The Congress of Deputies will debate and vote this Tuesday on a motion aimed at suspending oil exploration in the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean, in what constitutes a new parliamentary initiative that adds to those experienced in other chambers, including the Senate.
The motion was presented by CC deputy Ana Oramas, in a session held on May 14 in which she questioned the Minister of Industry on this matter. "The Lanzarote Corporation trusts that the deputies from all over Spain, and especially the deputies from the Popular Party in the Canary Islands, will vote in accordance with the majority demand of the civil society of the islands, as the popular senators from the Balearic Islands did on May 7 in the Upper House," they stated from the Council in a statement.
"Hundreds of thousands of Canary Islanders can be heard and reciprocated in the Congress of Deputies with a lesson in democracy. If that Chamber essentially represents the rights and the will emanating from the citizens, the Government cannot turn a deaf ear to give in to the interests of Repsol. Tomorrow we will be there and also very attentive," said the president of the Lanzarote Council, Pedro San Ginés.
The motion asks the Congress of Deputies to urge the Government to "suspend oil exploration in the waters over which the Spanish State has competence or exclusive rights to exploit natural resources in the face of social, scientific and institutional rejection, as well as the harmful effects that this activity has on people's health, the environment and tourism.
In addition, it demands that "the request of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands be processed for the holding of a consultation via referendum on whether citizens agree with the oil exploration authorized to the multinational Repsol off the coasts of the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, referring it to this Chamber for debate"; and that "in case of waiting for the Impact Declaration", a "new period of consultations and public information on the Environmental Impact Study carried out by Repsol be reopened due to the abundant, new and transcendental documentation that is being contributed to the file at the request of the Ministry of the Environment".
The meeting with the tourism sector, "a farce"
On the other hand, the Council points out that the call announced by the Government of Spain to also hold a meeting between the tourism sector and the Ministry of Industry on oil exploration this Tuesday represents "a new farce by Minister Soria and a new insult to citizens and the Canary Islands institutions". The meeting was announced last week by Minister José Manuel Soria himself, "who summoned Spanish hoteliers to reassure them regarding exploration in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, but forgot to invite the businessmen from the two Autonomous Communities and the representatives of 80 percent of international tourism that comes to the Canary Islands every year".
The Lanzarote Council expresses "its surprise at such a theatrical and sterile call, as it does not understand that in order to calm the tourism sector about exploration in the Canary Islands, Mr. Soria warns all the businessmen in the sector except the Canary Islanders and the Europeans with interests in the Canary Islands".
In addition, it recalls that "the Federations of tour operators and travel agencies from Germany, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden have conveyed in writing to the Spanish Minister of Industry their concern and alarm about Repsol's operations off Lanzarote and Fuerteventura", so it is not explained that "when it comes to reporting on this conflict, the Government of Spain forgets about the European employers' associations that have made the most investments in tourism infrastructure on the islands in recent decades".
Finally, the Lanzarote Council recalls that on June 10, the Supreme Court will adopt a ruling on the seven appeals filed against Repsol's exploration, for which it is designing and preparing different institutional initiatives and also mobilizations together with social groups from the Islands and all of Spain.
