The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced last Wednesday that the European Parliament will endorse the exemption from the green tax on the islands until 2030 for air connections with the countries that make up the European Economic Area, given their status as an outermost region (OR).
The exception has been achieved through the approval of an amendment to the complementary directive that regulates the CO2 emission rights market in flights, a measure that had already been achieved for routes between the islands and from the Canary Islands to the Peninsula.
Torres maintains that this is a "key measure for the economic future of the Canary Islands", since it proposes to exempt the nine ORs in the emission rights market for flights between the islands and the countries that make up the European Economic Area.
Although the majority support for this amendment does not mean the definitive approval of the so-called complementary directive on air transport, since it still has to be ratified by the European Council and the European Commission, Ángel Víctor Torres is "very satisfied" with what has been achieved because "the option that what is endorsed by the Eurochamber will be modified is almost non-existent."
"With this process, the special treatment and respect for the specificities of the ORs in the transition towards the decarbonization of the EU is reinforced, both due to their remoteness and their insularity and the economic dependence and mobility of air and sea connections, especially due to the weight of sectors such as tourism and the distance from the European continent," adds the president.
In addition, Torres wanted to emphasize that "the principle of the ORs has been safeguarded", with this amendment, which "guarantees that this specificity is also respected in future community legislation designed to achieve a general reduction of 55% in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and 100% by 2050".