The Lanzarote en Pie - Sí Podemos group in the Cabildo has presented an initiative that they describe as "novel" and that aims to "stimulate consumption in local commerce and small hospitality establishments through discount vouchers issued and paid for by the Cabildo and the town councils." According to them, the project is already running in Santa Cruz de Tenerife at the initiative of Unidas Podemos, which now intends to transfer it to Lanzarote.
The purple group believes that this voucher can "stimulate local consumption" and help "save jobs and small businesses." The proposal is to subsidize one-third of purchases in participating stores, and that it can also be extended to hospitality venues and cultural events.
The objective of this measure, which they will defend in the ordinary plenary session this Tuesday, is to "stimulate local commerce severely damaged by the pandemic" and that the cultural life of the island "reborn and be a benchmark in the Canary Islands, both from the private and public sectors." Businesses that want to join must be local and franchises and chains are excluded.
The formation estimates that with an investment of 150,000 euros from the Cabildo and the collaboration of local councils, more than half a million euros can be directly injected into small businesses during 2021, which in the same way "will serve to generate secondary income." With this formula, the Cabildo would issue vouchers with a value of 50 euros that consumers could purchase for 35 euros to use in participating stores, thus subsidizing one-third of the purchase value.
Vulnerable families would receive the voucher automatically
The Podemos initiative also establishes a selection system so that the vouchers reach primarily those who have the most difficulty consuming, such as families covered by the Canary Insertion Benefit, people receiving a Non-Contributory Pension, and applicants for the Minimum Living Income. These groups would not have to present any documentation and could join the initiative directly.
The rest of the population to whom the initiative will be directed, such as unemployed people or young people and students, will have to properly accredit their condition.
In the press conference that the group gave this Monday to present the initiative, the island spokesperson Myriam Barros, specified that "the voucher would be used to make purchases in retail stores within a list of commercial activities that the Cabildo prioritizes, excluding large surfaces and multinational franchises, as well as those companies where labor rights are not respected."
Also excluded would be those essential service companies that have not been affected by health restrictions, such as food establishments or pharmacies.
"Our intention is that small clothing, footwear, decoration or other non-essential supply stores have an incentive that makes them open their business shutters with guarantees," said Barros.
The Podemos councillor assures that "their patience has run out" with the Cabildo's government group for their "passivity" in the face of the serious situation facing small businesses on the island. "We have been pressing for a year for them to rescue small businesses and self-employed people and they have not yet seen a single euro from the Cabildo," she laments.
Initiative also in the Parliament of the Canary Islands
For her part, the Podemos deputy for Lanzarote, María del Río, has referred to the non-legal proposal that the Sí Podemos Canarias group, of which she is president, registered to promote this measure throughout the archipelago and that it also has specific legal support.
"It is important that non-essential local commerce is supported with direct aid, but also with the stimulus of its activity because in the end what they want is to be able to work and invoice to maintain jobs and the Cabildo must get its act together with this."
The parliamentarian also took the opportunity to remember that "Lanzarote still lacks a food market that ensures consolidated positions for the primary and transformation sector on a regular basis" and that the group she chairs managed to approve a resolution in this regard in the debate on the state of nationality. "It has been a social outcry for several years and we do not understand how the Cabildo does not take advantage of the need to develop open and outdoor spaces due to the health situation and the great demand for local products that exists on the island," concluded María del Río.
