The Ministry of Justice has approved the creation of a new Social Court in Lanzarote. After it was rejected the previous year, this time the claims of the Autonomous Executive have been accepted. "To express the satisfaction that the Government of the Canary Islands feels in the sense that all the requests that had been made regarding the growth of the judicial staff in the Canary Islands have finally been accepted", says Francisco Díaz Brito, Deputy Minister of Justice.
Among these requests was the creation of a Social Court for Arrecife, which was rejected in 2006 for "reasons of budgetary constraints of the Ministry". Although this time they have been accepted. "This year we demanded an additional effort from the Ministry in the judicial field because it is going through difficult times due to the phenomenon of immigration that is saturating our judicial units with work, and finally the Ministry of Justice has met our demands", explains Díaz Brito.
Despite creating the new judicial positions in the Canary Islands, Díaz Brito assures that they are not happy with the system by which the Courts are created, because "despite the fact that most of the expense is covered by the autonomous community, because it contributes 85%, if the Ministry is not willing to put that 15% we are left without courts, as happened at the time with the social court, which was not created".
Although the new Social Court of Lanzarote will be launched in 2007, the exact date on which it will start operating is still unknown. According to Díaz Brito, "the usual thing is that the judicial units that are put into operation in two stages, one in June and the other in December 2007", but it is not yet known in which of these two stages the Social Court of Lanzarote will be included. "This issue is yet to be decided, among other things because the Government of the Canary Islands needs to make an analysis of the situation of the judicial facilities, although Lanzarote fortunately is not a problematic place because it has a magnificent Palace of Justice".
The new judicial units for the Canary Islands, which in total are ten, will be located, apart from Lanzarote, in Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma.