SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Parliament of the Canary Islands organizes between September 18 and 21 the first edition of the ‘Jornadas Conecta Canarias-Europa’ dedicated to two key issues for the relationship between the archipelago and the European Union: migration and asylum in the Schengen area, and cohesion policy.
Not in vain, with 392,000 million euros for the period 2021-2027, it continues to be the main investment channel of the European Union to achieve the objectives of reinforcing economic, social and territorial cohesion, and reducing the disparity in levels of development of the different regions of the member countries.
The Parliament of the Canary Islands received a proposal for participation from the European Committee of the Regions (CDR) and the Conference of Regional Legislative Assemblies of Europe (CALRE) in the ‘Contribution of debates in regional parliaments’ initiative, whose objective is collect diagnoses, opinions and proposals from the chambers of different European territories to contribute to the future development of the EU Strategic Agenda.
The conclusions and proposals emanating from the ‘Conecta Canarias-Europa Conference’ will be incorporated into the strategic political work of the CoR with a view to the next political cycle of the EU and the activities carried out in the period prior to the European elections, scheduled for June 2024. .
The president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez, points out in a note that the Canarian proposal “has been to launch days of debate and reflection on two fundamental issues for the archipelago, such as migration and cohesion policy.”
Thus, through presentations, dialogues and round tables we will try to analyze and shed light on the current situation on both issues, “as well as put forward proposals to face the main future challenges faced by the Canary Islands and the European Union. “.
The ‘Days on Migration and Asylum’ in the Schengen area will take place on Monday and Tuesday the 19th of next week, between 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
After the opening by the president of the Chamber, on the first day the Telden journalist, Canary Islands Communication Prize winner, correspondent in Africa and expert on African immigration to Spain, José Naranjo, and the representative of the European Migration Agency of the European Commission in Spain, Etienne de Perier.
TESTIMONIALS FROM MIGRANTS
The Europa Room will later host a discussion panel that will allow us to hear testimonies from migrants who have managed to integrate and carry out their life plans in the Canary Islands, as well as from people who have accompanied them in this integration process.
The day will close with a roundtable debate on migration and asylum in the Schengen area that will bring together representatives of all the political groups of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, who will present their diagnosis regarding the current situation and their proposals for the future for the European Union.
On Tuesday the 19th, the opening of the event will be led by the president of the Social Rights Commission of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Yonathan Martín Fumero.
Subsequently, the territorial coordinator of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR), Juan Carlos Lorenzo de Armas, will intervene, who will offer a vision of migration from “the south of the southern border of Europe.”
Canary Red Cross, the Don Bosco Foundation, Cáritas, Nuevo Futuro and the El Buen Samaritano Canarian Foundation will star in a shared presentation on models of social inclusion.
MIGRATION AND ASYLUM PACT
The vice-president of the Parliament of Bremen, in Germany, and rapporteur of the Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on the new pact on migration and asylum of the EU, Antje Grotheer, will intervene by videoconference before the colloquium table on Migration in the Canary Islands which will bring together Mame Cheikh Mbaye Seck, co-founder and president of the Canary Islands Reception Network and president of the Federation of African Associations in the Canary Islands; Loueila Mint El Mamy, lawyer specialized in immigration and activist; María Candelaria Delgado Toledo, Minister of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands, and Vicente Manuel Zapata, academic director of the Immigration Observatory of Tenerife and tenured professor of Human Geography at the University of La Laguna.
The presentation on Entrepreneurship and innovation among the immigrant population in the Canary Islands tourism sector will be given by Pedro Calero, university expert in intelligent and innovative business management and professor at the Lanzarote University School of Tourism.
The sessions will continue on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 September with sessions dedicated to cohesion policy in the EU.
In the first session, Pedro de Faria e Castro, member of the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget of the European Committee of the Regions and rapporteur of the Opinion on the Ultraperipheral Regions (RUP) of the aforementioned committee, will intervene via videoconference, and Gabriel Mato, MEP.
Subsequently, María del Pilar Almeida Trujillo, Deputy Director of European Funds Management of the General Directorate of Planning and Budget of the Government of the Canary Islands, will speak about the operational programs and their level of execution in the Canary Islands.
GDP EVOLUTION
The evolution of GDP per capita will be the title of the talk by José Miguel González Hernández, economist and consulting director at Corporación 5.
Before the 11:00 break, Carlos Portugués Carrillo, an expert in European affairs, will speak to address the differentiated application of cohesion policy in the Canary Islands as an outermost region.
On the 20th there will also be a discussion table on the future of the Canary Islands in the new period of cohesion in which Matilde Asián, Minister of Finance and Relations with the European Union will participate; José Luis Rivero Ceballos, Professor of Applied Economics at the University of La Laguna, and José Carlos Francisco, President of the Economic and Social Council of the Canary Islands
The first edition of the conference will close on Thursday 21 with a dialogue on cohesion policy between the deputies Alicia Vanoostende, president of the Commission for European Affairs and External Action of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, and Luz Reverón González, president of the Economy Commission , Industry and Commerce and the table-colloquium ‘Priorities for the Canary Islands’, with Dunnia Rosa Rodríguez Viera, director of the Canary Islands Employment Service; Marisol Izquierdo López, Director of Innovation at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Enrique Rodríguez de Azero, President of the Canarian Association of Renewable Energies.
After the break, deputies from all parliamentary groups will present their diagnosis regarding the situation of cohesion policy in the EU and its impact on the Canary Islands, as well as their demands and proposals for the future.
The farewell will be in charge of the president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez.
