SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 25th April. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Canary Islands’ president, Fernando Clavijo, delivered a speech today on the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) at the IES Agustín de Betancourt. He emphasised the importance of updating it “to prevent the erosion of connections that link the Canary Islands to the standards of prosperity at a national and European level”
Addressing the students who participated in this activity, Clavijo highlighted that “the REF’s widespread influence on our economy means that any malfunction affects the entire Canarian society.”
During the talk, he answered numerous questions from the students regarding the significance of the jurisdiction and the benefits enjoyed by the Canary Islands thanks to this regime.
Fernando Clavijo pointed out that even though they presented him with a 3D representation of the REF, it “remains a great mystery to our land, yet it impacts each and every one of us on a daily basis – be it in our food, the water we consume, the energy we utilise, our transportation within the Islands, or even when travelling to the Peninsula. It also plays a crucial role in employment opportunities and study grants; the REF intertwines with almost every aspect of our lives.”
“It is not a privilege; we have benefitted from a special regime for over five centuries through various mechanisms that have provided distinct and equitable treatment to this distant and fragmented territory in order to level our basic living standards,” he elaborated.
The Canary Islands’ president stressed that despite being a right acknowledged at the constitutional and European levels, “we must remain vigilant as every new General State Budget and each regulation at the national level should ensure its strict enforcement. Therefore, the Islanders must comprehend, value, and defend the REF.”
“The modernisation of our tax incentives is imperative to enhance the Islands’ prospects as an appealing destination for investment and entrepreneurship. It is a challenge we must confront sooner rather than later in a participatory process that involves all societal actors, enhancing the awareness and esteem for our REF,” he declared.
He further announced that “the REF Commissioner is actively engaged in this mission, a position established in this term in response to a social demand expressed in the Manifesto in Defence of the REF, endorsed by experts, trade unions, and business figures from across the Archipelago. This is because we all share the aspiration to inject fresh vigour and enhanced legal certainty into our jurisdiction, rendering it more competitive in an increasingly globalised world,” he concluded.
