The extension of the State budgets will "significantly affect the expectations" of the Canary Islands in matters such as free transport or train projects on the islands, regarding which it will be necessary to "seek alternatives", according to the regional Minister of Public Works and Mobility, Pablo Rodríguez, this Tuesday.
Although in terms of financing, "there are items that are consolidated in an agreement between the Canary Islands and the State, such as roads, which, in principle, should not be affected by the extension of the budget, because there is an agreement that specifies the items for each year", the minister detailed, the same does not happen with chapters such as trains.
When questioned about the consequences for the archipelago of the impossibility of approving new state accounts, Pablo Rodríguez stressed, first of all, that it will delay the forecasts of the Canarian Government and island councils that they will be reimbursed part of the expense derived from the free transport that citizens benefit from.
Although the central Executive must pay for it in full, this expense has been advanced, in part, by the island administrations, but in the confidence that they will recover that money later, he stated.
And he argued that "it is true that in the current extended budgets there are 81 million euros for free collective transport, for buses", but he said that this is an "insufficient" item, because, after reviewing the figures, they have found that the total expense "exceeds 140 million euros".
The reason for this gap - he said - is that, "when the item for free transport in the Canary Islands was negotiated, it was stated that it was 81 million, based on a calculation of the previous expense, but that this item would have to be adapted to the real expense".
Therefore, once the amount of the disbursement that was really necessary was evaluated, "what we have conveyed to the Ministry is that the real expense is 141 million, and, as it is 141 million, the deficit has to be paid", he added.
He also insisted that "the Ministry knows this" and was going to address it in the State budgets for 2024, despite acknowledging that, however, "it is true that this extension of the budget will make that impossible, for the moment".
Faced with this situation, "what we have asked the Ministry is to find another formula to transfer the real expense for free transport" in order to comply with its obligation, because "now the island councils, mainly, are assuming the deficit between the 81 million and what this free service really costs", he stressed.
The financing of the trains of Gran Canaria and Tenerife remains in the air
Since "the financing of one hundred percent of the free service has to be paid by the State, there is no doubt about that", while "the medium-distance train, on the peninsula, is paid for by the State, not by the autonomous communities, and it would be absolutely unfair for the Canary Islands, whether it is the island councils or the Government, to have to put in a euro to pay for free transport", he stated.
Pablo Rodríguez said that the consequences may be worse regarding the train projects that are to be promoted in Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
Since - he explained - "we were looking for formulas to establish a stable financing framework for the two trains, both the one in Tenerife and the one in Gran Canaria, and the State budget for 2024 was an opportunity to find that financing framework".
Taking advantage of that opportunity "is not going to be possible, for the moment", he admitted, but maintaining that, in his opinion, this does not have to prevent the objective of establishing said framework this year from being achieved.
In that line, "we are going to look for other ways. The Mobility Law is there in progress, that may be an option, but there may also be other ways", such as channeling the initiative through "other laws or decree laws established by the State itself, he added.
Because "although we do not have a budget, we have alternatives that must be sought, and we must be creative to establish, in the end, a stable financing framework that guarantees that we can have, in a not extraordinarily distant horizon, the trains on the islands", he concluded.
