The Diplomat
A delegation of MEPs from the European Parliament’s Regional Development Committee will visit La Palma from today until Wednesday to learn first-hand about the consequences of the volcano eruption and to analyze the use of European funds for the island’s economic recovery.
The members of the European Parliament will address the effects of the catastrophe in the sectors of tourism, trade or agriculture in different meetings with national, regional and local authorities, platforms of affected people and entrepreneurs of the island, according to the representation of the European Parliament in Madrid.
The delegation is chaired by MEP Younous Omaerjee (The Left, France) and composed of Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany), Franc Bogovič (EPP, Slovenia), Irène Tolleret (Renew, France), Alessandro Panza (ID, Italy), Tsvetelina Penkova (S&D, Bulgaria). The Spanish MEPs will be Gabriel Mato (EPP), Cristina Maestre (S&D) and Marcos Ros (S&D).
The meetings will begin today, at 16.00 hours, with a meeting with the Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, followed by a visit to the Roque de Los Muchachos Astrophysical Observatory.
Tomorrow, between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m., the MEPs will visit the areas affected by the eruption of the volcano in Tazacorte, El Paso and Los Llanos. They will be accompanied by Stavros Meletlidis, volcanologist of the National Geographic Institute of Spain.
From 2:00 pm, the delegation will meet with the president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres; the delegate of the Government; the president of the Cabildo of La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata; the mayor of Tazacorte, Juan Miguel Rodríguez Acosta; the mayor of El Paso, Sergio Rodríguez; and the mayoress of Los Llanos, Noelia García Leal. After the meeting, the president of the delegation, the president of the Canary Islands, the delegate of the Government and the president of the Cabildo will hold a press conference at the Hotel Parador La Palma.
Also tomorrow, the MEPs will hold a meeting with the associations of those affected by the volcano and, later, with Sergio Matos, coordinator of Social Action of the Office of Citizen Assistance for the Volcanic Emergency, and with the National Federation of Oil Palm Growers. The visit will end on Wednesday with a meeting, at 9:00 a.m., with the Federation of Businessmen of La Palma, the Federation of Businessmen Associations of La Palma and the Chamber of Commerce. The eruption of La Palma, the first on the island since 1971, began on September 19 last year and stopped on December 13, after 85 days of activity, which makes it the longest recorded in the history of the island and the third in the whole of the Canary archipelago.
