SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 17 December (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Vice President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez, has labelled the announcement of a state housing agency by the central Government as a “smoke signal”, arguing that what Spain’s Government ought to do is permit Visocan to become “indebted.”
This remark was made during a control session of the Canary Islands Government in the plenary assembly of the autonomous Parliament, following an enquiry from the deputy of the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG), Casimiro Curbelo, regarding the potential effects of establishing a state housing agency in the Canary Islands.
Domínguez expressed uncertainty over how the operations of this public entity would unfold, suggesting it resembles “a typical smoke signal that the central government deploys whenever it faces difficulties,” exploiting one of Spain’s “main issues,” housing, in a bid to “divert attention.”
According to the Canarian Vice President, “this beach bar and smoke signal approach seems unlikely to succeed,” as he indicated that the parties supporting Pedro Sánchez’s administration, such as Junts and PNV, have made it clear that it “oversteps the authority of the autonomous communities.”
In this context, he highlighted a public contract from the Ministry of Housing, which is “funding an advertising campaign costing 1.2 million euros to promote the housing policies of the Government of Spain.” He noted his hope that this campaign would address the “amendment of the housing law that induces legal uncertainty,” as the central government “has the authority to legislate on this matter.”
For this reason, he asserted that if the Government of Spain were to carry out “its duty to legislate properly” in order to ensure legal security in the Canary Islands, there would be “significantly more housing available” for rent.
Nonetheless, he clarified that the autonomous communities already possess public companies, such as Visocan in the Canary Islands, thus he believes the central government should “allow Visocan to incur debt” and permit it to undertake “necessary actions.”
