The director of the Canarian Employment Service, Alejandro Martín, denounces that the president of the central government, Mariano Rajoy, "is an accomplice in the disappearance of the Comprehensive Employment Plan of the Canary Islands (PIEC) next year, which leaves the Islands without the ten million euros that were allocated for this purpose." Martín affirms that with this measure, the Government of Mariano Rajoy "will only generate more unemployment and social inequality in the Islands, one of the communities with the highest unemployment rate in Spain."
Alejandro Martín insists that this cut will directly affect the unemployed population, since the money from the PIEC is used to finance labor insertion measures for people in a situation of long-term unemployment and who, for the most part, do not receive any help. "The temporary employment contract they get thanks to public funding allows them to obtain income derived from their work, contribute, and later access the 426 euro benefit,"
In addition, Martín adds that the money from the PIEC finances agreements with chambers of commerce and business confederations, projects with university foundations and labor orientation programs to promote labor hiring, entrepreneurship and the creation of companies.
From 42 million to zero
The director of the SCE recalls that until 2012, the Comprehensive Employment Plan of the Canary Islands received 42 million from the State. However, that year the central government imposed a very harsh cut of 75 percent, leaving it at only 10 million. "Now, the Government of Mariano Rajoy makes the PIEC disappear from the draft Budget for the year 2014, leaving the financing at zero."
"With this attitude, the government of the Popular Party shows its contempt for the Canarians who are unemployed, whom it ignores once again, preying on those who have little qualification and who are the main beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Employment Plan of the Canary Islands," he says.
Martín also highlights that the State "has not even transferred to the Canary Islands the money allocated for the PIEC in the years 2012 and 2013, a total of 52 million euros, and that the programs contemplated in them have been able to be carried out thanks to the fact that the regional government has advanced the corresponding amounts."
Finally, the director of the SCE warns that the Draft General State Budget for 2014 contemplates a reduction of 20 percent in the financing of active employment policies in the autonomous communities."
