The Cabildo of Lanzarote approved this Wednesday in an extraordinary and urgent Plenary an institutional motion against oil exploration. The initiative only had the opposition of the Popular Party.
With the approval of this motion, the Corporation also supports the demonstrations against oil, which will be held this Saturday. All parties asked that these acts of protest be carried out "in a peaceful manner, with civility and respect for opinions and people".
The government group has indicated that the urgency of this plenary session was based "on the recent authorization granted by the Government to Repsol by which the oil company could start explorations off the coast of the Canary Islands". This favorable authorization, in the form of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), will be published in the BOE in the coming dates, and will give rise to a Resolution of the Ministry of Industry through which the oil company could physically start drilling.
Therefore, the government group considered that it was necessary for the Plenary to pronounce on the matter "with the utmost speed", given "the serious implications that this industrial activity could generate for the Canary Islands". The president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, insisted on calling a consultation to the people of the Canary Islands on this issue, which "will be carried out within the law, with or without the permission of the Government".
Demonstrate in a "civilized and exemplary" way
"The people of Lanzarote will know how to express their rejection of the explorations in a civilized and exemplary manner, as they have been doing in other protests," San Ginés trusted, who will condemn any attitude that "exceeds the limits of civility and respect for opinions and people".
San Ginés described as "provocation" the attitude of the Minister of Industry and Tourism of Spain, José Manuel Soria. "I miss from the insular PP an attitude like that of the Popular Party of the Balearic Islands, where its representatives have put the general interests before those of their party," said the president. However, he did mention the "honorable exceptions" such as that of the mayor of Tías, Pancho Hernández, who positioned himself against oil, that of the Local Committee of Teguise that asked to suspend the explorations until an agreement was reached, or that of the PP in Tinajo, which abstained in the motion against the surveys, as well as that of the PP in Ingenio, in Gran Canaria.
"Even when there has been ambiguity at some point regarding the explorations in Coalición Canaria, which there has not been, rectifying is wise and I invite them to become aware of the enormous responsibility they assume and rectify," San Ginés asked the PP councilors.
For his part, the vice president of the Cabildo, Joaquín Caraballo, stated on behalf of the PSOE his intention to "definitively suspend the authorizations granted by the Government of Spain to the multinational Repsol for the search for oil off the coasts of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura". Caraballo asked that the holding of the popular consultation be authorized and supported the demonstrations.
On the other hand, the councilor of Alternativa Ciudadana 25 de mayo, Paz Cabrera, subscribed to the president's exposition and supported the motion because "the forms and attitudes of the PP cannot be supported, which puts the interests of a company before those of all citizens". With the same firmness, the PIL expressed itself, which described the support of the Ministry of the Environment for the explorations versus the defense of the environment as "a turning point". Its spokesperson, Fabián Martín, stressed the need for a referendum in which the Canarian people are heard, as "the most democratic option"; and also opted for "not inflaming the social debate, supporting the protests and condemning the disrespectful attitudes that may occur".
