The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has requested that a portion of the 16 billion euro reconstruction fund announced by Pedro Sánchez be distributed based on socioeconomic criteria among the communities most affected by COVID-19.
He stated this in a press conference after participating in the telematics meeting with the regional presidents convened by Pedro Sánchez, the eighth held since the state of alarm began.
Ángel Víctor Torres positively assessed this economic injection, of which, according to Sánchez, 10 billion will go to healthcare spending; 1 billion for social rights, which will be distributed based on population, and 5 billion that will be distributed according to the loss of own income.
The Canarian President said that this allows for the hope that there will be treatment for the territories that will have a greater economic impact as a result of the coronavirus crisis, among which is the Canary Islands, "the most favorable region in the evolution of the pandemic but the most vulnerable and the one that has suffered the greatest economic damage."
Therefore, he has requested that just as the distribution of the 10 billion can be done according to the impact of healthcare spending in the communities most affected by COVID-19, the rest of the funds should be distributed according to the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic.
Surplus and Debt
On the other hand, Ángel Víctor Torres indicated that the advance payments made by the Government of Spain have already been deposited, as has 50% of the settlement for the year 2018; however, during the telematics meeting, he once again emphasized the "peculiar and specific" situation of the Canary Islands and again raised the issue of allowing the use of debt and surplus. In this regard, President Sánchez told him that he has met with the President of the FEMP and that "there is a willingness to agree and that progress is being made on it."
Regarding the negotiations that are being carried out within the European Union regarding the reconstruction fund, the President of the Canary Islands has announced that the meeting scheduled for this week has been postponed to the end of the month. In this regard, Torres stated that if the delay is to achieve the best possible agreement, "welcome it is," as he said that they are "very expectant" that the necessary economic items can finally arrive to be able to respond in our country to the situation of social and economic breakdown caused by the pandemic.
