In last Tuesday's plenary session, President Fernando Clavijo was surprised that I stated that in Podemos we were "radically democratic".
He did so after also expressing surprise that we asked him to comply with the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands when we had not voted in favor of it.
A curious way of understanding the laws and their compliance.
But well, we already know very well the concept of democracy that Coalición Canaria has. They go to Parliament because they have no other choice, not because they respect it. And this Legislature is the perfect example.
Barely a Land Law and another for the 'Green Islands' during the first years of the legislature, to now rush to try to force laws through; repeated breaches of all the initiatives emanating from the legislative power; a president who barely attends the seat of the Legislative Power for 45 minutes every two weeks and who, when he goes, has no qualms about lying or dedicating himself to throwing mud at the opposition when he is asked things he does not like.
The culmination of this contempt for the seat of popular sovereignty came two weeks ago, when the Government, in an unprecedented act, vetoed the debate in the Chamber of the Citizen Income Bill that we have been working on for two years in Podemos.
A project that responds, in its own wording, to what is stated in article 24 of that new "historic" Statute, according to them, and which they celebrate so much. This article obliges the authorities to establish this citizen's income as a right for people in situations of social exclusion.
But they didn't even want to debate it in Parliament. Obviously, voting against it would have exposed them too much in the face of the imminent regional elections.
Another example, article 11: "The Canarian public authorities shall ensure the promotion of peace, tolerance, as well as cooperation for development, and to this end programmes and agreements shall be established with neighbouring and nearby countries, geographically or culturally".
And what does the Government do at the first opportunity? Vote against an initiative of our group that called for compliance with Human Rights in the RIF region, in Morocco. Just a few kilometers from our coasts, opponents of a government that, on an official visit, President Clavijo has declared as a great ally of the Canary Islands are imprisoned, tortured and punished.
But of course, Human Rights take a back seat when it comes to business.
One more example is article 22 of the new Statute: "the Canarian public authorities must guarantee the right of all people to decent housing and regulate its social function, through a public promotion system".
And do you know what Clavijo's Government's housing policy is? Neither do we.
The Canary Islands Housing Plan expired in 2012. And the current government has been unable to propose a new one, or make any proposal in this regard. While getting decent housing in our islands has become an impossible mission, public policy in this regard in our land is totally paralyzed.
In 2017, at the initiative of Podemos, a Comprehensive Housing Plan for the Canary Islands was unanimously approved. Almost two years later, the problem has become enormous. It is the irresponsible policy of doing nothing and ignoring the problems, to see if they solve themselves, it does not work.
Clavijo and his minority government have achieved their objective: to make Parliament a symbolic place. A mere formality. They don't care what happens there. Whether with Law or Non-Law proposals and with all the initiatives that we take there.
We have even reached a point where the Parliament's calendar is adapted every week based on what is convenient for the Government.
And even so, they don't even arrive on time, as happened this week, when the session had to start without a single member of the Government being present.
It is time to warn of the seriousness of the situation.
If the Parliament of the Canary Islands is emptied of content, we are perverting democracy.
Since 2015 we have suffered in the Canary Islands a Government that had only two purposes: to survive and for everything to remain the same.
All its actions have been directed towards these two objectives. And they have certainly achieved it. And the partners who have allowed it. PP and ASG, are jointly responsible for this situation.
A democracy that spends more time celebrating and commemorating its laws than complying with them is a sick democracy. Sick with cynicism.
If they like the new Statute so much, dedicate themselves to complying with it. And to respect the Parliament.
Because democracy is something too serious to be taken lightly.
Noemí Santana Perera
General Secretary and parliamentary spokesperson for Podemos Canarias
Candidate for the Presidency of the Canary Islands
