Ángel Víctor Torres chaired yesterday, at the Presidency headquarters in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a bilateral meeting between the members of the Governing Council of the Canary Islands and a delegation from the European Commission, headed by the Director of Regional Policy, Monika Hencsey, responsible for the Ultraperipheral Regions (RUP) unit in the EC. This opened the process of reinforced dialogue that was agreed in November in Brussels, at the beginning of the Canarian presidency of the ORs 2022-2023 and with the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.
The head of the regional Executive explained: “In the context of geopolitical, economic and social tension that we are experiencing, we must offer responses tailored to the needs of each territory and be more flexible.” For this reason, he defended the importance of a renewed Strategy (updated in 2022) for the ORs, which “constitutes a key element in the development of the specific statute of these regions and serves as an incentive for other European policies, different from those of cohesion, adapt and respond to the needs of the outermost”.
Torres claimed to be more ambitious in the development of the Strategy so that the Canary Islands “advance in their sustainable and digital transition, without harming our development and without penalizing the Europeans who live in the outermost periphery”. The president appreciated the response that has been given to the crisis generated by COVID-19, “with recipes focused on protecting people and the productive fabric, very different from solutions at other times, such as in 2008.”
Monika Hencsey conveyed her intention to find out in detail what worries the Islands and was “perfectly aware” of the different crises that the Canary Islands have suffered in recent years; above all, due to the pandemic and the volcano on La Palma.
Regarding the Objective 55 (Fit for 55) package, Torres recalled his last meetings with the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, who has understood from the beginning that the Canary Islands’ commitment to the ecological transition is total. Likewise, he drew attention so that, “according to the commitment that we are acquiring, the Canary Islands have a singular treatment in the application of the taxes for the emission of carbon dioxide”, as has already been achieved when the islands are exempt from that tax in inter-island flights and connections with the Peninsula until 2030. The analyzes commissioned by the EC on the new green rate for aviation fuel indicate that it will not have a great impact on the price, Hencsey reported.
Regarding the migratory phenomenon, Ángel Víctor Torres insisted: “The southern borders of the Union are as much Europe as Brussels, Paris or Madrid are”. A Citizen Dialogue has been included in this process for the presentation of the OR Strategy before social and economic representatives of the Archipelago and to facilitate a debate on the challenges in these nine outermost territories of Spain, France and Portugal, together with the contributions of the Commission European. Torres and Hencsey attended an informative appointment in the Adán Martín room. In the afternoon, the bilateral meetings continued, focused on strategic priorities.
The agenda reserves for today the first events to be held under the Canarian presidency of the ORs, with a seminar organized by the European Committee of the Regions.
