SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26th March (EUROPA PRESS) –
Casimiro Curbelo, the spokesperson for the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG) Parliamentary Group, suggested on Tuesday the importance of reaching a consensus on the regional financing system with all the groups represented in the Canary Islands Parliament. He encouraged the Canary Islands Government’s president, Fernando Clavijo, to bring them together. He expressed concern that the Generalitat of Catalonia’s plan to achieve ‘fiscal sovereignty’ may prioritise excessive ambition over interterritorial solidarity, thus not placing all autonomous communities on an equal footing.
He reminded that Clavijo himself committed to promoting a study commission in the Parliament of the Canary Islands on this matter. According to Curbelo, this initiative should support the islands’ stance on the necessity to revise the current financing system, which he labelled as “unfair to the Canary Islands” after over a decade without updates. This failure considers the significant demographic increase of the islands, exceeding 32% in the last ten years, leaving them at a disadvantage.
“Our needs are vastly evident, as reflected in our high unemployment rate, housing challenges, families living in poverty and exclusion, and income metrics,” he remarked.
Highlighting that “the issue of not receiving adequate funding to deliver essential public services and support our most vulnerable population is not merely a concern for politicians but a shared setback for all,” said Curbelo.
Curbelo called for the new model to be “more just, precise, unbiased, measurable, and fair”, while also rewarding regions that meet deficit and debt targets.
The Gomero parliamentarian emphasised territorial solidarity and the inclusion of corrective measures that consider social and economic factors “as integral variables, addressing poverty, social exclusion, demographic growth, average income, and population distribution.”
His standpoint is in contrast to the Generalitat of Catalonia’s plan, which essentially undermines solidarity among autonomous regions. This approach is grounded in the belief that a region’s wealth correlates with the rights its citizens possess.
A UNIVERSAL APPROACH FOR THE NEW SYSTEM
Curbelo insists that the new system “should not cater to a select few” but rather be discussed in sectoral conferences involving all autonomous communities.
“Creating a fair system only to promote imbalances thereafter is not how we forge a united country,” he emphasised.
Furthermore, he clarified that even though the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) was detached from regional financing in 2018, “the new system can still consider Canarian specificities as objective criteria.”
Within this context, he reiterated that “the islands suffer from underfunding, failing to meet the basic principles of financial adequacy for delivering essential public services.”
