SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 30 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Vice President of the Government of the Canary Islands and Minister of Finance, Budgets and European Affairs, Román Rodríguez, will analyze this week in Brussels the different Canarian files that are being processed by the European Commission, including the renewal of the Outermost Regions Strategy, the proposal Directive on fiscal harmonization or the participation of the Archipelago in European programs to be carried out on the African continent.
In this way, Román Rodríguez resumes the face-to-face meetings with the European institutions, after the period of restrictions imposed by covid-19, which forced the holding of telematic meetings. His last visit was in November 2019.
The Vice President will begin his visit on Tuesday with a meeting with the Permanent Representative Ambassador of Spain to the EU, Marcos Alonso, with whom he will review the different RUP dossiers in the framework of the preparation of the Spanish Presidency of the Council.
In relation to this same matter, Rodríguez will then meet with the Director of Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission, Marc Lemaitre, to address the renewal of the RUP Strategy of the European Union and the impact of the pandemic caused by covid -19 in these remote and vulnerable territories.
Tuesday’s session will continue with a meeting with the director responsible for African affairs of the Commission’s General Directorate for International Associations, Sandra Kramer, with whom she will analyze the development of the European Union’s MAC program, in which the Canary Islands will play a again an important role.
Within this same General Directorate, the Vice President will also hold a meeting with the Director of Sustainable Development Policy, Félix Fernández-Shaw, to explore the role that the Canary Islands could play in the deployment in Africa of the European Global Gateway project. It is a new European strategy to promote smart, clean and secure links in the digital, energy and transport sectors, as well as to strengthen health, education and research systems around the world.
Tuesday’s agenda closes with a working session with the advisers of the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU José Ramón Funes, Lucía Merino, Saulo Marrero, Almudena Darias, Victoria Hernández and Cristina Sosa.
The visit will conclude on Wednesday with the meeting between Rodríguez and the Director General of Taxation and Customs Union of the Commission, Benjamin Angel, in order to analyze the proposal for a Directive on tax harmonization, which aims to establish a minimum rate of 15% in Corporation Tax for those companies that invoice more than 750 million a year.
Also participating in the trip to Brussels, for the Government of the Canary Islands, are the Deputy Minister of Finance, Planning and European Affairs, Fermín Delgado; the general director of European Affairs, Julián Zafra, and the general director of the Office of the Vice President, Martín Marrero.
