Ángel Víctor Torres began his speech in this new edition of the conference by providing updated data on the evolution of COVID-19 in the Canary Islands, which continues to be "very favorable, much better than seven days ago." The head of the Autonomous Executive also referred to those hospitalized in the ICU, which this Sunday are 12 people (the lowest figure), and summarized the current situation regarding COVID-19 in the Islands with a "we are doing very well," although this does not imply, he clarified, that we should stop analyzing "what is happening in all these days to see if the de-escalation processes (with all of the Canary Islands in phase 2 since this Monday) are done with social responsibility and thus prevent a resurgence of infections, something that, without a doubt, is the main fear."
The Canary Islands already have 1,760 epidemiological discharges, 404 positives, and have carried out more than 100,000 PCR tests, making them one of the communities with the best absolute data. Torres regretted the loss of 157 lives due to the pandemic. The President of the Canary Islands announced this Sunday that the Canary Islands will process before the Ministry that the islands of La Gomera, El Hierro, and La Graciosa move to phase 3 on Monday, June 1, within a week.
Tests at origin. Full planes, but safe
The regional president also addressed issues regarding economic reactivation, with special relevance to announcements related to the start of tourist mobility. Regarding President Sánchez's assurance that international tourism will open next July, Torres did not hesitate to describe the decision as "good news for the Canary Islands and Spain," although he immediately stated that this "must be done with the maximum health security" for tourists visiting the Islands.
To achieve this essential objective, the President of the Canary Islands emphasized the need for passengers coming to the Islands to arrive with negative PCR tests for the COVID-19 virus, or with equivalent analyses, and always strictly complying with international protocols on health security for tourism, processes that must be approved and applied before the restart of this activity. To this, Torres added, a system must be added that allows controlling the traceability of the visitor.
Torres said that "it is essential that the planes come full, but for that there must be tests at origin" or the extreme guarantee that the passengers move with the security of having a negative test for the detection of the virus that causes COVID-19. The first thing, stressed the President of the Canary Islands, is that "the planes come full and with safe passengers," and "then it will be time to open the hotels," he pointed out.
In this section, Torres also celebrated that President Pedro Sánchez announced the holding, in the coming days, of an Interterritorial Tourism Council to analyze how these services will be reactivated throughout Spain from June, with national clients, and from next July, with foreigners.
Pact for the Social and Economic Reactivation of the Canary Islands
On the socio-economic level, President Torres announced that the Islands are continuing to work on the definition of the Pact for Social and Economic Reactivation with all parliamentary groups, public administrations of the Canary Islands, and social and economic agents, among other organizations and institutions, in search of a future framework for action that brings together the maximum consensus. This pact, which must then give way to a plan for the development of measures with their respective financial sheets, is expected to be signed on Canary Islands Day, May 30. Torres was confident that "the majority of agents will sign it, although I don't know if all the parties will do it in the end."
After the explanation of this joint initiative, the analysis focused on detailing the economic and fiscal singularities of the Canary Islands within Spain, reflected in the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) and proposed since then to bring the Islands closer to the rest of the country (the first model was approved in 1972 and the current one dates from October 2018). Torres relied on this basic legal consideration to request from the State its full defense of the Canary Islands and, in turn, the best state compensation to the Archipelago for the loss of its own tax resources so high that this crisis will cause, with a forecast of a decrease in income of 1,500 million euros this 2020, a reduction that also extends to island councils and municipalities.
Torres alluded to the possibility that "a new leg" may be raised in the distribution of State funds among the autonomous communities, which should be related to the autonomies that have a differentiated tax regime, among which are the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, and Navarre. The President of the Canary Islands said that "he is aware of the sensitivity of the Government of Spain to this issue." He also requested that the commitment acquired in negotiation with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to compensate for the decrease in own tax resources, can be articulated shortly.
In the final part of his speech, President Torres regretted the rejection that some northern European countries maintain to the Franco-German agreement on the destination as transfers (non-refundable) of 500,000 million euros for the countries affected by COVID-19 and also described that amount as "insufficient." In the negotiation of the distribution of the planned global fund of 1.5 trillion euros, the condition of OR of the Canary Islands, included in the Treaty of the Union (primary law), must be considered, and the items that are arbitrated must take into account that this socio-economic crisis will need injections of public funds at least this year, in 2020 and in 2021.
The President of the Canary Islands was confident that on May 27, when there is a meeting of the European Council, good news can be given on all these issues, related to the extra public funding that should reach the countries affected by COVID-19 from the European Union.
