The deputy of the Socialist Parliamentary Group for La Gomera, Ventura del Carmen Rodríguez, promotes a Non-Law Proposition (PNL) in the Parliament of the Canary Islands to demand that the Government of Spain, the European Commission and the rest of the EU institutions maintain the current financial records of the aid line of the Community Program to Support Agricultural Productions of the Canary Islands (POSEI).
The socialists call on all political groups to “paddle together and coordinate” when it comes to ensuring that Brussels maintains aid to the primary sector of the outermost regions such as the Canary Islands. “We cannot allow the agricultural and livestock sector of the Canary Islands to suffer more cuts, especially at this time, with the effects that the covid-19 crisis is having.”
Canary Islands, September 22, 2020.- The deputy of the Socialist Parliamentary Group for La Gomera, Ventura del Carmen Rodríguez, is betting that Europe maintains the level of aid from the Community Program to Support Agricultural Productions of the Islands (PSOEI) during the period 2021-2027, from which the Canary Islands benefit as an outermost region, after the announcement from Brussels of the possibility of reducing its economic allocations. “We cannot allow the agricultural and livestock sector of the Canary Islands to suffer more cuts, especially at this time, with the effects that the covid-19 crisis is having."
The socialist deputy recalls the “decided support” that both the Government of Spain and the Canarian Government have shown in maintaining the aid, as well as the Socialist Parliamentary Group itself, which will present a Non-Law Proposition (PNL) in the regional Parliament to demand that the Government of Spain, the European Commission and the rest of the EU institutions maintain the current financial records of the POSEI aid line.
Along these lines, he highlights the “efforts” and the work that both the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, and the Minister of Agriculture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Alicia Vanoostende, are carrying out precisely in recent days in Brussels so that the European Commission maintains the aid.
In the PNL, which Rodríguez will defend in the next Plenary Session of the Regional Chamber, it is requested that the Parliament of the Canary Islands urge the Government of the Canary Islands to transfer the support of this Chamber to the Government of Spain and the European Commission, the European Parliament and other institutions of the Union, for the maintenance of the current financial records of the Community Program to Support Agricultural Productions of the Canary Islands (POSEI).
Furthermore, it asks the Canarian Government to defend, together with the Government of Spain and before Europe, the need to maintain the POSEI budget, and to proceed to forward this agreement to the German presidency of the Council of Ministers of Agriculture of the European Union.
Rodríguez emphasizes that since 2018, when it became known that within the framework of the reform of the Common Agrarian Policy (CAP) it was proposed to reduce the POSEI budgets by 3.9%, the Government of the Canary Islands has shown its disagreement and "important concern" regarding the serious consequences that this cut would have on agriculture and livestock and, therefore, on the economy of the islands of the outermost regions such as the Canary Islands.
“We consider that applying this cut shows that no special considerations have been made for the ORs nor a particular analysis of the impact it would have for each of these regions, among which the Canary Islands are located,” the initiative points out.
For this reason, the socialist deputy calls on all political groups to "paddle together and coordinate" when it comes to ensuring that Brussels maintains aid to the primary sector of the outermost regions such as the Canary Islands, "especially because of what the sector is at stake in the face of the consequences of this Covid-19 crisis."
“It is necessary for Brussels to seek all flexibilities to guarantee the maintenance of financial provisions, due to the limitations we have due to our insularity,” and highlights that this demand also has the support of the rest of the countries with outermost territories, such as Portugal and France.
