Photos: Sergio Betancort
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Only four of the 23 councilors that make up the Cabildo's plenary session, including the president, have attended the appearance of the senator for Lanzarote, Joel Delgado, in the plenary hall of the island's first institution. "I think they have made a complete mistake in the forms and in the attitude," Delgado pointed out in reference to the opposition, despite the fact that two of his PP colleagues have also been absent.
In fact, from the Popular Party, only Ángel Vázquez has been present at the appearance of the senator for Lanzarote, with neither Saray Rodríguez nor Maite Corujo attending. From CC, in addition to the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, only Echedey Eugenio and Carmen Rosa Márquez have attended, although Eugenio left the room shortly after Delgado's intervention began. The CC councilor, Óscar Pérez, also made an appearance in the plenary hall when the appearance was about to conclude, but he was only there for five minutes and sat among the public and not at the councilors' table.
The president of the Cabildo has only excused the absence of the PIL councilor, Manuel Cabrera, for "being on sick leave", and of the NC councilor, Juan Manuel Sosa, of whom he said that he was "in La Palma, because his mother is convalescing".
As for the public, there has not been a significant presence of public officials from the PP either. Not even the party's president, Ástrid Pérez, has attended her colleague's appearance, which has only been attended as public by the councilors of Arrecife Jacobo Medina and Roberto Herbón, and the one from Teguise, Jacobo Medina. On behalf of CC, only the non-elected councilor of the Cabildo, Rafael Juan González, and the advisor Jacobo Lemes were among the public.
"The regulation does not contemplate it, but it does not prohibit it either"
The event began with the words of the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, who wanted to make it clear that "all the councilors" of the institution were "invited" to the appearance. However, the opposition groups already sent a joint statement this Thursday announcing that they were not going to attend Joel Delgado's appearance, considering that it was "a propaganda act" and "image washing" for the PP senator, after the scandal in which he was involved last March. Furthermore, the opposition stated that the appearance contravenes the institution's regulations.
"This is not an act organized by this presidency or by CC. We have simply agreed to a request from the senator," San Ginés pointed out in this regard. "And I have no doubt that if I had denied it, the opposition's criticism would have been that, not allowing the senator to make use of this plenary hall, which is not an appearance in a plenary session," said the president of the Cabildo, who has denied that the regulation prevented this appearance. "Indeed, it does not contemplate it, but it does not prohibit it either," he pointed out.
Joel Delgado believes that his appearance is "a healthy precedent"
After that, Joel Delgado began his intervention, thanking in the first place "the presidency of the Cabildo for having accepted the request for appearance" and for having given "solvency" to the "legal doubts" that existed so that it could be held. "I believe that with this we contribute to setting a healthy precedent of participation, of collaboration between institutions and of ever greater transparency in political management. And I believe that this does not harm absolutely anyone," said the senator for Lanzarote, who also thanked the public officials of San Borondón for their presence in the audience.
"I believe that there are parties that, despite not being in this plenary session, fulfill their responsibility even in August. The date is not good, it is not the appropriate one perhaps, but any moment is good if it is about talking about the challenges and problems that Lanzarote has ahead," he indicated in this regard.
He criticizes the "political incoherence" of the opposition
The senator for Lanzarote has "regretted the non-attendance to the call of some groups". "But I insist that I maintain my predisposition to resolve any issue that they want to convey to me. I understand that a healthy debate would have taken place here today if we had wanted to participate. And the fact is that today I came to make my management known, but also to submit myself to a public examination so that those who understood it that way could question me, ask me and even criticize my management as a senator," he added.
"We are who we are, some are missing and will have to give their explanation of why they are not here. I believe that they are, because I am not going to question it, also worthy representatives of this institution, but I believe that they have made a complete mistake in the forms and in the attitude. The president said, and with great accuracy, that if he had rejected the appearance, probably the press release they issued yesterday would be totally different and contrary. Therefore, we are witnessing an act of political incoherence on the part of those who claim to defend transparency and political participation as their main weapon," said the PP senator regarding the non-attendance of the opposition, which he has described as "partisan" and "unthinkable".
"Submitting myself to this examination voluntarily is a gesture that seeks to create this precedent of evaluating, correcting and improving the work of representatives at the national level", said Joel Delgado, for whom Lanzarote, with his appearance, has been "pioneering" this Friday. And the fact is that the senator for Lanzarote has remarked that "in the reform of the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands it is proposed that the plenary sessions of both the parliament and the island councils include appearances by officials at the national level".
"And Lanzarote today, with the gesture of the presidency and the will of my appearance, not only are we ahead, but we are pioneers in this type of measures that will be very normal in the future within the Parliament of the Canary Islands and of the senators and deputies who replace me in office," Delgado pointed out before beginning to talk about his management as a senator and about "the challenges that Lanzarote has".
(ADVANCE PENDING EXTENSION)