary” budgets for the reconstruction of La Palma after the volcano and the recovery of the Canary Islands after the coronavirus crisis.
“One more year –he said–, the coalition government will be able to carry out new budgets, the third parties of the legislature, and thus consolidate the political agreements that led us to form this government to be useful and give answers to society’s problems “.
Thus, he understood that among the main axes are the fight against poverty and unemployment, saving lives in the face of the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable, promoting social policies and betting on public services.
“They are prudent, realistic, safe and committed budgets with our society. They are good budgets because in times of uncertainty there is no greater certainty than a government that is committed to social policies,” he said.
NC: BUDGETS “CONTEXTUALIZED” TO THE CURRENT DOUBLE CRISIS
From NC, the deputy of Nueva Canarias (NC), Esther González, has explained that they are budgets “adapted” and “contextualized” to the moments that are currently experienced with the crisis of the coronavirus and the La Palma volcano.
Likewise, he stressed that the accounts have a markedly progressive, social, realistic, expansive and prudent nature, something, he reiterated, “situations of double crisis are fundamental.”
However, González pointed out that at a time like the current one, the public acquires even greater importance so that administrations can face the demands of society, since it avoids indebtedness for the next few years and has a “clear vocation of impulse of employment “, all of this so that” the Canary Islands consolidate itself as a fairer and more balanced society “.
Finally, from the PSOE, Matilde Fleitas has assured that the budgets are an exercise of “responsibility” that seek to promote the well-being of island society. “They said that the ‘Pact of the flowers’ did not survive a winter and they are already going for their third budgets,” he celebrated.
He also stated that the 2022 accounts will serve to “advance” in a key year to leave the worst crisis behind. “We will approve the best budget in the history of the Canary Islands –he continued -. That cannot be denied. 9,098 million euros in non-financial expenditure confirm this. We have not cut a single euro, we have not passed the scissors”.
“The articulated text of this budget law is the antithesis of the spending ecstasies of bygone eras, with rational, restrained and content numbers that encourage investment and growth but without waste,” he concluded.
