The deputy of Lanzarote and La Graciosa for Nueva Canarias, Yoné Caraballo, registered this Tuesday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands a series of specific amendments for Lanzarote with the aim of "correcting" the General Budgets of the Canary Islands that, according to the Canarist, are "unfair" for the island.
Thus, Caraballo stated at a press conference that "after a meticulous work of the NC colleagues in Lanzarote, with contributions from all the Local Committees, I have registered more than twenty amendments that address the main axes of the welfare state such as health, education and social rights."
For the Canarist, the budget prepared by the conservative government of CC, PP, ASG and AHI relegates Lanzarote to the fifth island in investment, below La Palma and Fuerteventura and to a "very little margin" of La Gomera. A decision "not reasonable if you take into account the economic weight of Lanzarote, the adjusted population and the needs of the island."
"We understand the principle of solidarity and priority in issues such as the volcano of La Palma, but we cannot be impassive to the decision that Lanzarote is the only island that loses funding with respect to the budget in force," says Caraballo, who sees that "when CC governs, Lanzarote loses."
Thus, the Lanzarote deputy has registered amendments to the expenditure section that are distributed in different projects for the Third Sector of the island; improvements in educational infrastructures for the CEIP Costa Teguise, CEIP Doctor Alfonso Spínola, CEO of Costa Teguise, the key classroom in the IES of Tías and the project of the future CEO of Argana Alta.
In addition, in terms of health, he has paid attention to improving the equipment for the Health Area; the project of the long-awaited Argana Health Center, and the support to the Association of Patients and Users of Health of Lanzarote so that "they continue in their work of advice and attention to society."
Similarly, Caraballo highlights the "recovery" of the project to "improve the Port of Órzola" that had already been contemplated in previous budgets and could not be executed.
Equal treatment for the "yellow islands"
Apart from the amendments to the expenditure section, NC has filed amendments to the article that provides a bonus of twenty cents per liter of fuel in the so-called 'green islands' (El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma). Thus, the Canaristas consider that the 'yellow islands' (Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) should also "benefit from this measure that tries to alleviate the increase in the price of fuel in the non-capital islands." However, the proposal of the party is that the 'yellow islands' are covered by "a bonus of ten cents per liter, given that they have a higher price than the reference islands (Gran Canaria and Tenerife), but lower than the 'green islands'."
"It is fair that the non-capital eastern islands also benefit from this bonus that we consider should be extraordinary and temporary," says Caraballo, who maintains that "the roads should lead to the eradication of fossil fuels and the use of public transport, not to encourage them even more. However, we understand that once it has been established for some islands according to the criterion of double insularity, there must be a transfer to the rest but with the obligation to monitor prices and penalize practices that go against the general interest."
Cynicism of CC
On the other hand, Yoné Caraballo did not want to miss the opportunity to point out the "political cynicism" with which the deputies of CC act when announcing the intention to improve the budgets for Lanzarote and La Graciosa. Caraballo points out that "there are top officials of CC in Lanzarote who sit at the same table of the governing council that approved these accounts and left Lanzarote in the fifth position in investment." "Now they want to make us see (continues the deputy) that they themselves will correct the grievance, when they are the executioners and those who just a week ago justified that the important thing was not the amount of money that was painted in the budget but its execution."
"We will see if they get what they are promising and the degree of execution by the end of 2024," says Yoné Caraballo.
