The gratuity of public transport is guaranteed this year in Canary Islands and in Tenerife, even though the Spanish Government is extending the budget from the previous year by opting not to prepare the one for 2024. This was confirmed by the President of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, and, “with nuances and concern,” the Minister of Finance and Relations with the European Union of the Canary Executive, Matilde Asián, after the working meeting they held yesterday. Buses and trams will not cost anything on the island until December 31 with the pass, as has been the case since January 1, 2023. Dávila points out that this is endorsed by a decree-law that supports the extension of the State’s accounts. In any case, the regional and local administrations expect compliance with the Archipelago in accordance with the agreements reflected in the Canarian agenda. They point out as a conclusion: “They will have to do it through the mechanism of new decree-laws or the different regulations that are being processed.”
The President of the Cabildo makes it clear that “this institution does not waive the reflection of, for example, in the Mobility Law the coverage of rail systems for the Canary Islands”. She emphasizes that “the fact that the General State Budgets for 2024 have not been approved does not mean that we will sit idly by, quite the opposite; we will make an effort so that there is no decline for Tenerife“. She explains that “the island needs those economic resources, essential to guarantee the well-being of our citizens and those of all the Canary Islands”.
More cautious. Matilde Asián agrees with the diagnosis, although she was more cautious than Dávila: “If the budgets are extended, and if the anti-crisis law that is announced does not arrive, there will be a significant decrease in the allocations for the Canary Islands, which will call into question free transport, among other issues”.
Rosa Dávila chairs the working meeting held this Friday between the Cabildo of Tenerife and the Regional Ministry of Finance. / E. D.
Accompanying Dávila and Asián were their teams. On the host side, the vice president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Lope Afonso; the Councilor of the Presidency, José Miguel Ruano; the Councilor of Citizen Attention, Candelaria Padrón and the insular director of Finance, Juan Carlos Pérez Frías. On the Ministry side, the deputy minister of Finance and Relations with the European Union, Gabriel Megías, and the director of the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (Istac), Sergio Alonso, were present.
We will fight for there to be no economic decline affecting the island
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At the mercy. Rosa Dávila values that “the Spanish Government renounces having General State Budgets and leaves an entire country at the mercy of what is happening in Catalonia“. She adds: “We understand that it cannot be like this and there must be a guarantee for those autonomous communities that have complied, like the Canary Islands”. In this sense, she explains that “it has a Treasury and budgets that are sound, made with prudence and attention to the communications received from the Ministry of Finance”. Dávila concludes: “On the other hand, we have to see the impact this may have on the allocations that were coming for the Canary Islands and for the Cabildos“.
Truncated hope. Matilde Asián, on the other hand, indicates that “in the budgets there were allocations related to the Canary Islands that the President of the Government (Fernando Clavijo) had prepared with great enthusiasm for the fulfillment of the Canarian agenda”. She clarifies: “That is, the establishment of a series of issues, not derived from a common aspect of the autonomous communities, but from the specific problems of our islands”. The Minister of Finance emphasizes: “We do not know what the future will be because the extension of the budgets means that the initial allocations, foreseen in 2023, are the ones that are extended”. Asián predicts: “we could discuss whether the improvements obtained in the Canary Islands Government for the 2023 budget, subsequent to those initial ones, would also be extended”. And the Minister concludes: “Today (yesterday) it is announced that the account advances will be updated, but we are concerned that this will be done through an anti-crisis law and we believe it is better to be done through a decree-law because the process would be faster”.
We are pleased that the account advances will be updated with an anti-crisis law
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“Happy”. Still, Matilde Asián states that they are “happy” that the account advances will be updated on aRewrite Title: Canarias’ Financial Management Amid Budget Uncertainty
The autonomous financing system was under scrutiny due to a crisis law. The Minister of Finance summarises how the Canary Islands had budgeted “timely and correctly” the advanced payments for the year 2024 and the settlement for 2022, and how this national “change of direction” – the absence of budgets – initially came as “a surprise” last Wednesday. The People’s Party minister argues that during the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council, it was notified that the advanced payments and settlement totalled 280 million Euros, exceeding the budgeted amount. “In the Canary Islands, she points out, we were happy because we were once again starting the spending rules, as that financial cushion was very positive for us.”
Spending Rule. Asián recalls that they then started a “consistent” course of action, which aimed to modulate the application of the spending rule, which prevents the surplus from being used for purposes other than compensating for the deficit, which does not exist, or reducing debt, “very low.” She adds that the Government of the Canary Islands requested that the resulting “coercive and punitive” effects be not applied when meeting the requirements of financial stability and sustainability: structural balance and debt below the limit. “We already had plans on how to spend those 280 million Euros, with a reinforcement of essential services, when we found out that there would be no budgets,” she laments.
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According to the figures announced, Canarias returning to advanced payments would mean a decrease of 448 million Euros, which would require a credit retention and a reduction in the planned spending in the budgets by 168 million Euros. However, the initial concern shown by the Canarian government was tempered yesterday because the “novelty” is that, although there is no budget law, there will be an anti-crisis law, allowing for the updating of advance payments. Asián concludes that “we could say that the improvements achieved by the Canary Islands government in the 2023 budgets would be extended, but if there are no budgets, specific items will not be included, and that worries us.”
