The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has conveyed to King Felipe VI his concern regarding the water emergency on the islands as a result of climate change.
Faced with this situation, Clavijo defended before the king the "need" for an investment that would provide the Canary Islands with infrastructure to guarantee the water supply to the population, since there are islands such as Lanzarote where the situation is "alarming".
In their meeting, which lasted just over an hour, the Canarian president and the monarch discussed their concern that immigration will increase in the coming months as they foresee a "notable increase" in influx on the Canary Route.
This was stated by Clavijo in statements to journalists this Friday after meeting with Felipe VI at the Palacio de la Zarzuela as part of the round of contacts with the new regional presidents elected in the elections of May 28.
"I have conveyed to him the need for Europe and the Spanish Government to take this issue with the same seriousness and gravity with which other issues of the European Union are taken, because the war conflicts, political instability or the earthquake in Morocco make us foresee a notable increase in influx on this route which, on the other hand, is the most dangerous," he said.
According to the Canarian president, they have also discussed issues such as the 'zero energy' of La Gomera, the fires in Tenerife and the situation in La Palma.
In this sense, he praised the involvement of the monarch: "His Majesty is not one of those who has forgotten the island, quite the opposite. He asked how those affected are, what is happening with the lava, the agricultural and livestock farms... He has shown great interest in the state of the island of La Palma."
Asked by journalists to what extent he believes that the central government will take measures on the increase in migratory flow, Clavijo insisted on the need for a "single command" to manage the increase in immigrants.
"We are aware of the political situation in which the country is, but it cannot be ignored that it continues to be governed and that there is a government in office (...) People continue to die and we already have 2,700 unaccompanied minors. What we are asking is that the Government of Spain put a single person to coordinate, as was done in 2006 with Teresa Fernández de la Vega," he asserted.
Clavijo has also extended the invitation for the King and Queen, Felipe VI and Letizia, to attend the act of recognition of the personnel who participated in the extinction work of the Tenerife fire, which will be held at the end of October.
According to the Canarian president, the monarch has been "predisposed" and "interested".
On a national level, he stressed that his party, CC, is against the amnesty: "The position of Coalición Canaria is very clear, we are not going to support any amnesty. We do not believe that is correct. We are not going to defend it nor are we going to support it," he said.
