If we can Canary Islands rejects the Cabildo’s budget project for 2023. In fact, it is the first time in the four years of the current mandate that the purples, who promoted the pact of the insular Government between PSOE and Citizens with their external support, present an amendment to the entire of the accounts with 63 amendments that affect a global amount of 38.6 million euros. They feel used because up to 42 of those 63 amendments have funds allocated, but they have not been executed.
The rejection of Sí Podemos Canarias jeopardizes the approval of the island accounts in the event that the opposition, made up of CC and PP, does not support them. There are two weeks left until the monographic plenary session of the budgets on the 16th. As of today, the three votes of the directors of the purple group, key throughout the term, are against approving the 2023 accounts. This newspaper contacted yesterday with Canarian Coalition, the first opposition party, which is going to wait for the development of events over the next few days to decide its position. They value their 30 proposals to amend the draft at approximately 100 million euros. The government group declined to assess the decision of the left-wing coalition.
The Sí Podemos Canarias coalition in the Cabildo is made up of Podemos, Sí se puede and Equo. The island councilors, María José Belda, David Carballo and Cristo González, together with José Luis Almenara from Sí se puede, make this clear from the outset. They announce that the group has decided “to submit for the first time in this mandate an amendment to the entirety.” They consider that this government team “maintains continuist policies of the Canarian Coalition that lead to the destruction of our fragile territory and do not contribute to improving citizen well-being.”
front opposition
María José Belda, spokesperson, points out that “we flatly reject that PSOE and Cs present an amendment to provide financing to the Circuit of the Engine next year”. The Circuit does not have a specific item consigned in the draft of the island accounts, but the government of PSOE and Cs presents the amendment to endow it financially. For Sí Podemos Canarias, this infrastructure is “a red line”, although it is only “the tip of the iceberg”. They criticize that financing the Circuit is “the last straw” and point out that “the ball is now in the court of the insular government.” Negotiate, yes, but compromise on issues like this, no.
Belda appreciates that there have also been numerous breaches of plenary and commission agreements, together with the island government’s lack of political will to execute budget items that the group had managed to have entered in the accounts for the 2022 financial year.
María José Belda recalls that “the island government refused to promote our proposal to create a participatory process in which the citizens of Tenerife manifest themselves on the Motor Circuit, since participation is a fundamental axis of our way of understanding politics”.
The island spokesperson points out that “we have registered 63 amendments for a value close to 40 million euros -exactly 38,635,741-, which give continuity to the work in this mandate.” On the one hand, they maintain lines already presented previously “that must continue to be active”, in addition to those that the government team “still has not executed”.
The amendments of Sí Podemos Canarias are aimed at nine large blocks: social policies; primary sector and natural environment; sustainable mobility; animal welfare; water supply and treatment; sustainable policies; heritage conservation; culture and sports.
Belda maintains the expectation of a “negotiation to give stability to the institution” aware of the importance of approving – or not – some budgets that the ‘legal body’ of the Cabildo does not allow extension except in some chapters such as personnel. Counselor David Carballo reflects: “Our support has been very cheap for them. Although at first it seemed that there was interest in changing the insular policy, it has been shown that PSOE and Cs in this mandate have given continuity to outdated CC projects such as the Circuito del Motor, the defense of the Port of Fonsalía or the Tren del Sur ». Carballo emphasizes that “they have chosen to put aside the proposals that our group has put on the table without executing the budget items allocated for it.” The counselor affirms that “this government team has had more than three years to change the island’s policy and it still has not done so, so Sí Podemos Canarias has plenty of reasons to present the amendment to the entirety.”
Carballo points out that “there are still a little more than two weeks left for the plenary session of the budgets on the 16th, so we consider that there is time to negotiate and reach agreements to change the project presented by PSOE and Cs.” Carballo sentence: “The ball is in his court.”
The councilor Cristo González, for her part, stresses that “in addition to not complying with numerous agreements promoted by Sí Podemos Canarias, the insular government has also rejected other proposals put forward by our group to guarantee the protection of the territory and improve the living conditions of the population of Tenerife. González criticizes that “the PSOE and Cs have given themselves over to a desire for development and devouring of the territory that is far from our program and the conditions for which we have externally supported the government team in this mandate.”
The pragmatic pact
González points out that “the PSOE has abandoned its progressive initiatives, which made the programmatic pact possible at the beginning of the mandate, which justified and led to the motion of censure that led Pedro Martín to the presidency of the Cabildo.” He emphasizes that “the PSOE has decided to develop, together with its partner Ciudadanos, continuity policies that are not up to the circumstances and the needs of Tenerife».
José Luis Almenara, member of the Canary Islands Permanent Commission of Sí se puede and invited to explain this annual balance, highlights that “this government team, in which we placed great hopes at the beginning, has disappointed us with its policies after three years, for what we consider to be the moment to plant ourselves». He denounces that “their way of acting is far from what we defend and they leave our coalition agreements and proposals unexecuted on issues such as energy and food sovereignty; They have focused on their commitment to Cs and have not materialized what we want for the Island.
