SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, December 6 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, defended today, Wednesday, Constitution Day, the opening of a “calm debate” that would allow the Magna Carta to be updated. “The Constitution that unites and defines us is 45 years old. After more than four decades contributing to progress, the time has come to open a calm debate to update it,” said the Canarian president.
At the commemoration event in Madrid of the 45 years of the Spanish Magna Carta, Clavijo has advocated for a “political and social consensus” to adapt it to new times and for the Canary Islands to have the same status that article 349 has granted it for years. of the EU Treaty. Thus, he considers that the opening of a reform process of the Fundamental Standard must include the specific recognition of the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) and the outermost periphery of the Canary Islands as the axis of all State policies with the archipelago.
After recognizing and valuing the contribution of the Constitution in its almost half century of life, the president has called for putting aside “tacticism and short-termism” in the “convulsive” political debate and addressing “with a long view” a reform of the Magna Carta that reflects the Spain of the 21st century. Clavijo describes the text agreed upon in 1978 as a “fundamental instrument of success” for the country’s advancement, but considers that today’s society is different, so the Constitution “must adapt to the coming of age of the autonomous communities, advancing in self-government.”
In his opinion, the updating of the Spanish Constitution must be based on the same principles of responsibility, generosity and political dialogue that marked its drafting more than four decades ago. Clavijo stressed that these characteristics have allowed the evolution of the territories and peoples of the State during these years, but they have also been a guide to the development and consolidation of rights.
Despite these advances, the president of the Canary Islands defends that the time has come to adapt the Magna Carta to new times, although always respecting values such as solidarity between societies and territories. In this context, Fernando Clavijo has recalled that if any autonomous community has arguments to request a specific status in the Spanish Magna Carta, it is the Canary Islands. “We have the legitimate aspiration to anchor remoteness and insularity in the Constitution if there is a reform,” said Clavijo, to emphasize that the EU has been doing so for years, just as the Statute of Autonomy includes the State’s obligation to comply with the REF. .
The Canary Islands president demanded that the Spanish Constitution include the outermost periphery as a concept and also as the axis of all policies that have to do with the archipelago. He wanted to remember that the Canary Islands are the only Spanish OR, which must be recognized with a specific fit in the Magna Carta similar to article 349 of the European Treaty. This status, he assured, will allow the Canary Islands to face its challenges as a remote and island region.
Among these immediate challenges, Clavijo has taken advantage of the event commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Constitution to highlight the need for the Canary Islands to receive differentiated treatment from the State and the EU to address issues such as the migratory crisis or emission rights. that Brussels will apply to air and maritime transport with Europe and the United Kingdom from January 1, 2024.
