The Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote has presented a total amendment to the island's budgets for 2025, denouncing the "lack of response to the main problems of the island and the abandonment of the city councils." This was explained by the socialist spokesperson in the Cabildo, Ariagona González, in a press conference in which she detailed "the serious shortcomings of the document, which does not contemplate solutions for the serious water crisis that the island is experiencing, public transport or waste management, and completely eliminates the Insular Municipal Cooperation Plan."
According to González, the Presidency Report, the document that marks the priorities of the budget, does not mention the water emergency, despite the fact that it was recently declared by Oswaldo Betancort himself "after more than a year of empty promises." Thus, she criticized that "they accused us of being alarmist when we denounced that his declaration of emergency was only a media spectacle. Today it is demonstrated: not a single mention in the Report and not a single euro allocated in the Cabildo's budget for investments in water," she criticized.
The socialist spokesperson also pointed out that the situation is repeated in the budgets of the Water Consortium and the Insular Water Council, which "barely include minimal investments. Betancort promised 13 million euros from the FDCAN and 21 million from the Consortium for water projects, but these funds are not reflected in the budgets. It is the same strategy as last year: grandiose headlines and, in practice, non-existent management," she stated.
Abandonment of the city councils: the elimination of the Cooperation Plan
One of the most serious issues, according to the PSOE, is the disappearance of the Insular Municipal Cooperation Plan, which in 2024 had 6.3 million euros allocated to investments in the municipalities. "Eliminating this plan means leaving the city councils without resources and discriminating against those that are not to Betancort's liking, since he will now be able to decide discretionally where the money is invested," González denounced.
In addition, the socialist spokesperson recalled that the execution of investments in 2024 barely reached 27.10%, so eliminating collaboration with the city councils will further aggravate the Cabildo's inability to manage projects. "The municipalities have their own technical and administrative services to carry out investments. With this decision, Betancort renounces that capacity and condemns Lanzarote to another year of paralysis," she warned.
Cuts in transport and waste
In addition to the abandonment of the city councils and the water crisis, the PSOE denounces that the 2025 budget "does not foresee improvements in public transport, despite promises to expand lines and frequencies. The amount allocated for transport remains the same as in 2024, without any reinforcement. While people lose up to three hours a day to go to and from work, Betancort buys new buses for the concessionaire company without having put the award out to tender," González lamented.
In terms of waste, the PSOE warns that the budget does not contemplate real reinforcements for the collection service, despite the increase in population and tourist saturation. "The responsible councilor admits that there are problems, but instead of allocating resources to improve the service, the items are barely increased in derisory amounts," criticized the socialist spokesperson.
“A budget that ignores the problems of Lanzarote”
Ariagona González concluded her speech assuring that this budget "is a sign of the incompetence of Betancort's government, which only seeks headlines and not solutions." For this reason, the PSOE considers it unfeasible to propose partial amendments and demands the withdrawal of the accounts so that they can be redone from scratch, addressing the real needs of the island and guaranteeing the financing of the city councils.
"We are facing a budget that, in the best of cases, is limited to managing the routine, without responding to tourist saturation, the water crisis or mobility problems. We cannot endorse this irresponsibility and that is why we are presenting a total amendment," González concluded.
