SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez, defended this Thursday the REF as an “activating instrument” of the Canary Islands economy and its “full fit” in the Constitution, although she specified that there is still “a lot to do” to achieve its Maximum potential.
At the opening of the ‘The Challenge of the REF’ conference organized by the Canary Islands Parliament on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the reform of the Statute of Autonomy, he said that both the Statute and the REF “model the personality and identity” of the archipelago, highlighting the “nuance” that both documents have “full fit and respect” for the Constitution, which ensures the “rights and freedoms” of citizens and guarantees equality and “solidarity” between territories.
Pérez recalled the consensus reached in the Canary Islands Parliament and the Cortes Generales with the approval of the 2018 statutory reform, which made it possible to “adjust” the jurisdictional and regulatory framework of the islands.
Along these lines, he has indicated that the Statute is the “basic pillar” of self-government in the Canary Islands and has allowed “increasing powers and taking on new challenges”, including among its principles the reform of the electoral system, the elimination of the capacity of deputies, a declaration of intentions about the waters, the recognition of remoteness, insularity and outermost periphery, or that La Graciosa has ceased to be an islet.
The president has valued that both the Statute and the REF are protected in the Treaty of the European Union and has stressed the “small steps, day by day” that have been taken to achieve the economic and social “modernization” of the archipelago.
In this sense, he has commented that the compensations and tax advantages introduced by the REF guarantee a “more fair and balanced” development and he has not hidden that without these “stimuli” part of the island’s business fabric “would be condemned to disappearance.”
Pérez has also said that there have been modifications in the RIC and the ZEC and tax benefits have been established for companies that generate employment and has guaranteed the “commitment and support” of the Regional Chamber in the face of the “new challenges” that are opening up around to the Statute and the REF.
For this reason, he has insisted on “continuing to advance in the development and construction of a fairer, more cohesive and more transparent Canary Islands.”
