SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 12. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has highlighted that poverty has only increased on the islands by 4 percent compared to other autonomous communities where it has increased by 70 percent, and he wanted to make it clear that the Canary Islands they know that with the Government formed by PSOE, NC, ASG and Podemos “they are in good hands”.
This was stated in the control session with the Government, in response to questions from the Mixed Group, the Canarian Nationalist Group, the Popular Group and the Socialist Group on various economic issues, such as the surplus of the autonomous community, the forecasts of the Government of Spain for the coming months, the effects of inflation or employment data.
The head of the Canarian Executive indicated that the surplus in 2021 amounts to 210 million euros, from an initial budget of 8,400 million, which ended up being 10,400 million, the budget with the highest execution and investment in the entire history of the Canary Islands. This surplus represents 2% of the final budget, the lowest percentage and amount in recent years.
Torres clarified that of these 210 million surplus “not a single euro is lost” and they are destined for essential basic services. He also recalled that in the 2018 budgets there was a 500 million surplus -900 if the Highway Agreement is added- in a budget of 1,000 million less. He also emphasized that the 2021 budget brings the largest amount of funds to the canaries “without a doubt”.
Torres admitted that the income of the Government of the Canary Islands has increased for different reasons, including inflation, but he clarified that in the same way that income increases, so do the expenses of families and Public Administrations. However, he assured that the Canarian Executive now has “economic strength” that allows it to face the coming months “with better backs.”
The spokeswoman for the Joint Group, Vidina Espino, stressed that the data says that “we have a government that is richer than ever and citizens that are poorer than ever.” “Families do not make it to the end of the month, the self-employed are up to their necks in water and small businesses cannot pay bills or credits to face the pandemic; however, you just keep collecting and collecting and neither feel nor suffer”. For this reason, she asked the Government to lower taxes and help Canarian families because “there is room” to do so.
For her part, the spokeswoman for the Popular Group, María Australia Navarro, criticized the “disastrous” management of the Executive and affirmed that the only one that is benefiting from the increase in prices is the Government of the Canary Islands, which is “funding itself at the expense of companies and families that do not make it to the end of the month”. “It’s time to abandon demagoguery and really help the canaries. Don’t continue bleeding them with taxes,” she urged Navarro.
Faced with these criticisms, Ángel Víctor Torres wanted to recall that there are currently 190,000 unemployed people, close to 900,000 Social Security affiliates and 50% of contracts are indefinite; when the PP governed in Spain and in the Canary Islands there were 300,000 unemployed people, 300,000 fewer affiliates to Social Security and 9% of indefinite contracts: “If ours is a disastrous management, what adjective should be given to the Government of the Popular Party ?”, I ask.
“IMITATING” PEDRO SÁNCHEZ.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Canarian Nationalist Group, Pablo Rodríguez, stated that the Government of the Canary Islands is “away” from the current reality and “imitating” Pedro Sánchez, “thinking that things are going well when families are having a really bad time.” .
He stressed that the measures that have been put in place by the State to alleviate this situation “are not enough”; That is why he asked Torres to “once and for all” take action on the matter and implement the measures that the self-government allows to alleviate what Canarian families are suffering.
In response, the president clarified that the Canarian government has made its own decisions in the face of inflation, or the extension of the special fuel tax refund to carriers.
He also advanced that he will update the current budget and is already working on the 2023 budget, which will be done “with a head, being conservative and trying to adjust the economic amounts as much as possible” in order, in the end, to achieve a high budget execution, which, he recalled, in 2021 was 123% more than the initial one and 96% more than the final one. He added that the uncertainties that are currently being experienced will be taken into account, as well as the strength of the Canary Islands economy, which, he said, is “indisputable.”
Finally, the spokesperson for the Socialist Group, Nira Fierro, stressed that the Canary Islands have been reducing unemployment figures for four consecutive months thanks, among other reasons, to the “intense” protection of companies and employment by the Government of the Canary Islands, the which has faced every adversity from public investment and social protection. For this reason, she invited the Canarian president to continue like this against those who maintain a story “of pessimism and catastrophism”.
In this regard, Ángel Víctor Torres stressed that the islands have been “tremendously bad” at times, but today they can boast of having the lowest number of unemployed and the highest number of Social Security affiliates in ten years and the highest percentage of indefinite contracts “that the Canary Islands have never had”.
“Therefore, today we are not as bad as we were before, which does not mean that we can be in the future, but what message of hope and illusion is sent to the canaries if we already anticipate that we are going to be bad?” asked Torres, who advocated taking “coherent and non-demagogic” measures such as lowering taxes, “which absolutely no one who is a bit serious signs.”
