SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 6 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Socialist Group of La Gomera (ASG) will use the upcoming session for questioning the Government in the Parliament of the Canary Islands to call for “reasonableness, practicality, and accountability” in the approach to the reception of unaccompanied immigrant minors arriving on the islands by other autonomous communities, and to demand increased national firefighting resources in La Gomera.
During the scheduled plenary session on 9 and 10 July, the spokesperson for the ASG Parliamentary Group, Casimiro Curbelo, will address the President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, regarding the necessity for alternative measures to assist in caring for the numerous unaccompanied immigrant minors reaching the archipelago, given the insufficiency of human and material resources available on the islands.
Curbelo will request a scheme for accommodating immigrant children “under the most respectable conditions possible, due to the lack of response from the state and the EU, who have opted to ignore the current migration crisis.”
He will also update the Regional Minister for Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water, Manuel Miranda, on the inclusion of two additional helicopters for Reinforcement (named MZ9 and MZ9B) at the base of the Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigade (BRIF) in Puntagorda, La Palma, highlighting “a significant enhancement in the responsiveness to potential fires.”
Nevertheless, he will point out that while this addition is beneficial, the concentration of resources in a single location “raises substantial concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of this action.” He believes that “for a thorough guarantee of safety in the Green Islands, a more suitable approach would involve a fair allocation of vital resources by the central government, not solely for operational efficiency but also to ensure appropriate coverage on all these islands in scenarios necessitating the activation of these air resources.”
Within the plenary session, the President of the ASG Parliamentary Group, Melodie Mendoza, will advocate for a non-binding suggestion aiming to modify the tax treatment under state tax regulations for health reimbursements related to travel, accommodation, or sustenance for patients and companions from non-capital islands, making them exempt similar to public scholarships.
Mendoza asserts that the existing scenario “has led to evident inequality and financial disadvantage for those receiving health compensations on grounds of health, as the majority are pressured to seek professional advice for tax filing, incurring costs, a situation that particularly impacts individuals not benefiting from other public assistance and who, under normal circumstances, do not surpass the income threshold and should not be required to declare for taxes.”
