The president of the Canary Islands maintains that the agreement “undermines solidarity” between the autonomous communities and “burdens” the Canaries with more than €1,000 million.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 27th February (Europa Press) –
The leader of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, emphasised to the Minister of Finance, Matilde Asan, on Thursday that he was absent from the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) meeting on Wednesday, mirroring the stance taken by the communities governed by the PP. However, he expressed that he agrees with the essence of the protest, arguing that the debt relief “harms” the interests of the Canary Islands.
“That was a personal choice, which I do not support. I will never refrain from participating in discussions concerning the Canary Islands,” he remarked to journalists.
Nonetheless, he noted that this is “anecdotal” since the position of the Canary Islands government was established in advance, and he acknowledged that Alike attempted to contact him and Vice President Manuel Domínguez to relay the decision.
Clavijo clarified that “this will not happen again,” although the approval of the debt forgiveness distribution was supposed to encompass “all,” despite the Canary Islands voting against it; it will be formally communicated to the Government, as the State retains half the voting weight according to regulations.
He stated that Asan’s “technical and legal” expertise is “absolutely flawless,” and the CPFF agreement does not reflect “the common good,” creating “significant doubts” regarding its potential legality.
However, he stressed that “when matters concerning the Canary Islands are under discussion,” it is vital to “be present” and voice the “disagreement.”
The Canarian president reiterated that it is “illogical” for more debt to be forgiven “to the wealthiest community, which has not managed its finances adequately in Spain,” while, conversely, the Canary Islands—being the least indebted autonomous community—are subjected to a “double penalty,” by imposing a 50% limit on debt relief that only impacts the Canary Islands, compared with over €2,200 for a citizen of Catalonia and just €1,468 for a citizen of the Canary Islands.
He also reminded that during the “harshest times” of the 2008 crisis, Canarias undertook “serious and rigorous management,” which meant providing fewer services for the citizens of the Canary Islands—services that were perhaps available to citizens in other autonomous communities.
Now, he pointed out, “the Canaries will have to bear part of that debt for services that citizens from some autonomous communities enjoyed, while in the Canary Islands, they did not; this is understood as a double penalty and we oppose it.”
Clavijo remarked that he does not possess a “magical ball” nor engages in “political fiction” regarding possible bilateral financing agreements, questioning “the methods” used to present the condom model, which he learned about through the media and a political party (ERC) not part of the government.
“We arrived with a proposal that a political leader had already proclaimed; we do not think this is the appropriate way to negotiate between governments. Furthermore, that proposal was not even discussed beforehand with the autonomous communities, as the vice presidency of the Government had committed to, instead it was presented as take it or leave it,” he stated.
Clavijo believes that this model “undermines solidarity” and “deprives” more than €1,000 million when the islands have contributed to the “stability of the institutions” by being “serious and rigorous” in managing their finances, especially as expenses for public services were not accounted for at the time.
“We have committed ourselves to finance and to the future of these generations, and now we are obliged to pay part of the bill for others who have not been as responsible; that does not seem fair,” he concluded.
