SOCIALISTS LAUNCH BROADSIDE AGAINST CANARIAN COALITION

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Monday January 11 2010

PSOE Canarian parliamentary spokesman Santiago Pérez

SOCIALIST Party (PSOE) regional parliamentary spokesman Santiago Pérez launched a four-pronged attack on the ruling Canarian Coalition party on Monday.

by JAMES TWEEDIE

Speaking at a press conference at the Canarian Parliament in the regional capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Mr Pérez began by accusing the regional government of failing to distribute €150 million earmarked to ease credit to small and medium enterprises to its intended beneficiaries.

He said that “about zero” of the money had gone to SMEs, while the “same old rich businessmen” had enjoyed the lions' share.

Mr Pérez' second line of attack was over Santa Cruz council's controversial Plan General de Ordenación (PGO), which has left some 30 per cent of the city's homes outside of planning permission.

He called the PGO a “new type of tax” and an attack on the property values and inheritance of thousands of families.

Mr Perez said that the town hall faced two choices – drop the plan or find the money to pay compensation to its victims.

The PSOE spokesman also criticised the Canarian government's failure to diversify the economy, saying that their only response to the crisis was to liberalise the tourism and tourism-related construction industry.

He closed by accusing the ruling Canarian Coalition and its regional president Paulino Rivero of using an “anti-democratic” electoral system to “block and freeze” regional politics.

He said: “The first objective of the CC is to remain in power,” adding that the conservative Popular Party “follows behind the CC.”

He claimed that the PSOE was the “primary force” in Canarian politics but that it had been cheated out of political power.

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