NC maintains support for the alarm state with the demand to establish bilateral relations for unique treatment of the Canary Islands due to the risk of a social fracture
The representative of Nueva Canarias (NC) in Congress Pedro Quevedo today maintained his support for maintaining the state of alarm, in its fourth extension, arguing that, "in no case, are we going to market with the health of the population" in the coronavirus pandemic. Quevedo insisted to the president of the state government, Pedro Sánchez, on the need to establish bilateral relations with the Canary Islands for “singular and differentiated” treatment in the face of the risk of a social fracture.
The progressive nationalist deputy recalled that he had supported the requestsorfrom the state Executive "until now, despite the centralist practices" detrimental to the autonomies, and "more so for the Canary Islands due to their uniquerities.”
The “nothing,” Quevedo stressed, “has put us in the difficult situation of hesitating to vote for what we agree on.” But, “in no case are we going to market with the health of the population” and, for this reason, NC supported the fourth extension of the state of alarm. Public health reasons “require it,” he stated.
He recognized the “change” in the speech of Pedro Sánchez, who now appeals to co-governance; emphasizes the asymmetry and the conversations of the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, with the Canary Islands Government and with the congressman from Nueva Canarias advance. “Now it has given a quick response” to an urgent meeting, he specified, between the quadripartite Executive and the state Administration to analyze the “singularities” caused by the Covid19 crisis on the islands.
He also appreciated that the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, José Luis Ábalos, supports the continuity of the temporary employment files (ERTE), which the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, had "already expressed" to the Government of the Canary Islands in the meeting held last Monday, May 4.
But “we insist that the consequences of this crisis” on the islands show the risk of a social fracture occurring, Quevedo reiterated. If at the state level a scenario with 20% unemployment is announced as a drama, the nationalist deputy was willing to “sign it because we are going to reach double that (in the Canary Islands), if the situation continues like this.”
“We need a different response because we are in a different situation," he reiterated. In this scenario, he referred to some local advantages such as the surplus and the remainder of some 4,000 million euros, "generated" by the Canary Islands Executive, the councils and the town councils, "necessary to provide a response" to the risk of a social fracture.
The Canary Islands, he continued, is the community with the lowest debt per capita of the common regime territories. “What an opportunity!” Quevedo expressed, for Sánchez's cabinet to authorize long-term debt to a community “that has delivered like no one else.” With these indicators, he warned, “treating us equally harms us” because “those who have complied” with the state stability law are “the most harmed.”
Pedro Quevedo declared that the needs of all the territories of the State have to be understood but, for the Canary Islands, “we need bilaterality and I trust that it is the path we are starting” with the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.
