Zaragoza (EFE).- Socialist Isabel García has been the only Aragonese member of the European Parliament since her election three and a half years ago, where she tries to act as a “transmission belt” for territorial claims to reach Brussels , since “Europe is not the Pyrenees upwards”.
“No one wonders why Spanish MEPs are needed in the European Parliament. We all want to be represented. Although we speak in European, we have our little hearts and our Spanish heads and, in my case, Aragonese”, he defends during a meeting at the Eurochambre with journalists from the Community this natural policy of the municipality of Zaragoza from Muel.
In this sense, he emphasizes that he did not hesitate when presented with the opportunity to be part of the institution: “There are certain issues that affect certain regions more than others and it is important to always have representation. When I saw the opportunity to come here and be the only Aragonese, I couldn’t let this train pass; for me personally, because it was an incredible experience, but also because of what it could mean for my region”.
García, who holds the vice-presidency of the Budget Control Commission and is a member of the Transport and Tourism Commission, explains that together with his group they have put on the table issues that fully affect Aragon, such as the crossing of the central Pyrenees (TCP) . , the reopening of Canfranc or the realization that one of the criteria for the transition fund is depopulation.
Regional perspective but reflection on Europe
“We MEPs speak in European, but we have our national perspective and our regional perspective, obviously, in certain specific aspects. Of course, in general, you have to think about Europe, you can’t do something that harms the rest and only benefits you, because you’re not going to achieve that either,” he continues in about the functioning of this institution of the European Union, the only one elected by direct suffrage.
For García, the Parliament is an “accessible, transparent and willing” institution, because it is not enough to “do it well”, but he is aware of the challenge of making the citizen understand “that it is a good common”.
“Although we often spend money in solidarity with others, it affects us later and benefits us,” says García, one of 705 representatives from 27 member states.
Towards rural, sustainable and cultural tourism
Tourism is another of the issues that concern the commission in which the socialist participates, which defends modifying the schemes “towards rural, sustainable, interior and cultural tourism”.
“The European Commission is strengthening it and this benefits us in Aragon, where everything is touristic. We are also working on it,” says the MEP. He explains that it is the legislature in which we have made the most talk of tourism, a sector which has chained in Europe the crisis of the bankruptcy of the British group Thomas Cook, that of the pandemic and, now, that of the war in Ukraine. , which It also affects neighboring countries.
García, who is part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), concludes by calling on citizens and entities to get closer to the functioning of the European Parliament and to lose the “fear of distance” and to reflect that their deputies are “inaccessible”.