"We did what we did and, furthermore, I would do it again." Thus, again defending his actions, Pedro San Ginés has referred to the complaint he sent to the Prosecutor's Office, in which he requested "measures" against the prosecutor in the Stratvs case. The president has appeared on this issue in the Plenary of the Cabildo, at the request of the Popular Party. San Ginés has stressed to the rest of the councilors that with his writing he intended to "defend the honor" of the Cabildo's technicians and the Minister of the Environment, Francisco Fabelo. The opposition groups, for their part, have accused him of a "lack of democracy" and have accused him of committing "interference in Justice." Here we summarize the highlights of their interventions.
"I have not arrogated anything that does not correspond to me"
During this appearance, the president of the Cabildo has reaffirmed the "opportunity" of his complaint against the prosecutor, which the Prosecutor's Office, however, dismissed "outright." As soon as he began his intervention, San Ginés wanted to respond to the doubts raised by some opposition parties about whether the president should have consulted with the Plenary of the Cabildo about that decision. He asked the secretary, who responded that the president "always has the residual competence" and that "everything that the law does not specifically attribute to the Plenary is the competence of the president." "Let it be recorded," San Ginés then said, adding later that he has not "arrogated anything" that does not "correspond" to him.
Having said this, he has focused on defending the relevance of his complaint. "It is not an interference, it is a defense of honor," he said about it. "I am very clear about the separation of powers, but the prosecutor has made serious accusations against a councilor (Francisco Fabelo) and also against the honor of the technicians," he argued. He was referring to the fact that the prosecutor refused to allow the environmental technicians to prepare a report on the environmental damage caused by the Stratvs winery to the Barranco del Obispo. The prosecutor argued that this guaranteed "objectivity and impartiality," given that Fabelo "appears to be linked professionally," he said, with BTL and Juan Francisco Rosa, the main defendant in the case.
For San Ginés, however, "this is false." "The prosecutor says that he works on that property (of Juan Francisco Rosa). He does not work on that property. He says that he makes cheese on his property. He does not make any cheese," he insisted.
The president of the Cabildo has also issued two messages from his seat in the plenary. The first was for "the public opinion and those who want to link us with Stratvs." "The winery was processed, built and inaugurated before I governed," he told them, emphasizing that "there has been no preferential treatment whatsoever."
His second message was for the Minister of the Environment, Francisco Fabelo. "Francisco, rest assured that Lanzarote knows who Francisco Fabelo is, we respect him and we thank him for his public service, which he has done almost altruistically," he said, adding later that he can "leave with his head held high" and that he will have his "eternal gratitude."
The PP accuses him of "important democratic shortcomings"
The opposition, for its part, does not see things the same way. The spokesperson for the Popular Party, Astrid Pérez, has assured that "in a state of law, that cannot be done." "But it is true that the president has important democratic shortcomings," she added.
"The prosecutor says things that we don't like or that are not true, but that is decided in the judicial procedure," Pérez emphasized. "The president wants to be a prosecutor and wants to be a judge. What is the Cabildo doing in that procedure?" she questioned. For the 'popular' councilor, "there is no defamatory accusation against any technician" or against Fabelo. "And if there were, let Fabelo file a lawsuit, but what is the Cabildo doing?" she reiterated.
"It is one of the most serious things that can be done. I have been in the Cabildo for 12 years and never, never, have I seen anything like it," she stressed.
AC: "Cobbler to your shoes"
For the councilor of Alternativa Ciudadana, Mary Paz Cabrera, "it is obvious that the president lacks democracy." She considers that the complaint sent by San Ginés "is one more example of the ridicule to which he subjects the Cabildo every day with his interference, his desire to understand everything and not be a master of anything."
"You have to defend the general interest," Cabrera urged the president. "Cobbler, to your shoes. Dedicate yourself to presiding and leave Justice to the courts."
The PSOE demands "transparency"
The Socialist Party has brought up the issue of the president's powers during the intervention of its spokesperson. For Rocío Arredondo, although the matter "is not the competence" of the Plenary of the institution, there are issues that "can be brought" for discussion. "That is part of the transparency of the institution," she told Pedro San Ginés.
The socialist spokesperson added that "it cannot be" that the rest of the parties find out "now about something that happened in the summer." San Ginés "has just starred in an authentic scandal by confronting the Prosecutor's Office, in defense of a councilor of his team and the theses of the promoters of Stratvs," she added later in a statement.
The PIL sees "will to interfere" and "misuse of its powers"
"There is executive, legislative and judicial power and, even when we do not share judicial decisions, we must be deeply respectful," said the PIL councilor Fabián Martín. Martín believes that there is "a will to interfere and, in any case, a misuse of the powers of the president" in the fact of sending that complaint to the Prosecutor's Office.