Román Rodríguez:"Canarias has a future but we lack a condition, to change the bad Government" of CC

The president of Nueva Canarias (NC), Román Rodríguez, in a meeting that brought together more than 500 people among representatives of about 130 social, union and business groups, in addition to the island organizations of progressive nationalists, stated that "Canarias has a future but we lack a condition, to change the bad Government" of CC in the May 2019 elections. Nueva Canarias thus closed two years of work and 40 meetings aimed at collecting the concerns of citizens, which have been reflected in a document of commitments that will be transferred to the electoral programs for the municipalities, the islands and the Government of the Canary Islands.

With the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria exhibition center as the stage, the progressive nationalists put the finishing touch to a long process of citizen participation that, under the slogan of Canarias with a future and the label #CanariasConFuturo on social networks, served to analyze in depth the problems of the people and articulate the precise responses and solutions from the municipal, island councils, Parliament and Government.

Believing that the Canary Islands can overcome the "worst" ratios in the State in terms of health, social services, education, unemployment and social exclusion, NC, according to its president, "is in a position and is obliged to contribute to the political change" in the elections of May 26 of next year.

The 160,000 Canarians on health waiting lists, the 10,600 dependents with recognized rights but without receiving the benefits to which they are entitled and the 40.2% of the population at risk of poverty, according to Rodríguez, expect a response. "We are obliged to attend to and incorporate into the action" of the Government "what we have learned and heard" in this time, he stressed.

Canarias has "a future but we lack a condition, to change the bad Government we suffer", in the opinion of progressive nationalists. An "possible objective that is in our hands because the conditions are given so that, in May 2019, we have a different, sensitive Government that works for the people", said the president of NC.

Among these available conditions, Rodríguez highlighted the rights and conquests achieved with the state budget agreements of 2017 and 2018, the new Statute and electoral system as well as the reformed Economic and Social Regime (REF). Among other reasons to start a new cycle after the appointment of next May, he observed, that the Canary Islands "moves away" from the average wealth of the State, becoming impoverished. The forecasts indicate that, at the end of the year, it will be below 80% of the state average, said the nationalist leader.

Proof of Nueva Canarias' commitment to contribute to change, he continued, is the document that collects the commitments acquired in its participatory meetings with social groups in the last two years. Contents referring to essential public services, the elderly, social justice, housing, tourism, sustainable development and gender equality, among the main ones.

With the aim of "continue listening to society and never lose sight of the fact that what we do only makes sense if it responds to the needs" of the Canarians, Nueva Canarias gave the protagonism of the meeting to groups such as the Social and Cultural Association for Women, Mararía, from Lanzarote; the Association of Visual and Hearing Impaired (Adivia), Democrats for Change, the Coordinating Body of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands (COAG). Also the Provincial Federation of Associations of Exporters of Horticultural Products of Las Palmas, Fedex, the Free Agrarian Platform of the Canary Islands (Palca) and the Association of Industrialists of the Canary Islands (Asinca)

In addition to the Kellys association, Intersindical Canaria, the Order of the Canarian Puppy, the Youth Council of the Canary Islands, the Canarian Farrah Foundation for Cooperation and Sustainable Development and the group Nuestro Barrio, nuestra Gente.

From Nueva Canarias, citizen leaders such as the president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, the deputy in Congress and second deputy mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pedro Quevedo; and the mayors of Telde and Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Carmen Hernández and Dunia González, respectively, also expressed their commitment. Without forgetting the councilor of Santa Cruz de La Palma, Maeve SanJuan, the secretary of Cultural Heritage, Vanesa Herrera, and the secretary of Organization of Lanzarote, Remedios Alarcón, among others.