Like the social majority, I believe that there are issues that concern the present and future of the island and that, due to their importance, require broad consensus. At the national level, state agreements attempt to bring together diverse, sometimes antagonistic, wills on major issues of general interest regardless of the political color of each government. Thus, fundamentally during the democratic transition, the culture of agreement allowed the parties to overcome their differences for the good of the country. There are the so-called Moncloa Pacts and the Constitution of 1978. Unfortunately, we have moved away from this spirit, with bickering and dissent being the general rule of political and media debate.
However, in recent days voices have emerged calling for new agreements in national politics: "The PSOE and Podemos are calling for a state pact against gender violence," as can be read in the press these days, which I am happy about, let's see if we end this terrible problem. Another example is the call to recover the spirit of the transition to face a necessary constitutional reform, as various partisan voices maintain.
In the insular sphere there are also island agreements, to put it graphically, which necessarily must pass through consensus. One example was the approval of the Lanzarote Island Land Management Plan (PIOL, hereinafter) in 1991, and it should be the set of territorial policies that have been waiting for years, as is the case of the PIOL Review itself. Due to the repercussions it will have on present and future generations, this is Lanzarote's most important political and social project, and it must be everyone's business.
As a councilor of the Cabildo, I am fortunate to be able to participate in the territorial debate firsthand, and, from this position, the idea of achieving a great agreement for the territory and the people, which inevitably involves the revision of the PIOL, becomes even stronger. We need a broad and true consensus on the territory, for the simple reason that human and economic activities take place on it. There are many difficulties, open wounds and distrust, but we are obliged more than ever to make an effort for understanding.
In 1991, we were able to achieve a broad consensus when we unanimously approved the first Island Plan of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands, placing the island at the forefront of territorial policy. I believe that today the urgencies are greater, but also the possibilities of achieving it again.
There are more possibilities because we have a more mature and aware society; the urgencies are greater because the island has more than 13,000 unemployed people, and the new PIOL should help improve things. It is logical that differences arise at the beginning, as a result of the different existing positions, but, if we try, I am convinced that we will achieve a great and renewed collective success, which the island society is so in need of.
Marcos Bergaz, Councilor PSOE Cabildo de Lanzarote
