Sánchez announces that the draft State budget "will be good" for the Canary Islands

The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Wednesday that the "draft" general state budget for 2026 "will be good" for the Canary Islands and urged Coalición Canaria to persuade the PP, their partner in the regional government, to support it.

Sánchez made this announcement during the government control session in Congress in response to the Coalición Canaria deputy, Cristina Valido, who demanded that he issue instructions to update airport fees and the costs of freight transport in the archipelago.

The head of the Executive stressed that he is demonstrating his support for the Canary Islands, "not with words, but with deeds," and is committed to its present and future.

He thus announced that the general state budget project that the government has committed to presenting will benefit the islands and asked Valido to convince the PP to support the state accounts.

Sánchez also took advantage of the deputy's question to review the investments of the central administration in the islands, where, he said, state investment has increased by 64% in six years and more than 2.7 billion euros from the recovery plan have been allocated.

He also stressed that advances will reach a historic record of 7.1 billion, to which he added the royal decree approved on Tuesday for the island of La Palma. "The government understands the uniqueness of the Canary Islands," he concluded.

Valido clarified to Sánchez that in her question she was talking about the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) of the islands and the development of their Statute of Autonomy.

"I am not talking about accounts, which we can talk and discuss; I am talking about consolidated rights," she stressed, and cited the fees on air and freight transport, which increase costs for Canarians compared to citizens on the mainland, as an example of the "systematic non-compliance" with those rights.

In this regard, she said that she knows that Sánchez's wishes are orders in the Council of Ministers and, therefore, she demanded that he issue instructions this very week for Aena to comply with the special treatment for Canary Islands airports regarding fees and for the cost of freight transport to be updated.

"The government is complying with the REF of the Canary Islands and we are at a record level of investment by the General State Administration for the islands," responded the head of the Executive.