A motion by Somos Lanzarote approved this Tuesday in the Arrecife City Council has once again highlighted the gap between the Canary Islands Coalition and the PSOE, at least on this island, with respect to the processing of the regional Land Law. And also the differences that exist within the socialist ranks of the Canary Islands, where the PSOE governs together with CC and has already approved the document in the Governing Council.
Thus, while in the regional government they have already given their support, in Arrecife the PSOE supported this Tuesday a motion that calls for opening a "participatory and calm" debate on this law, which urges the Government of the Canary Islands to ensure that the text "is the result of the participation of the Canarian people and that its hypothetical approval emanates directly from the exercise of their sovereignty" and to extend the period of public information to six months, which has been a total of 35 days. This clashes head-on with the plans of the Government of Fernando Clavijo, which intends to take the law to the Parliament of the Canary Islands at the end of this month.
As happened last Friday in the Plenary Session of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, where the PSOE already approved a similar motion from Somos Lanzarote (although it rejected another from Podemos asking for the withdrawal of the Law), in Arrecife the vote of the government group has also been divided. In addition to the socialist councilors, those of the PIL have also voted in favor of this motion, while CC has chosen to abstain. And the same has been done by the Popular Party, which is not part of the Government of the Canary Islands, but in the Plenary Session of Arrecife has made the most heated defense of the need for this new law. For its part, the rest of the opposition groups, that is, Ganemos and Ciudadanos, have also voted in favor of the motion of Somos Lanzarote, which has prospered without any vote against and with the only abstentions of CC and PP.
Although the text of the motion did not say so expressly, Somos has referred to the possibility of calling a referendum in the islands. In this regard, Borja Rubio has stated that the idea of this popular consultation "is on the table" in the motion, by asking that the approval of the law "emanate directly from the sovereignty" of the people. In addition, the councilor has demanded that CC, "which championed a referendum on the surveys, also champion a referendum on the land law".
Eva de Anta asks that the law "contemplate the real needs of the Canary Islands"
The mayor of Arrecife, Eva de Anta, has been in charge of explaining her party's position. And she has done so after Somos Lanzarote defended this motion and introduced it with a harsh attack on the Land Law, stating that it represents "a threat very similar to the one suffered by the islands in the last legislature with the surveys", that it "attacks" against the territory of the islands and that it treats the land "for speculative purposes".
"I want to make it clear that we are going to support the motion of Somos Lanzarote and that the PSOE is going to vote in favor", the mayor has advanced, who has even stated that this "should be a law for everyone, not just for a few". "We believe that a calm debate should be opened on this issue", Eva De Anta defended, claiming the need for legislation that "contemplates the real needs of the Canary Islands". In addition, she has repeated the words spoken by other groups, such as Somos, Ciudadanos and Ganemos, and has agreed in remembering that the Canary Islands, and in particular Lanzarote, has been "a flag in terms of containing growth and sustainable development".
Although she had not spoken publicly until now, the mayor of Arrecife was present at the presentation in Lanzarote, at the César Manrique Foundation, of the Platform against the Land Law, which brings together parties, unions and groups from all the islands. And she attended that event together with the mayor of San Bartolomé, secretary of the PSOE on the island and president of the socialist group in the Canarian Parliament, María Dolores Corujo. Now, hand in hand with the motions that are being taken to different institutions on the island, the Lanzarote PSOE is beginning to speak out. "It is important that we open the extension of that debate and that there is citizen participation", defended the mayor, who has also stated that it should be a law "agreed with the majority of political forces".
"I hope they vote with what they think they have to do"
"I hope they forget what they have been told they should do and vote with what they think they have to do", the spokesman for Ganemos, Daniel Cabecera, had warned, before the government group spoke. Both he and the councilor of Ciudadanos, Víctor Duque, have stated that they are "totally in agreement" with what Somos Lanzarote has proposed in its motion. The three have denied the arguments of the Canarian Government to defend this law and have insisted that it was CC and the PSOE from the regional Executive itself, especially in the last legislature, who created the legal "mess" that they now claim they want to resolve with this new document.
"They did it precisely to be able to skip the legislation in force at will and that the coasts of Playa Blanca or Puerto del Carmen could be exploited with total impunity", Borja Rubio has reproached them. In addition, all have criticized that the new law gives "a lot of power" over the territory to the municipalities, delegating the powers to them and "allowing each city council to manage itself as an independent canton". "I find it shameful that a party that says it is Canarian, that it is nationalist, that takes out the flag of the seven green stars every time there are elections, breaks the Canarian archipelago into 88 different territories", they have questioned from Somos.
But above all, they have insisted not only on the substance, but also on the "forms" with which this law is being processed. "They are trying to get us to pass the law by force and, in addition, with darkness and treachery", Daniel Cabecera has denounced, who has defined the alliance between CC and the PSOE in the archipelago as "an unnatural pact". Among other things, from Ciudadanos they have also compared the situation that is being experienced in the Canary Islands, where the draft Law has been on public display for 35 days, with the case of the Basque Country, where a participatory process of 3 years has been opened to design and approve a new law of territorial planning.
In addition, Víctor Duque has denounced that the Law means "going back to the old ways" and "redeveloping everything we have left behind". For his part, Borja Rubio has stressed that the "real estate development model" is what has led the Canary Islands and Lanzarote "to the situation they are in today", with very high rates of unemployment and job insecurity.
The PP thinks it is "a good preliminary draft"
For her part, the councilor of the PP Ástrid Pérez has defended the need for a new land law that "simplifies" the regulations and has stated that "the Canarian legislation regarding territory, urban planning and land issues has been a real nonsense in the last 20 years". For this reason, she considers that "a new legislative formula has been urgently needed for many years to be able to get the Canary Islands out of the chaos we have", which she has blamed on "the incompetence of CC and PSOE".
"In principle, we think it is a good preliminary draft", the regional parliamentarian Ástrid Pérez has advanced. Of course, she has announced that her party is going to present amendments to "improve" the text, "because we still find it very deficient". In addition, she has attacked the parties that oppose this law. "It is very easy to come here to talk about those laws that destroy the land", she has stated, reproaching them for not having proposed another "better model" and for defending "the model of the left" and "the moratorium".
The intervention of the PP councilor has generated a clash with the spokesman of Ganemos. "We all understand the position of the PP. We know who it represents", Daniel Cabecera has stated, to which Ástrid Pérez has responded later warning him that she was not going to "allow" him to "disrespect the PP" and its electorate. "Who do we represent, Mr. Cabecera?", she has asked him, accusing him of representing those who want to "fiddle with the territory with some friends, but that it is not seen, because they are technicians and not politicians". "You represent the model of the left, the technocracy with the Cotmac. You do commit irregularities and nothing happens", the island leader of the PP has continued.
"I don't understand what you think of your electorate", the spokesman for Ganemos has replied. "I have not said anything about your electorate", he has insisted, clarifying that with his "we already know who the PP represents", he was referring to "the conservative sector" and to the "businessmen". "I have not disqualified or said absolutely anything to your electorate. What's more, I respect it. I may like it more or less that they vote for you, but I respect it", he has concluded, adding later that Ástrid Pérez has "disqualified" the voters of Ganemos, and calling her intervention "shameful".
CC assures that the law is not "a break"
More brief has been the intervention of the representative of CC, the councilor of Urbanism Samuel Martín, who has defended that "the Canarian model is one of the most protectionist of the entire Spanish territory" and has assured that the new law does not propose a "break", but an "approach" to "a local fact and an island fact".
In addition, he has responded punctually to one of the criticisms of the majority of the groups, regarding the lack of capacity that the city councils could have to assume the new powers that this law grants them. In this regard, the CC councilor has stated that currently the technical offices of the Canarian municipalities are not "capable of carrying out any planning" either and that they have to do so by contracting external services or with the collaboration of the Government of the Canary Islands, which can continue to be done with the new document.
As for the third government partner in Arrecife, the PIL, it has also supported the motion of Somos Lanzarote, although none of its two councilors has taken the floor to explain its position.
