Most of us are finding it not an easy task to navigate each day in this complicated time that we have had to live through. The pandemic has brought us a health, economic, and social crisis of unimaginable proportions, but they are still three dimensions of a problem that requires equally enormous efforts to solve it. Therefore, I am convinced that we have to give the best of ourselves if we aspire to overcome this episode that is putting all of humanity in a bind.
Of course, for the best of each one to emerge, it is essential to be responsible, that is, we have to take great care and attention in what we do and decide. The first and last responsibility lies with the Government of our country, which is obliged to respond to the collective progress and well-being of citizens in these moments in which it has to attend to, and attends to, so many needs with limited public resources. But responsibility is a word that has many faces, so it cannot be used lightly or demagogically.
To emerge successfully from this crisis, it is not enough to demand that others be responsible, since each part of the State, each fragment of society, and each person are also called to exercise their responsibility at all hours of the day. Starting with the parties allied in the Government, PSOE and Unidas Podemos, and the voters and supporters who support them, we must become activists for democracy, defenders of the welfare state, and an example of civic responsibility, solidarity, and generosity.
Responsibility of each political group represented in the Congress of Deputies and in the Senate, where popular sovereignty is substantiated and the rule of law makes sense. It is time for the political groups that have openly shown their disagreement with the popular will expressed in the past general elections to assume the rules of democracy and, from institutional loyalty, to lend a hand in the titanic task of tackling the pandemic, rebuilding the economy, and assisting the vulnerable population.
Responsibility of the autonomous communities, regardless of their political colors, because they are an essential part of the political and administrative framework of the State enshrined in the Constitution. But, after the State of Alarm was lifted, we have all seen that it is not enough to claim co-governance, but it is necessary to know how to combine co-responsibility, because there is a lot of weakness being seen, especially in some autonomous communities that the day before yesterday denounced invasion of powers and today demand greater intervention by the State Government.
Responsibility of the island councils and the town councils, which are the public administrations closest to the people and where the needy first go in search of help. I take my hat off to them and express my recognition for such extraordinary work. Responsibility also of the economic and social agents, who, in my opinion, are up to the circumstances with social dialogue as a channel for understanding.
And responsibility, finally, of the people, of each one of us. To exercise it with the height that these circumstances demand of us, it would be enough to look in the mirror of those who are role models of responsibility, such as healthcare personnel. Being responsible people today consists of being supportive, lending a hand to those who need it according to our possibilities, being patient, and taking care of our health to take care of others in the field of public health. Without forgetting to unmask the catastrophists who use the pandemic to try to sow fear and distrust in the institutions in order to overthrow the Government that emerged from the popular will.
Fco. Manuel Fajardo Palarea, PSOE senator for Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
