The candidate of the Socialists of the Canary Islands for the presidency of the regional government, José Miguel Pérez, has described his working day in Lanzarote as "very fruitful." Pérez met with representatives of the UGT and Comisiones Obreras unions and with spokespersons for the main socio-health associations on the island.
In his meeting with the unions, the PSOE candidate expressed concern about unemployment rates in Lanzarote, which mainly affect the tourism and service sectors. The union representatives raised the need for a grand political and administrative pact to make actions aimed at creating employment more profitable and effective.
In this sense, José Miguel Pérez shared his experience at the head of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and assured that "this agreement is possible and works."
Under his presidency, an Insular Employment Pact was signed, with the presence of the island government, the town councils and social agents, "which has provided training and work to hundreds of citizens of that island." In his opinion, this great public agreement can be transferred with positive results to the archipelago.
Pérez also defended the creation of a Canary Islands Tax Agency, with control of all public administrations, "which prevents 400 million euros from being uncollected each year" and criticized the fact that the Government of the Canary Islands returns part of the state funds for active employment policies in each financial year.
Social demands
During the meeting with socio-health associations, José Miguel Pérez learned the opinion of the groups about the difficulties they face in benefiting from the Dependency Law, both due to bureaucratic procedures and the poor application by the Government of the Canary Islands.
The candidate proposed the decentralization of the management of aid to dependents as a feasible solution, "which should be the responsibility of the municipal administration, due to proximity and accessibility" and pledged to prioritize social care in its management "and to equalize the rights and services of the people of Lanzarote with the rest of the citizens of the islands."
During the press conference, José Miguel Pérez clarified his statements regarding oil exploration, assuring that the PSOE has not changed its position in this regard and that any decision on the advisability or not of extracting oil in Canary Islands waters "should be the result of a political and social consensus, as President Zapatero has repeatedly stated."
The visit to Lanzarote of the socialist candidate for the presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands ended with a public event at the Sociedad Democracia. In his speech, Pérez placed special emphasis on the high rates of school failure suffered by the islands and stated that only with a greater and better investment in Education will it be possible to fight against the scourge of unemployment.
"Social inequality generates school failure, which in turn leads to greater inequality. Only if we break this vicious circle will we be in a position to effectively face unemployment figures. And for this, the socialists place the improvement of the educational system among our priorities, both from a budgetary point of view and with a management much more participated by teachers, parents and students," he argued.
The PSOE candidate for the presidency of the Government announced that he will hold new sectoral meetings on the island for the design of his electoral program.