Just as there are those who, being in favor of oil exploration in the Canary Islands, presume a sincere opposition to them due to the unacceptable risk they pose to this land, I will presume their frank belief that ...
Just as there are those who, being in favor of oil exploration in the Canary Islands, presume a sincere opposition to them due to the unacceptable risk they pose to this land, I will presume their frank belief that it is an opportunity and it would be convenient to negotiate the economic conditions under which they should be carried out.
But, admitting the above, I want to explain why I consider that, put in the mouth of those other champions of the interests of the oil industry who need no "popular" or political introduction, that is a miserable argument.
The question is that if the PP really believes it is fair that the Canary Islands do not only assume the risks of that industry - which implies, by the way, an incoherent implicit recognition of the lack of security that they deny at the same time - but that in return they should obtain a benefit incorporated in our REF or any other instrument, then arrange it. What prevents the Canary PP, which insists so much on the idea, from "negotiating" what it says we are justly entitled to. And above all, what prevents Minister Soria from specifying his tall tale of the extraordinary wealth and job creation that it would mean for the Canary Islands. I'll tell you: nothing. At least, nothing that is not their infinite demagoguery.
Pretending that it is the Government of the Canary Islands and the island councils who turn their backs on the true interests of Canarian society and align themselves - like the PP - with those of the oil industry, opening the door to the negotiation of what we do not want, only pursues a miserable objective, and this is none other than the photo they crave to immediately accuse us of putting on sale and at a good price, our firm will to fight to the end on all fronts against this terrible threat to the Canary Islands.
And I already anticipate that in that deceitful photo, you will not see me.
If it finally turns out to be inevitable, what a petty reason there would be to deprive us of those supposed and fair benefits, punishing the Canarians only for having used the instruments that Democracy puts at our disposal to avoid what we consider a serious mistake. Would that be fair, or rather a perverse excuse? I think the answer is obvious.
As for the other great argument of the pro-oil spokespersons that Morocco will take our oil, allow me to point out in passing that the trigger, what has provoked that other added threat to the Canary Islands, we must also thank the Canarian minister for reactivating the permits with the neighboring country.
But in any case, we also oppose Morocco doing it, we refuse to multiply the risks in our waters and we aspire for Europe to intercede for the Canary Islands so that it is considered a zone free of prospecting due to its special conditions, as has already happened in other places on the planet, such as the Arctic or the Norwegian Fjords, which some falsely put as an example.
I will not cease in the fight, nor will I turn my back on the more than 25,000 people who represented the will of the immense majority of the people of Lanzarote, and I announce that not only have we not closed any front, but, on the contrary, we keep more and more open, as you can see both in the management report (http://www.cabildodelanzarote.com/Uploads/doc/2013021411320141.pdf) and in the arguments (http://www.cabildodelanzarote.com/Uploads/doc/20130215101236682.pdf), prepared from the questioned Office of Global Action, which continues to do a job as enormous as the challenge it has ahead.
http://www.cabildodelanzarote.com/Uploads/doc/20130215101236682.pdf
In that sense, I want to take this opportunity to explain to the people who, even sharing the objective, do not quite understand the need for that expense; that there is too much at stake, a lot of work done, more to be done, and essential, therefore, not to skimp on efforts to dedicate a person with experience and focused exclusively on this just cause.
The fight is now concentrated, on the one hand, in the appeal against the authorization decree not yet presented and which pivots on a flagrant breach of community directives for not publishing the procedure in the Official Journal of the European Union as is mandatory. And, on the other hand, in promoting a real commitment to renewable energies in the Canary Islands.
By the way, the proposal to modify our Statute of Autonomy in accordance with the Canary Islands Water Law, approved and not appealed by anyone, grants the Canary Islands the powers to authorize prospecting. It is not an idea of mine, but a text literally agreed upon in its day by CC with the PP, its spokesperson being the very same and current vice president of the Government of Spain, Mrs. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, as can be seen on page 108 (amendment 81) of the Official Gazette of the General Courts of the Congress of Deputies dated July 12, 2007.
Finally, and this is a personal position, I could understand - but not share - the commitment to this industry if we were talking about exclusive competition and wealth for the Canary Islands that would allow us to even think about a change of model. The rest would be colonialist crumbs that do not deserve the slightest consideration, but that is another story.
Pedro M. San Ginés Gutiérrez is the president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote
