In his year-end speech, the president praises the example of "responsibility" given by all Canarians in the face of the migration crisis, despite the fact that the State "neither understands nor attends to us."
He highlights the progress made during 2024 in healthcare, dependency care, employment, and GDP growth "despite political and economic uncertainty," although he acknowledges that "not everything is advancing as quickly as we would like."
The head of the autonomous government guarantees the commitment to sustainability and economic diversification of the islands in a message broadcast from the Fuerteventura Science and Technology Park.
The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has taken advantage of his year-end message to call for continuing to face the challenges of the archipelago "with unity." During his speech to assess 2024 and outline the priorities for 2025, the head of the autonomous government highlights the example of "responsibility" given by the entire Canarian society, which has not fallen into "the dispute and indignation," seeking solutions away from "bickering and political gamesmanship."
Clavijo acknowledges that 2024 has been "a complicated year" for the islands, especially due to the migration crisis. However, in a speech from the Fuerteventura Science and Technology Park, the president assures that the Canary Islands should be proud of having managed to stay away from "the tension and confrontation that, unfortunately, has contaminated the life of our country."
"For us, for the Canarians, the time for peace and understanding is not just Christmas but the whole year," a merit he attributes to "everyone": "Those of us who govern and the opposition. The unions and the employers. Each and every one of the citizens who live and work on these islands," he emphasizes.
In his opinion, it is this "Canarian way" of working, based on "dialogue between administrations, between political parties and social agents," that has allowed the Canary Islands to "advance in the past and will allow us to advance in the future." "The year we leave behind has not been easy. Our land has had to face once again the drama of immigration. And we have done it again alone, because they have not wanted to heed the multiple calls for help from our archipelago. But, despite everything, the Canarians have risen to the occasion," he highlights.
The president praises the "solidarity and respect" with which the citizens of the archipelago have attended to the more than 45,000 migrants who arrived by sea in 2024, especially unaccompanied minors. "We continue to welcome them with the hope of offering a better future for thousands of boys and girls who are fleeing from hunger, abuse, and war," he highlighted in his year-end message.
Fernando Clavijo recalls that, in the face of this unprecedented migration crisis, the Canary Islands has sought "tirelessly, support and solidarity in Madrid, in Brussels, and in the rest of the autonomous communities. But the effective response is still not arriving."
He attributes this abandonment to the fact that the archipelago is a victim of "the consequences of the bad politics that prevail in Spain today, a way of doing politics far removed from real problems and focused on a continuous bickering that neither contributes, nor adds, nor resolves." "We are very far from a State that neither understands us nor attends to us," he assures when the Canary Islands hosts nearly 5,500 migrant minors alone.
Advances in 2024
The president of the autonomous government also focuses part of his year-end message on analyzing the progress made "on many fronts" in the archipelago during 2024 despite the "political and economic uncertainty." In his opinion, these advances have been achieved because "the Canary Islands has known how to address its challenges from unity, because that is our strength."
Among them, he highlights those achieved in housing, with "the legislative change that will allow us to incorporate the strength of private initiative into the construction of public housing." He also expressly mentions the reduction of waiting lists in Healthcare, the improvement in waiting lists in Dependency care, and the payment of compensation at real value to the citizens of La Palma affected by the volcanic eruption.
In economic matters, the head of the autonomous Executive recalls that "today we have more employment than ever" and that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the archipelago "continues to grow above the national average."
He acknowledges, however, that "not everything is advancing as quickly as we would like and not everything has been successful" in 2024. "We need to continue improving, and in what we have failed, I apologize and assure you that we will continue trying; again and again until we achieve the objectives we set ourselves," he indicates to guarantee that "this Government has come to make decisions that are not always understood or liked, but we have a responsibility and a commitment to the Canary Islands and to their future."
In addition, Clavijo refers in his speech to "a Canary Islands that exists, but we do not value," the one that is advancing towards economic diversification. To show that "lesser-known face" of the islands, the president has chosen the Fuerteventura Science and Technology Park as the setting for his year-end message. This is a clear example of the "Canary Islands of success, of development, of new technologies that place us at the forefront of research, of talented young people, of companies that take risks, of growth and prosperity."
Responsible Islands
The head of the autonomous government highlights that the archipelago "today has the best trained and most qualified young professionals in our history," a talent thanks to which new "activities of great added value" are flourishing in "our country." Specifically, he highlights the development of initiatives "linked to new technologies, big data, and artificial intelligence," where the remoteness of the islands "is not a constraint."
Clavijo assures that the islands continue to be "one of the most important tourist powers in the world," but also "we want to be a great commercial enclave and, above all, a strategic place for the technological industries of the future."
Likewise, the president highlights in his year-end message the Executive's commitment to a sustainable development model for the Canary Islands. "We have committed ourselves to the protection of our environment, to the search for clean energy, and to the diversification of our productive sectors," he assures, after highlighting his commitment to a richer, fairer, more egalitarian, and more developed country."
To achieve this "new culture of responsible islands," he guarantees that his government listens to "the voices of the Canarians, because everyone has something to contribute to improve the lives of our people. No one is dispensable and everyone is needed." "I promise you that we are going to be faithful to that legacy. That we are going to work tirelessly so that the Canary Islands are a better country. A land in which it is worth living, starting a family, and raising our sons and daughters. A land that, today more than ever, is one over the same sea," concludes the closing message of 2024 from the President of the Canary Islands.
