SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez, opens this Monday, starting at 10:00 a.m., the first edition of the ‘Conecta Canarias-Europe Conference’ dedicated to migration and asylum in the Schengen area, and European cohesion policy.
Pérez details in a note that these days will give the opportunity to “listen to testimonies and contributions of great value, such as those of journalist José Naranjo, Canary Islands Communication Award in 2016 and a true expert on Africa and its complex reality.”
Thus, he indicates that “he will be one of the protagonists of this first session, in which he will come to talk about the difficult situation in Niger and its possible effects on the continent” and there will also be “authoritative voices” from the European Union , like Etienne de Perier, “and testimonies of migrants and NGOs that work every day with this reality that occupies and worries so much in the Canary Islands.”
This first day will close with the debate table on migration and asylum in the Schengen area, moderated by the journalist Marta Modino, which 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 its consequences. future proposals for the European Union.
On Tuesday, 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, MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar and 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 Europe’s southern border.”
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.
NEW ASYLUM PACT
The vice president of the Parliament of Bremen, in Germany, and rapporteur of the Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions (CDR) on the new EU pact on migration and asylum, Antje Grotheer, will speak by videoconference before the roundtable discussion on Migration in the Canary Islands which will bring together Mame Cheikh Mbaye Seck, co-founder and president of the Canarian 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 Tenerife Immigration Observatory and professor of Human Geography at the University of La Laguna.
The last presentation of this day, on Entrepreneurship and innovation among the immigrant population in the tourism sector of the Canary Islands, will be given by Pedro Calero, university expert in intelligent and innovative business management and professor at the Lanzarote University School of Tourism.
The ‘Conecta Canarias-Europe Conference’ will continue on Wednesday and Thursday with sessions dedicated to cohesion policy in the EU.
In the first session, the second vice president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Gustavo Matos, will intervene, and Pedro de Faria e Castro, member of the EU Budget and Territorial Cohesion Policy Commission of the European Committee of the Regions and rapporteur of the Opinion, will be present via videoconference. on the Outermost Regions (ORP) of the aforementioned committee, and Gabriel Mato, MEP.
Subsequently, María del Pilar Almeida Trujillo, deputy director of European Fund Management of the General Directorate of Planning and Budget of the Government of the Canary Islands, will speak on the operational programs and their level of execution in the Canary Islands.
EVOLUTION OF GDP PER CAPITA
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 a.m. 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 Wednesday 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 ‘Conecta Canarias-Europe Conference’ will close on Thursday with a dialogue on cohesion policy between deputies Alicia Vanoostende, president of the European Affairs and Foreign Action Commission of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, and Luz Reverón González, president from the Economy, Industry and Commerce Commission; the discussion table 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 given by the president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez.
CANARY CONTRIBUTION
The Parliament of the Canary Islands organizes these days after receiving an invitation from the European Committee of the Regions (CDR) and the Conference of Regional Legislative Assemblies of Europe (CALRE) to collaborate in the initiative Contribution of debates in regional parliaments, 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 arising from the conference will be incorporated into the CoR’s strategic political work with a view to the next EU political cycle and the activities carried out in the period leading up to the European elections, scheduled for June 2024.
The registration period to participate in the ‘Conecta Canarias-Europa Conference’ remains open and interested parties must register in advance by sending an email to info@canariasConnect.es.
