Clavijo asks Von der Leyen to shield direct funds for the Canary Islands

The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, in which he conveys his “deep concern” about the content of the new Multiannual Financial Framework and the negative effects that its application would have on the archipelago.

In his letter, the head of the autonomous Executive demands that the highest European leader shield direct funds to the outermost regions (ORs) to prevent them from depending on the will of the Spanish Government, reports the Canarian Presidency.

Clavijo denounces that the EU Financial Framework proposal for the period 2028-2034 leaves the distribution of resources in the hands of the States, which “undermines fifty years of a cohesion policy built with and for the European regions that are closest to the citizens and that have known how to use these European funds to improve economic convergence and the quality of life of their citizens.”

In his opinion, the text that Brussels put on the table on July 16 puts at risk the funds that the archipelago receives by depending on the distribution among the regions made by the Spanish Government and losing the direct dialogue with the European Commission that has existed until now.

This change of model leaves in the air, at the expense of what the State decides, the funds that the archipelago had guaranteed as an OR.

In the 2021-2027 Financial Framework, the Canary Islands have directly allocated just over 4.6 billion euros due to their status as an outermost region.

In addition, from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), the islands receive 2.73 billion euros in the current budgetary period, while in the Program of Specific Options by Reason of Remoteness and Insularity (POSEI) they have allocated 1.878 billion euros.

The President of the Canary Islands denounces that the general “renationalization” of the European Commission's budget would mean “the abandonment, for the first time in decades, of a clear delimitation and definition of the specific funds for the different policies, agricultural, cohesion, fisheries or security.”

This would leave the distribution among the different priorities in the hands of the Member States “against the equity that has always characterized the European project.”

Clavijo warns Von der Leyen that this “huge change” in the architecture of the Multiannual Financial Framework is seen with “much concern” by citizens in the Canary Islands, since the inhabitants of the archipelago are aware “of the importance of European funds in their daily lives.”

In this sense, he reminds the head of the Commission that many of the resources that the Canary Islands have received for decades from Brussels are intended to “compensate for the additional costs of the outermost region in our region.”

Likewise, the Canarian president recalls that the distribution system of his 2028-2034 budget contravenes “the multiple pronouncements of the European regions and numerous national and European Institutions” by betting that “the governance of the next multiannual financial framework will move from the regions to the Member States.”

Clavijo assures in his letter that the Canary Islands will work with the Spanish Government, the European Commission and the European Parliament to change the current proposal of the 2028-2034 Financial Framework and ensure that the ORs maintain their specific and direct funds in the European budget.

“From the Government of the Canary Islands we trust that the European Parliament and the Council, during the negotiation process of this very important multiannual budget, will have the support of the European Commission so that the development of article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is not ignored,” he indicates.

The Canarian president asks Ursula Von der Layen to maintain the specific additional allocations included in the area of cohesion policy (ERDF and ESF) as well as the specificities within this policy for the ORs.

He also demands the continuity within the agricultural and fisheries policy of the specific support programs for the outermost regions “with a financial allocation that meets the needs of these regions.”

The objective is that the next European budget guarantees “a management and governance of all these funds from and with the outermost regions,” he points out.

The President of the Canary Islands expresses to the head of the European Commission his full willingness to collaborate in the design of a new Multiannual Financial Framework.