On the ninth of May, Europe Day was celebrated. It was a day to discuss peace and unity commemorating the well-known Schuman Declaration, named after the French Minister of Foreign Affairs who in 1950 put forward his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe that would make war between European nations inconceivable. And here we are, amidst a serious conflict in Ukraine that has been ongoing for far too long with no short-term solution in sight.
This commemoration gains even more significance just weeks before elections in which citizens of the 27 countries of the European Union will elect representatives for the European Parliament to make decisions that, contrary to what many people may think, affect us in our daily lives. The concept of outermost region that we are weary of hearing was conceived within the Union to help these regions to address imbalances compared to other territories on the continent, especially in the primary sector, customs and trade policies, tax policy, free zone, raw material supply conditions, public aid, access to structural funds, and Union’s horizontal programmes. To give an idea, Canary Islands managed a total of 2.786 million Euros under European programs in the period 2021-2027, essential aid for the maintenance of our economy. For example, the primary sector would be unsustainable today without that financial contribution due to its status as an OR.
Bringing the functioning and activities of the European Parliament closer to the generations that will have to make decisions and defend that special status for the Canary Islands in the future is one of the goals set by an educational institution in the north of Tenerife. The Casa Azul school in La Orotava, along with La Laboral High School in La Laguna and Valle de Guerra High School, is one of the schools in Tenerife participating in the European Parliament Ambassador Schools programme, aimed at secondary school students, vocational training and special education students (4th year of ESO, 1st and 2nd year of Bachillerato, and professional training).
A snapshot from the discussions. / E. D.
The programme aims to enhance knowledge about Europe and European parliamentary democracy among young people, but it is not just about teaching concepts about the European Union; it is about giving them the opportunity to experience what it really means to be a European citizen. Showing students what the European Parliament is for and what values unite us as Europeans, as well as actively involving them in the Union’s democratic processes, are some of the objectives of this programme.
The educational institution appoints ambassadors, both teachers and students, who are responsible for developing the activities that will take place during the academic year. Teachers focus on the educational aspect, mainly by preparing classes on European parliamentary democracy using interactive teaching material from the European Parliament, providing information on the European Union, training in democratic skills and participation, as well as role-playing games for the class and contests. One of the activities recently carried out involved students from Casa Azul School participating in a session called Euroscola, held last April in Strasbourg with students from all over Europe.
From Tenerife, they had the opportunity to pose a question about the Canary Islands and their outermost region status to the Members of the European Parliament present there. Daniel Rodríguez and Elian Martín are two of the students participating in this programme and they acknowledge that the response they received was disappointing due to its lack of specificity. After asking the European Parliament about the importance of outermost regions for the Union, its representatives merely stated that they were aware of the issue and that it was on their agenda. An succinct response that further emphasised the need to place our outermost region reality on the European stage.
For them, it is important to have a better understanding of this reality and how belonging to the Union affects a territory like ours. Regarding their future careers in one of these institutions, these students have not yet considered it, but what they are sure of is that they would not like to be part of them as politicians.
According to the school’s director, Federico Rodríguez, the decision to be part of the European Parliament Ambassador Schools “arises from the international character that we implement at this School, which is necessarily linked to our belonging to the European Union.” “We are preparing the society that will be responsible for defending the position of the Canary Islands in Europe in the future, and they must be prepared for that.” “We belong to an Outermost Region, but we have our feet in Europe, and in this educational institution, we insist on the need for the broadest and most international education possible,” he explains.
Rubén Palmero is the programme coordinator at the school in La Orotava. He highlights his desire to turn it into a mentor school.
A Very Special Day
In this context, the celebration of Europe Day could not go unnoticed and the Casa Azul school organised a special day which was attended by Carlos Alonso, former President of the Tenerife Island Council and CC candidate for the upcoming European elections, and Isidoro Sánchez, a member of the European Parliament from 1992 to 2003. Alonso, who was the Director-General of Economic Affairs with the European Union and a European Commission official, highlighted the opportunities that Europe offers to young people through programs such as Erasmus, which facilitates the academic mobility of European students and teachers within the European Union, or the scholarships for recent graduates offered by the Government of the Canary Islands, from which he benefited in 1996 when he had the opportunity to travel to Bruges (Belgium).
Alonso also highlighted the progress made in 1991 when the integration regime of the Canary Islands into the European Union was modified, moving from the initial regime defined in Protocol 2 of the Accession Treaty of Spain and Portugal, which excluded the islands from a series of policies, to a regime of full integration which recognises a series of specific measures that have been very beneficial for the Canary Islands. This has allowed the maintenance of fiscal and economic incentives of the Economic and Fiscal Regime, the Tax on Imports and Deliveries of Goods (AIEM), the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC), the Canarian General Indirect Tax (IGIC) and a series of specific measures within the framework of cohesion policies (specific RUP fund), agricultural and fisheries policies (the POSEI programme), trade policy (tariff exemptions for certain industrial and fisheries products), etc.
Isidoro Sánchez shared with the students his political career not only in the European context, highlighting anecdotes and memories of how complex it was to establish links with Europe during the early years of the European Union. Isidoro has the ability to instil his enthusiasm in anyone who listens to him in any forum, and on this occasion, the students had the opportunity to hear from a highly respected source about how matters are handled in European institutions.
Following the round table discussion and in the various classrooms, the junior ambassadors and other collaborators gave talks to the younger students on cultural, political, and historical issues of the Union in an interactive and enjoyable manner. A collaboration between students from the first and last courses that has allowed putting into practice the words emphasized by Isidoro Sánchez in his speech on the need to form teams to achieve goals and progress.
Talks offered to the students of the Casa Azul school in La Orotava by personalities such as Carlos Alonso, CC candidate in the European elections, and Isidro Sánchez, former MEP.
