The Plenary of the Parliament of the Canary Islands has unanimously approved this Friday to file two appeals of unconstitutionality against the modification of the law against tax fraud and the royal-decree law on energy taxation for non-compliance with the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF).
The dispute with the central Government and the General Courts is due to non-compliance with the tax differential for film shoots in the Canary Islands, which should reach 80% on the tax relief of the rest of Spain, which would imply that it would reach 18 million in the islands compared to 10 million.
The spokesman for Ciudadanos (Cs), Ricardo Fernández, has shown the "resounding support" of his formation to the REF against the "disregard and mockery" of the central Government to the specificities of the Canary Islands and that force to open a "legal conflict" with the State.
He has criticized the central Executive's "ignorance" about the REF enshrined in the law of measures for prevention and fight against tax fraud and the energy decree-law, corroborated by the Canary Islands' Advisory Council. In the specific case of film incentives, for example, "it has not been an oversight," he said.
Fernández has pointed out that the Canary Islands "do not need privileges" but the necessary tools and that the law is complied with to start "an exciting future and end a bleak stage".
Espino: "The REF is not to be played with"
The non-attached deputy Vidina Espino has said that the Government and several groups of the Courts, "among them Ciudadanos" -her former party- have breached the Statute of Autonomy with an "outrage" that forces to appeal to the Constitutional Court and request the meeting of the Canary Islands-State bilateral commission.
Espino has commented that it is not only about the tax differential of the cinema, "which they have taken away at a stroke", because in the future "it can be something else", such as that they find the discounts for tickets "expensive". "The REF is not to be played with, the REF is not mocked, let's all go together to the TC," she said.
In addition, she has warned NC and Sí Podemos that she will file a complaint for prevarication if they continue with their attempts to block her interventions in the Chamber after her departure from Cs -they have requested a report from the Advisory Council to interpret the regulation-.
Jesús Ramos (ASG) has said that the origin of the conflict is due to the fact that when the tax differential for cinema was raised in the rest of Spain "they forgot about the Canary Islands", with the aggravating circumstance that the REF and the Statute are breached, since the changes were not even communicated to the regional Chamber.
This forces, according to Ramos, to open a "judicial battle" that he is convinced that the Parliament will win because "it is right", while demanding the convocation of the bilateral commission. "It is not a matter of nationalism, right or left, but of common sense," he said.
Sí Podemos: The REF cannot be "sacralized"
Manuel Marrero, spokesman for Sí Podemos, has commented that the forms and the substance with the Statute and the REF have not been respected and he trusts, apart from the appeal of unconstitutionality, that the Canary Islands-State bilateral commission will meet.
He has recognized that there is a "violation" in the case of the tax differential of the cinema and when it comes to a thriving industry in the islands, which helps the "internationalization" of the economy and the creation of employment. "We must give legal certainty," he said.
However, he has warned that the REF should not be "sacralized" because there are aspects that have been "denaturing" it, such as the RIC, which does not benefit all Canarians, since there is no "cause effect" between the tax exemption and the creation of employment. "It has been perverted because it has become savings," he said.
Esther González (NC) has criticized the "institutional disloyalty" of the central Government and repeatedly and recalled that it was the national deputy Pedro Quevedo (NC) who was the first to alert of the non-compliance of the tax differential.
In her opinion, both the law and the decree are a "serious outrage" to the REF and the Statute and a "lack of respect", stressing that these documents "are not a whim or a gift", but respond to the fragmentation and remoteness of the islands.
The spokeswoman for the Popular Group, Australia Navarro, has commented that this Plenary serves to defend the Canarian jurisdiction and the rights of citizens in the face of the difficulty of the Government of Spain to understand the specificities of the Canary Islands.
Likewise, she has pointed out that the law and the decree are a "provocation" and a "disregard" of the central Executive to unilaterally modify the tax differential that allows the Canary Islands to "attract investments and generate employment".
She has also criticized the "inaction" of the Government of the Canary Islands, "which has not made itself respected" when the REF is "trampled", and trusting in a "doubtful dialogue" with the State to "not bother" Pedro Sánchez and leaving the "leadership" to the Parliament of the Canary Islands, "which has not failed to fulfill its responsibility".
Barragán criticizes Torres' "submission"
José Miguel Barragán, spokesman for the Nationalist Group, has pointed out that in no case "should we have gotten here" -in reference to the presentation of the appeals of unconstitutionality-, something that he has attributed to the "Jacobin arrogance" of the central Government and the rupture of institutional loyalty.
He has rejected the "exchange between parties" that PSOE and NC have practiced in exchange for support for the PGE and also the "submission" of the Canarian Government against the "disregard" of the State Executive with the recognition of the islands' jurisdiction.
Barragán has pointed out that the socialist Government offers "little confidence" in the Canary Islands-State relations --he has asked when is the date of the bilateral commission- and therefore, he has asked the Canarian president, Ángel Víctor Torres, to "not miss the opportunity" to act as president of the Canarians and not as "secretary general of the PSOE".
Iñaki Álvaro (PSOE) has commented that the origin of the conflict is "the ceiling" of the tax differential set with the PP governments and advanced that next Monday an amendment will be presented in the Senate that will place "clearly and forever" the tax differential at 80%.
He has clarified that the defense of the REF "cannot depend on partisan interests" nor on "political opportunism", stressing that with the agreements of the Parliament of this Friday this way of doing politics is being "banished".
