The PSOE deputy for Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, considers "indecent the neglect of the Government of the Canary Islands, with the necessary complicity of the PP, regarding the family meeting point on the island." Corujo points out that a budget of one million euros is available for the implementation of the service, but states that "even with that, this Government and its partners are not capable of activating it and making it available to so many families who have been demanding it for years."
Corujo recalls that since the end of 2008, the island has not had a public family meeting point. "With the arrival of the PSOE to the Government of the Canary Islands after the 2015 elections, the then councilor, Aarón Afonso, began to take the necessary steps to achieve the opening of the service on the island, within the framework of his commitment to a regional network of spaces for this purpose. Unfortunately, this work was cut short with the dismissal of the socialist representatives by President Clavijo in December 2016, and since then we have not seen any willingness to put it into operation," he indicates.
The socialist parliamentarian regrets, in this sense, "the complacency of the PP from the Cabildo of Lanzarote, where it is in charge of the area of Social Welfare" and recalls that, in April 2018, the island councilor herself celebrated the announcement of the reopening of that service by the end of the year. "The double standard of the PP leads us to see with astonishment how they denounce the non-existence or poor condition of the family meeting points where they do not govern and, at the same time, how they remain silent when the same situation occurs where they do govern," she criticizes.
Corujo affirms that "the representatives of the Canarian Coalition demonstrate an identical attitude, whose deputies transfer initiatives on this matter to the Chamber, stand as champions of this social demand on the island but then forget that these proposals are materialized by the minority Government that they themselves support, thus renouncing the claim."
"The overall budget has tripled in two years"
María Dolores Corujo emphasizes "the importance of this resource as it is a social right of indisputable necessity in the duty of the administrations to ensure the safety of minors." In Lanzarote alone, she indicates, "the annual average of new family court proceedings is around 300 cases, and in most cases there is no relationship with the minor."
Likewise, the socialist parliamentarian explains that family meeting points are managed by associations and non-governmental organizations. "Their expenses are covered by a subsidy from the Government of the Canary Islands, on which they depend for the maintenance of the service," Corujo specifies, who points out that "the overall budget has tripled in two years."
"Never has so much been allocated as in 2019 to family meeting points, but this budget increase is not being well managed by the CC Government, otherwise it cannot be explained that when the budgets provide for more resources, more problems are arising in the collection of the subsidy," she concludes.