The Canarian president points out “historical debts” of the State with more territories and the C-LM president asks the Government for “harmonization” measures
O GROVE (PONTEVEDRA)/TOLEDO, September 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Galicia, Alfonso Rueda (PP), that of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page (PSOE), and that of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), have agreed this Saturday in defending “equality” between territories and in pointing out as a “success” of the State of the autonomies established by the 1978 Constitution, against those who seek to “break up” Spain.
The three have participated in the presidents’ table every year at the La Toja-Vínculo Atlántico Forum, whose fifth edition closes this Saturday at Illa da Toxa, in O Grove (Pontevedra). The dialogue has been moderated by the director of the Felipe González Foundation, Rocío Martínez.
With the former president of the Government Mariano Rajoy and the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo – two of the regulars – among the public, they have highlighted the “success story” that the Magna Carta has been in establishing the State of autonomies in a round table in which, except for some nuances, they had similar approaches on the territorial question.
“Probably, the fact that it is successful is what bothers some,” stressed García-Page, who was in charge of remembering that this Sunday, October 1, it will be 6 years since the illegal referendum in Catalonia.
The head of the Castilian-La Mancha Junta has praised the monarchy for “facilitating” progress and has highlighted the “plurality” that exists in Spain, which is “a wealth” but should not be used “to divide or break up.”
In a political context in which Catalan independentists are in the media spotlight for their possible support for the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez, García-Page has pointed to unity as a guarantee “of equality between all the peoples of Spain.”
“The rest are invocations and whoever wants to break unity does so with the intention of having separate lives or privileges,” he censured, without ceasing to express the “doubts” that arise in the face of a possible amnesty for the leaders of the ‘procés’.
RUEDA COMMITS TO “ADVANCE MORE” BUT “IN EQUALITY”
The president of the Xunta de Galicia has described it as “unthinkable” to consider the political organization of Spain today without the autonomous communities. “The voices that speak of recentralization are very minority,” he stressed, with a commitment to “move further,” but “on equality.”
Spain, for Alfonso Rueda, is a “consolidated” autonomous State, which allows for closer management of public services, such as health and education.
Although not all autonomies are equal, the Galician president reflected, they do maintain a “healthy competitiveness” between them in a situation of equality that, “if it were broken, the autonomous State would be seriously damaged.”
REFORM OF THE CONSTITUTION?
The moderator has introduced a possible reform of the Constitution into the debate. The Canarian president has suggested that, first, we should know “where we want to go.” However, she believes that the current political context is not conducive to reaching an agreement on this matter.
Fernando Clavijo, from the Canarian Coalition, bets for the islands and their “uniqueness” a “better fit” in the territorial structure, because “there is no policy more unequal than treating those who are different equally.”
In reference to the 450,000 million euros that the Catalan independentists claim as a “historical debt” of the State with Catalonia, the Canarian leader has reflected that “surely” other territories, his community among them, have their own “historical debts.”
Clavijo has also charged against decisions that “are not consulted” or “made with transparency” by the state Executive. He has given as an example the turn in relations with Morocco to insist that “co-governance” does not require “modifying anything”, but is a matter of “political will.”
PAGE REJECTS “PLURINATIONAL” SPAIN
The head of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, for his part, sees it as “normal” to want to “change the Constitution or improve it”, but has rejected the concept of “plurinational Spain”. “Another thing is that it is multi-emotional, from every corner you feel Spain as you want,” he added.
In this context, García-Page considers that when talking about reforming the Magna Carta “an alternative text does not arise.” He has taken advantage of this reflection to demand a policy of “harmonization” by the central government, a task that “has been carried out very little.”
Likewise, García-Page has advocated placing “a filter” in the elections to the Congress of Deputies, where there are 80 percent of political forces that speak of “Spain as a whole” while another 20 are going to “speak about them.” .
Thus, while the Senate is not a true territorial chamber, it has demanded that the agreements reached with certain parties and that affect the entire State have “a body” or “council of presidents” where they can give their opinion.
COMPETENCES “WITH SENSE”
Regarding the reform of the Constitution, the Galician president has endorsed undertaking it but not “simply for political reasons” and for saying that someone is “three steps ahead of others.”
Furthermore, Rueda has refused to convert the distribution of powers “into a numerical debate”, although “without renouncing them.” Galicia is an autonomous community of the historical ones “and therefore it is logical that there is this claim, but ‘with meaning'”, the head of the Xunta has clarified.
