Representatives of the municipalities of Yaiza and Tinajo supported this weekend the decision adopted in La Gomera by the Association of Municipalities with territory in National Parks (Amuparna), to ask the Government of the Canary Islands for the immediate resolution of the call for subsidies for 2010, for which the two municipalities of the Island affected by the Timanfaya National Park will receive 288,000 euros, according to the mayor of Yaiza, Gladys Acuña, and the first deputy mayor of Tinajo, Antonio Morales, present at the meeting held this weekend in Valle Gran Rey.
The Canary Islands is the only autonomous community that has not resolved the subsidies for the previous year, so those corresponding to 2011 are lost. The eighty-two municipalities belonging to thirteen National Parks, of the fourteen that make up the Network of National Parks of Spain, expressed their concern because they are failing to receive the money that compensates them for being within the socio-economic area of influence of a national park.
The general director of Nature Protection, José Fernández Pérez, heard firsthand the demand of Yaiza, Tinajo and all the administrations affected by the "negligent" action of the Canarian Government. "The money that the Government of Spain allocates to the Canary Islands and is not invested here, stays in the Peninsula," says the mayor of Yaiza, a position shared by the members of Amuparna, including, of course, the mayor of the Gomera municipality of Alajeró, Manuel Ramón Plasencia, current president of the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam).
This situation represents a deficit of 1.2 million euros for all the municipalities affected by the El Teide, Caldera de Taburiente, Garajonay and Timanfaya parks. "The autonomous communities have the responsibility to convene and resolve the subsidies in a timely manner," reads the resolution of the Amuparna Assembly.
The associated municipalities also ask the autonomous communities to improve the current model of call and granting of aid "towards one that responds to objective and invariable concession criteria for the municipalities, such as territory and population." They also request the advance of 75 percent of the subsidy to the municipalities. The Assembly awarded the first Amuparna Prize to the Junta de Andalucía for the order of July 23, 2010, which establishes the regulatory bases for the granting of subsidies in this area.
Yaiza and Tinajo share the representation in Amuparna for the Timanfaya National Park. The Lanzarote municipalities, which maintain cordial relations, agreed to divide the leadership period in the Assembly for the next four years. Tinajo will lead the way for the first two years and Yaiza will take over for the following two years. The mayors of Hermigua (La Gomera) and El Paso (La Palma), Solveida Clemente and Dolores Padilla, respectively, and representatives of the rest of the Canarian municipalities associated in Amuparna also attended the meeting in La Gomera: San Sebastián, Agulo, Valle Gran Rey and Vallehermoso, from the island of La Gomera; Adeje, Garachico, Guía de Isora, Icod de los Vinos, La Guancha, La Orotava, Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla, Santiago del Teide and Vilaflor, from Tenerife.
