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Astrid Pérez kicks off her presidency with the year of "most activity in the history of the Canarian Parliament"

The Chamber has eliminated communication barriers for more than 55,000 people with hearing problems in the Canary Islands, promotes the first institutional videopodcast of a Spanish parliament, and receives more than 50 groups and 2,400 visits in just 12 months.

June 27 2024 (17:13 WEST)
Updated in June 27 2024 (17:13 WEST)
The President of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez
The President of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez

The president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez, took stock this Thursday of the first year of the XI Legislature, which has become "the one with the most activity in the history of the Chamber." With more than 600 events and meetings in these 12 months, a figure is reached that exceeds the first years of the two previous legislatures by almost 50%.

“Between June 27, 2023 and today, we have held 604 events and activities, compared to 410 and 415 in the first years of the IX and X Legislatures. We can say, according to data from the Chamber's services, that this has been the year with the most activity in the Parliament of the Canary Islands in its entire history,” the president detailed.

Astrid Pérez emphasized that she has also worked to ensure that the Canarian Parliament “is an institution closer to the citizens. A more active, more open, more social and more inclusive Parliament. More involved with our eight islands and with our culture, as well as a more innovative institution adapted to current times.”

The president defended the dedication of all the people who make up the Chamber, which is summarized in figures such as the 103 meetings of the Parliament's Bureau, the 180 working meetings of the 21 committees of the Chamber, “where more than 2,200 questions and 400 appearances have been raised”; the 30 board of spokespersons or the 42 plenary sessions, “with almost two thousand questions answered, 450 appearances and 126 non-law proposals discussed.”

“We have worked for a Parliament with more presence, more followers, more publications and more audiovisual content on its social networks, with more than 150 informative videos produced this year. Now more than 53,000 people follow us on the official social networks of the Parliament of the Canary Islands and the Presidency on X as well as on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, TikTok or LinkedIN, which represents a growth of 6,200 followers,” explained Astrid Pérez.

“The institutional website registers peaks of more than 18,000 visits per day and we have been one of the first parliaments in Spain to eliminate communication barriers with people with hearing disabilities, who number more than 55,000 in the Canary Islands, through subtitles in plenary sessions, committees and events,” the president said.

Astrid Pérez presented a new informative bulletin, entitled ‘From the Tribune’, which can be downloaded each month through the website “to report on all the activity of the Parliament, which this year has generated more news than at the beginning of any other legislature. More than 180 news items since June 2023.”

 

More than 2,400 visits

In addition, guided tours have been reinforced and now the attendance that was usual can be multiplied by four. “We want, above all, more people from other islands to come. And we are already achieving it,” announced the president of Parliament. In the first 6 months of 2024, the Canarian Parliament has received 300 more visitors than in all of 2023. And visits from groups from other islands have doubled. In total, in this first year, more than 2,400 visitors and fifty groups have been received.

Astrid Pérez aspires for the XI to also be “the most social legislature in the history of the Canarian Parliament”, for which it has already opened its doors to more than 35 NGOs and solidarity foundations, with which issues such as mental health, children's rights, autism, Alzheimer's, cancer, rare diseases, human trafficking, equality, blood donation, mistreatment of the elderly, violence against women or the migratory phenomenon have been addressed.

For the first time, Parliament has celebrated World Autism Day, Cancer Week, the tribute to the great blood and platelet donors from the 8 islands, the first Solidarity Space with NGOs, the first meeting with Rural Women, the first Conecta Canarias Europa Conference, the first Mural for the Eradication of Violence against Women, the first Canarias Infancia Conference, or the first Forum for Equal Pay.

Astrid Pérez also announced that in this Legislature the Bureau, after moving to El Hierro in April, “will be on all the islands.” And it will continue to be involved in priority issues for the Archipelago, leading, for example, the Working Group on Migration of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE), in which regional parliaments from Austria, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Spain will participate.

After launching the first institutional videopodcast of a parliament in Spain, “we continue on the path of innovation and the first virtual visit to the Chamber will soon be presented, with more than 3,500 square meters digitized.”

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