SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 27. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, and the President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, have signed this Wednesday the agreement of the Mixed Commission of Transfers by which the powers in matters of Coasts are transferred to the autonomous community , which will be effective from January 1, 2023.
In the press conference after the Canary Islands-State Bilateral Cooperation Commission and the Joint Transfer Commission, the minister stressed that today is an important day that represents “the end point to many days and hours of work” of the teams of both the Ministry of Territorial Policy and the Government of the Canary Islands.
Isabel Rodríguez stressed that, after eight years, the jurisdictional ceiling of the autonomous community is being extended and its Statute of Autonomy is being answered, as a demand from the islands is completed in which the Government of Spain has “high expectations” for the improvement of a management “from the proximity” that is going to assume now the autonomous Government.
For his part, Ángel Víctor Torres welcomed this “historic” result after a “difficult” negotiation process, initiated since the beginning of this legislature and which has presented various “complex points” that have not prevented the Archipelago from managing the competitions in Costas from next January 1.
In this sense, he wanted to recall that other regions managed to include these powers in their Statutes of Autonomy much earlier (some in 2008) and for now they still do not exercise them.
The president also stressed that today is a very important day because the coast of the Canary Islands is larger than that of other larger autonomous communities and because it is “one of the jewels of the islands and a great tourist attraction that must be preserved”.
Likewise, he stressed that the text that has been signed by both governments has “exactly the same powers” for the Canary Islands as those that other communities such as Catalonia or Andalusia have received in terms of Coasts: “Neither more nor less.”
STAFF INCREASE.
The agreement for the transfer of functions and services from the State to the autonomous community in terms of planning and management of the islands’ coastline provides for a gradual increase in the personnel in charge of these powers in order to guarantee adequate management.
To this end, it is planned to allocate 1.5 million euros from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Fight Against Climate Change to increase chapter 1 (staff) and assume this staff according to the terms contemplated in the Statute of Autonomy.
The transfer does not imply changes in the Coastal Law, although it does guarantee greater closeness, knowledge and sensitivity in the protection and management of the island’s coastline, as the Canarian Executive is now in charge, always within the margins of state regulations.
As a result of this negotiation, and apart from the 20 workers, the transfer includes two real estate (whose maintenance and replacement will now correspond to the Community), 7 vehicles and the water and electricity supply contracts. In the absence of increasing the workforce, the agreement requires a disbursement of 805,368 euros for the transferred staff and equipment.
In Ángel Víctor Torres’s opinion, the 20 jobs that are transferred by the State are insufficient, but they will be completed with another 25 more employees that will be incorporated from next January, with which the final figure does offer guarantees for a management effective, he added.
The Canary Islands assumes, among others, the functions of authorization of seasonal uses on beaches and territorial sea; occupation authorizations of the maritime-terrestrial public domain; authorizations in areas of traffic easement and access to the sea; public concessions; works and actions on the coast that are not of general interest; and participation in the planning of works of general interest on the Canary coast.
The State, for its part, will continue with the preparation of mandatory reports, especially with the guarantee of the physical integrity and use of the maritime-terrestrial public domain; set the amount of the fees for occupation or use of the public domain; or redemption of public concessions when the presence of a reason of general interest requires it.
Both administrations will share functions in the construction of new ports and transportation routes; compliance with the general regime of the public domain in territorial planning; or in investments of general interest.
BILATERAL COMMISSION AND AGREEMENTS WITH LA PALMA
During the Bilateral Commission, which has not been held for twelve years, an agreement has been reached, among other matters, by which the Canary Islands assumes the powers of financial protection and competition law. In this regard, Torres stressed that the transfer of powers in financial protection will help municipalities to pay for services to their neighbors and the right to defend competition.
The minister has also signed agreements today with Sergio Rodríguez, mayor of El Paso, and David Ruiz, accidental mayor of Tazacorte, to finance the reconstruction or restitution of municipal infrastructures damaged by the effects of the volcano on the island of La Palma.
Tazacorte will receive 3,538,473 euros and El Paso 10,902,952 euros, corresponding to the maximum amount of 50% for different projects presented by both municipalities with a budget of 7.05 million euros and 21.8 million euros, respectively.
The projects presented by El Paso are to repair roads and road connections, supply and sports facilities. The projects presented by Tazacorte correspond to water supply and sanitation networks and to the repair of different points of the road network.
