If there is something that cannot be waived in political life and that is at the top of the list of citizen demands, it is dialogue. The ability to debate, to find solutions, not to throw in the towel until a meeting point has been reached.
Today, more than ever, in the management of major issues, it is necessary to open all possible avenues of negotiation and consensus. And that is precisely what the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has done in his recent meeting with Mariano Rajoy: to recover a dialogue and reopen paths of understanding that, for the good of this land, should never have been closed. This also applies to the coming years, in which the changes that we have been observing, almost vertiginously, in political life will materialize and which will be seen after the next general elections, a time when many important agreements will have to be reached.
This requires enormous generosity and equal vision. And, above all, it is necessary to put the issues to be dealt with on the table, knowing that one is going to get up from it having addressed them responsibly, without giving in on what is important, but always being willing to dialogue to the point of exhaustion.
That was the spirit that animated the meeting between the two presidents, in which Rajoy pledged to accept the proposal to improve the financial sheet in the 2016 General State Budgets, a demand that is not only from our political formation, Coalición Canaria, nor from the Government of the Canary Islands, but is supported by the economic and social agents of the Archipelago; by the support of the Canarian people, for whom the creation of employment is a concern and a matter of vital importance.
This and other agreements reached at that meeting by Fernando Clavijo are important. But this does not mean that we are satisfied and that we are conformist. The Canary Islands needs the Government of the Popular Party to move from words to deeds and to improve the budget items with a concrete proposal; with a serious and immediate commitment, essential for us to have, next year, the resources that correspond to us for the creation of employment and the consolidation of economic growth.
Some items that are also necessary to comply with what the law establishes: that investment in the Canary Islands is, at least, at the average of the rest of the State. And we will be vigilant and demanding in the fulfillment of these commitments, as demanded by the citizens, who know that among the obligations of their political representatives, the fundamental one is to ensure that agreements are fulfilled and to defend what is just.
We are not going to throw in the towel. We are not going to give up what is ours. We are going to continue working, as until now, to get an honest budget for the Canary Islands.
This is the furthest thing from a victimizing discourse that is known. The arguments are clear and irrefutable: the Canary Islands has complied with the deficit target imposed by the Ministry of Finance. We have done, with seriousness and rigor, what corresponded to us. And this effort must exist, in the same way, on the part of the State Government, which now has to take an important step and turn its words into deeds, thus demonstrating the validity of the commitment acquired with the Canary Islands.
We are not going to wait for the elections to be held to look for answers and get results. For us, this is a very valuable time, in which we must advance in the management of our own resources, with the collaboration of the Government of the State and the European Union. Therefore, our efforts are focused here and now. Betting on dialogue and, with the same determination, demanding solutions.
Ana María Oramas, Deputy of Coalición Canaria- Nueva Canarias
