"I am confident that in the next 48 hours there will be an agreement between CC, Nueva Canarias, CCN, PIL and PNC". This was stated this Friday on Radio Lanzarote by CC deputy Ana Oramas, who reflected on the need for nationalism to run "united" in the elections on November 20.
"The Canary Islands have to be there in Madrid, because there are very important issues and we are risking everything," said Oramas, who recalled that the separation of nationalist forces weakened the strength of this ideology in Congress. "We need more strength and, therefore, more deputies, who fight for the interests of the Canary Islands," she said.
And, according to Oramas, precisely the "interests" of the Archipelago is the argument that "unites" these four parties. "There is little discrepancy," she said, despite the fact that the CC Political Council in Gran Canaria has rejected this alliance between nationalist forces. "There is some discussion about the candidate, but we hope to put the interests not of CC, but of our land, first," she said.
"We must take a step forward in uniting a single electoral force that represents the Canary Islands. If we have to give up ground, we will, but I am confident that the feeling of defending the Canary Islands will prevail over political interests," she said.
This Saturday, CC will meet in a Political Council, where it will reflect on the "most suitable person" to represent Canarian nationalism. "It has to unite the feelings of the voters, it must improve the results, have leadership and that we all feel comfortable. No one should veto anyone, but we must achieve a convergence," she defended.
The work of the CC deputies
Ana Oramas also wanted to talk about her work as a CC deputy, as well as the work of deputies from other political formations. "The PP is a voice of the Canary Islands in Madrid but very quiet. There are Canarian deputies from the PP or the PSOE who have not intervened even once or only once or twice," Oramas criticized.
And, according to the deputy, the two members of CC in Congress have intervened "more than 2,000 times each during this legislature". "We have intervened every week, we have achieved many things, not all that we would like, because otherwise we would be the Government of the Nation. Only the deputies have obtained more than 1,500 million investments for the Canary Islands, air taxes, investments in roads, aid for the agricultural, industrial and tourism sectors. This is the work of two deputies in Madrid, imagine if there were four," she said.
Oramas indicated that the PP and PSOE of the Canary Islands "have their role". "If they are in the government, they are silent," she said, while saying that the leader of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy, "has not mentioned the Canary Islands in four years".
Air transport
Oramas had an intervention in Congress this Thursday, in which she requested another airport system for the Canary Islands, before the approval of a decree on the privatization of the management of some Canarian airports. "The criterion that Aena will follow for setting prices and airport taxes is the financial economic balance of the airports. This is very good for the peninsula, but that does not work for the Canary Islands", she said.
"In the Canary Islands, airport prices cannot be based on cost and financial economic balance, because if not, we would not have an airport in La Palma, or in El Hierro," she indicated, while saying that the reduction in air taxes in the last year has benefited Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. "The airport is where our economy enters and leaves, and where Canarians leave to go to the doctor or do their business," Oramas defended.
For this reason, the CC deputy has requested a "different" project for the Archipelago, where each airport is not independent, but that all Canarian aerodromes are part of "the same system". "What is earned in Tenerife South or in Gran Canaria compensates for the losses of other airports. We need significant reductions, especially in the smaller islands, where either we have a very low price or air traffic and the arrival of visitors will decline," she indicated. "The differentiated price of airport taxes in the Canary Islands has to go by Law so that no one can move it whenever they want", the deputy defended.
Ana Oramas has expressed confidence that the next government will "permanently leave the different condition of air taxes in the Canary Islands". "We do not want to have the anguish every year of whether they will be renewed or not," she said, while asking the PSOE and the PP to "be sensitive to the conditions" of the Archipelago.