The writer and diplomat Ángel Ganivet said that "if in practical life laziness becomes visible by not doing, in intellectual life it is characterized by not paying attention." In the case of politics, laziness is reflected in the lack of commitment. This is what happens to the Popular Party of the Canary Islands. While their colleagues in the Balearic Islands announce that they are not going to stand idly by and that they are going to confront the State Government to demand an increase in investment, the Canary Islands' Popular Party have chosen, once again, to support their colleagues and praise accounts in which the Canary Islands are once again at the bottom.
The most curious thing is that investment in the Balearic Islands increases by more than 86 percent in 2015 compared to 4 percent in the Canary Islands. Despite this abysmal difference, the president of the Balearic Islands and top leader of the PP in that Autonomous Community, José Ramón Bauzá, has once again rebelled against the government presided over by Mariano Rajoy. In the plenary session held in the Balearic Parliament last Tuesday, October 7, he stated that "he does not share the investment policy that the State makes with respect to the Balearic Islands" and that "the councilors and their teams must continue working before the ministries to improve investments that have always been deficient in this Community."
This firm opposition contrasts with the statements of the representatives of the PP of the Canary Islands, who have convened press conferences and published opinion articles in which they repeat like a mantra that these are the budgets of growth. Reflections in which they limit themselves to reproducing without any self-criticism the arguments cooked up by the State Government to try to make us believe their slogans with an eye on the elections to be held in 2015.
It is the difference between those who are committed to their land and those who are only committed to their party. In the Balearic Islands, the PP was critical of the State's accounts for 2014 and its firmness was rewarded with an item of more than 90 million euros to finance roads and the inclusion of a special provision to shield 74 million euros for treatment plants. The same is true of the surveys: the opposition of the PP of the Balearic Islands to oil surveys has forced the State Government to paralyze environmental impact studies, while in the Canary Islands they have been expedited.
What do the Popular Party of the Canary Islands mean when they say that these are the budgets of growth? Do they consider it fair that the Canary Islands receive 160 million euros less than the average of the Autonomous Communities? Do they believe that it is equitable that investment per inhabitant in the Islands is 173 euros compared to 249 euros for the state average? What do they think about the fact that their influence in Madrid is so irrelevant that the Canary Islands are not among the seven Autonomous Communities - all governed by the PP or its partner UPN - in which investment increases the most?
The Canary Islands' Popular Party ignore all those details that certify the very poor imbalance of the accounts designed by the State Government. They omit that the 173 euros that each Canary Islander receives are far from the 699 euros per capita that corresponds to Castilla-León or the 514 that the Galicians will receive.
Since Mariano Rajoy came to the Presidency, the state budgets have reduced investments in the Canary Islands by more than 50 percent. However, despite the sharp cuts that our Archipelago has suffered, the strategy of the PP of the Canary Islands remains the same: condescension with the policies of the State and zero self-criticism with the decisions of a Government that blatantly rewards some territories over others.
Roads as necessary as La Aldea, the island ring of Tenerife or the North-South axis of Fuerteventura are once again up in the air due to the new budget reduction that the Ministry of Development has applied to the agreement with the Canary Islands. A cut that clashes if we take into account the 3,561 million euros that will be invested next year to continue expanding the high-speed network in the Peninsula. We, on the other hand, are granted 54 million euros for roads, far from the more than 200 that corresponded to us in 2015. A decision that will mean the paralysis of projects and, therefore, the closure of small and medium-sized companies, and the loss of thousands of jobs in the Community most affected by the crisis.
The Popular Party of the Balearic Islands will not stand idly by and will fight in the amendment period to increase the items for their Islands, while the Popular Party of the Canary Islands will once again opt for the same path as always: silence and complacency with their colleagues in the State Government. And then they will say that these are the budgets of growth. It is the most faithful reflection of the laziness of some compared to the commitment of others.
Ana Oramas, deputy of Coalición Canaria
