SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 22nd Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, voiced his criticism today, Tuesday, during the Government control session regarding the introduction of a Bill by the Socialist Party to implement a tourist tax on the islands. He expressed disappointment that they are now submitting “a piece of paper at the last moment” after failing to do so during their four years in power.
This assertion was made in response to a query from the spokesperson for the socialist parliamentary group, Sebastián Franquis, concerning the evaluation of policies aimed at redistributing the wealth generated by tourism on the islands and enhancing the purchasing power of Canarian residents.
Sebastián Franquis condemned Fernando Clavijo’s ongoing discourse about changing the economic model in the autonomous community since 2015, utilising mechanisms such as the Land Law or the Canary Islands Development Fund (FDCAN), which have ultimately resulted in “enormous failures” and only served to finance “streetlights, curbs, sidewalks, squares and parking facilities.”
“You lack credibility. You have been discussing model changes since 2015 and have failed to implement them. Now you present us with a collection of conclusions, a muddle of ideas that introduce absolutely nothing novel because, among other issues, it does not address employment, health, or social services. It lacks any reference to the future of the Canary Islands and omits significant matters,” Franquis accused.
“What this illustrates is that your Government possesses no socioeconomic development plan for this community and, worse still, does not heed the citizens; instead, it reveals disdain with its attitude and these conclusions,” the socialist spokesperson added.
In response, Clavijo underscored that the Government of the Canary Islands, the councils, and the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam) are collaborating within the five groups established by the Conference of Presidents to execute “concrete and specific” measures aimed at better distributing the wealth created by tourism so that the advantages more significantly impact wages. He invited the PSOE to engage in this collaborative effort.
The Canary Islands leader lamented that the PSOE seeks to “discredit” not merely the government’s work but that of the councils and city councils, which have produced “documents that are already public and to which you can present initiatives regarding their model, if you wish,” he insisted.
Fernando Clavijo also called out the PSOE for discussing credibility when “it includes a tourist tax in the electoral programme and the government agreement, yet has not acted on it for four years, only to bring a piece of paper forward at the last moment. Regarding credibility and shifts in opinion, I believe the real specialists are in the Socialist Party,” he asserted.
