The president of the Canarian Nationalist Group, David Toledo Niz, asked the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, during the celebration of the first plenary session of the 2023-2027 legislature, which of the Canarian items that were incorporated into the General State Budgets for 2023 have already been transferred to the Autonomous Community; items that, Toledo insisted, “are commitments included in the budget law.”
During his presentation, the nationalist deputy recalled that at the end of 2022 Coalición Canaria reached an agreement to move forward with the General State Budgets in Madrid, which corrected the mistreatment of the Canary Islands with respect to the initial proposal of the Pedro Sánchez Government.
“If today, the people of the Canary Islands travel for free by bus and tram or if the people of La Palma receive a 60% bonus on personal income tax, it is because Coalición Canaria conditioned its vote in the Budgets to a fair treatment of the State with this land,” he said.
Among the aforementioned items, all of them fundamental, Toledo has specified some such as the 100 million euros of the reconstruction plan and the million and a half euros for the mental health plan for the island of La Palma.
He also spoke about the updating of the standard costs of freight transport, “because it is not understandable that in the Canary Islands we pay for the most expensive shopping basket in the State,” and other important items such as the 42 million euros of the Comprehensive Employment Plan, the 50 million euros for the care of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands, the 20 million euros for hydraulic works or the 50 million euros of the plan to fight poverty.
“The people of the Canary Islands do not deserve to be treated as second-class citizens and these items are rightfully ours.”
In his response, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, confirmed that of the Canarian items included in the General State Budgets for 2023, 84.88% have not been transferred to the Canary Islands,” a situation that is aggravated by the uncertainty regarding the budgetary scenario, although he stressed, “the Canary Islands will have a budget next year.”
