The Government of the Canary Islands will take advantage of the conference held from this Tuesday with the European Commission by the outermost regions (ORs) in Réunion to formally request for the first time from the EU measures to limit the purchase of homes by foreigners in its territory.
This was announced this Monday by the spokesperson for the Canary Islands Government, Alfonso Cabello (CC), detailing that the participation of President Fernando Clavijo in that summit represents "the starting gun for a political and legal offensive" in housing and protection of the autonomous community "to ensure that the European Union limits the purchase of housing by foreigners" in the islands.
Cabello explained that part of the objective of this proposal is to limit the purchase of homes in the Canary Islands by non-residents and foreigners, seeking "the broadest possible approach", given the possibility that this limitation may clash with European regulations in relation to community foreigners.
In that sense, he has advanced that the Canary Islands will appeal to the special treatment that European treaties recognize for the outermost regions, due to their need to have a specific level of protection.
"The situation in the Canary Islands, the rate of population growth in the archipelago, and the disparity between some islands and others mean that we need this type of measure," he said.
According to the spokesperson, 23% of the homes that are sold in the Canary Islands end up in the hands of foreign citizens.
Cabello specified that Clavijo will put on the table for the first time the formal request for the establishment of limits to be valued and evaluated, and that he will do so during a meeting that he will have with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Raffaele Fitto, where, among other issues, he will convey his concern regarding the real estate market in the Canary Islands.
"It is a path that we are fully aware is not without many difficulties, but there have been many other issues that have been considered impossible over the last few years and that have been happening in the Canary Islands," such as the 100% discount on land public transport or the 75% bonus on flights to the peninsula, the spokesperson added.
Cabello stated that being part of the EU has brought to the Canary Islands "many joys and very important advances, but those advances also have to help protect the ecosystem and the future of the islands and that involves some type of corrective measures such as this limitation."
The spokesperson has warned that the current global context, in which there is again talk of centrality in decision-making, tariffs and a budget for armaments, generates greater uncertainty for the outermost areas.
So, "this meeting takes place at a vital moment to be able to review that article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that addresses the singularities of the Canary Islands autonomous community and of all the outermost regions."
The ORs summit brings together on the French island of the Indian Ocean the highest representatives of the nine outermost regions of the EU: Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte and Saint Martin on behalf of France; Madeira and Azores, for Portugal; and the Canary Islands, for Spain.
