The first meeting of the negotiating committees of PP and CC has served to restore "a climate of trust and understanding" between both political formations to reach a government pact in the Canary Islands from the commitment of "unity of action" and with the purpose of lasting over time, without being subject to the possible "swings" of the general elections.
This was indicated at the end of the meeting, held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and which lasted a little more than two hours, by the spokespersons of the negotiating committees of both parties, José Miguel Barragán (CC) and Larry Álvarez (PP). The conversations will resume tomorrow in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria from 11:00 a.m.
The meeting served to set the calendar and methodology of work that both parties will maintain in the next ten days or fifteen days to try to reach that government agreement, in which the distribution of the autonomous departments and the organization chart, or the positions in the main institutions, will be left for the last meeting, on which both spokespersons did not want to pronounce. They only limited themselves to remembering what has already been set that the Presidency of the Government will fall to the CC candidate, Paulino Rivero, and the Vice Presidency will correspond to a leader of the PP of Gran Canaria.
Not even who will hold the Presidency of the Parliament has been addressed - a position that is speculated may be assumed by the elected deputy of CC for La Palma, Antonio Castro - an issue that they will have to elucidate before next Monday, the day on which the constitutive session of the Regional Chamber will be held. In this regard, Barragán pointed out that CC will address this issue in the permanent commission that it plans to hold this Saturday, and considered that the most convenient thing would be for the Board of the Chamber to be made up of two members of the PSOE, two of CC and one of the PP.
"EXPLORE WAYS" ON THE STATUTE
Neither was the situation of the reform of the Statute of Autonomy analyzed, but rather "collaterally", on which Barragán said that they will try to "explore ways" to try to smooth out the differences between both formations regarding the current text and clear up the doubts expressed by the PP about the constitutionality of some articles.
A solution that could come through changes in the wording of some points, a question that he affirmed, in any case, would not condition reaching the government agreement in the Canary Islands, since he affirmed that these are "two different scenarios". Barragán indicated that an attempt will be made for the PP to "approach" the text approved in the Canarian Parliament, and insisted that the Statute "continues to be an important piece" for CC, but it is not a "bargaining chip" in the negotiation.
He also reiterated that the demand on this point to the PP is different from those raised to the PSOE, because the former are not in the central government and affirmed that with these changes it would not be a question of "shaving" the text to eliminate the essential of the Statute, to which he remarked CC would not be willing.
For his part, Larry Álvarez indicated that the Statute was not included in the matters to be discussed today and recalled that the national leadership of the PP is studying those aspects in which certain doubts of constitutionality are appreciated to try to qualify the wording and incorporate it into the text.
THREE BLOCKS OF NEGOTIATION
CC and PP have divided the negotiations on the possible programmatic agreement into three blocks: policies on social matters, political-institutional and economic-development and environment. This Wednesday they have focused on the first of them, relating to health, employment, education and housing policies, while in tomorrow's meeting the second of the blocks will be analyzed, based on issues such as institutional policy, justice, security, Statute and immigration.
The spokesperson for the PP, Larry Álvarez, stressed that in this first meeting "the climate of trust and understanding" between both political formations has been "verified" after two years in which they have gone through "delicate and complicated" moments after the rupture of the previous government pact.
However, he considered that the important thing "is to look forward and put the interests of citizens before any obstacle that may exist" and stressed that in today's meeting there has been "practical unanimity" in the issues addressed in social material, except in the aspects of population growth related to employment, an issue in which he affirmed both parties maintain different positions, although he was convinced that an agreement will be reached.
A thesis that was also shared by Barragán (CC), who did recognize that this is one of the "obstacles" to overcome, although he saw the possibility of reaching "formulas" to advance in this matter. Another of the points analyzed today in which there is a "difference of nuances" is on the use of private healthcare, in which CC is committed to establishing agreements in which it is established how and under what conditions the public system uses private healthcare.
In the rest of the matters, unanimity was found regarding health financing, the professional career, the application of tax advantages and aid to young people in terms of housing, or measures to fight against school failure and recover the authority of the teacher in the classrooms, in educational matters,
CONCRETE MEASURES AND UNITY
Larry Álvarez affirmed that it is not about reaching an agreement "of philosophy, but with very concrete measures", from the "full confidence" between CC and PP in which all Canarians are reflected".
Meanwhile, Barragán said that the PP's willingness to configure a government "from the unity of action" has been verified, in which the ministries are not configured as "watertight compartments" and the action in the Executive is differentiated from the partisan policies.
Questioned about the absence in the meeting of the members of the commission of the nationalist formation, Antonio Castro and Tomás Padrón, who were replaced by Guadalupe González Taño and Belén Allende, the spokesperson for CC explained that the interlocutors will vary in the successive meetings depending on the issues to be discussed.
ACN Press
