Years ago I heard a very simple simile about the relationship of the State Government with the Canary Islands: every time a new legislature starts in Madrid, the Canary Islands return to square one, like a game of Parcheesi. That is, we once again explain our singularities, our problems of being a territory fragmented into eight islands and that the distance from the continental territory together with our insularity define this land.
Since the time of the Crown of Castile, the peculiarities of this Archipelago were recognized with a free allocation of resources and a regime of fiscal and commercial franchises was granted to the inhabitants of the islands. Also, the exclusion of commercial monopolies for the Canary Islands was another boost for our conditions of differential facts.
Our basic institutional norm includes in its article 166.2: The Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) of the Canary Islands is based on the commercial freedom of import and export, on the non-application of monopolies, on state fiscal franchises on consumption, and on a differentiated fiscal policy with a unique indirect taxation, which derives from the recognition of the Canary Islands as an outermost region (OR) in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
What I have just stated is part of the set of aspects that have been and are fundamental for progress and that explains the sui generis issues of the Canary Islands.
The serious problem we are experiencing with the arrival of irregular immigration is showing the weakness of the Government of the Canary Islands against the Government of the State. The latest contempt they show us from Madrid is the cancellation of the visit of the Minister of Migration, José Luis Escrivá, in the midst of a migration crisis and, with a situation that surpasses the Canarian Administration. This attitude of the Executive presided over by Pedro Sánchez shows, once again, the little empathy that the State Executive has with our land, and that two of the parties that form the four-party Government of the Canary Islands are also part of the Government of the State: PSOE and Podemos.
The attitude taken by the Government of the State is not only a sign of zero empathy with one of the serious problems we have in the Canary Islands, but the lukewarmness with which the President of the Canary Islands has taken this snub only highlights the fragility with which the problem is being addressed.
Institutions must show respect among themselves, not submission, even more so when the situation is critical. We cannot conform, we have to vindicate and, if Madrid does not listen, then we will have to knock on other doors. What is evident is that alone we will not be able to find a solution in the short or long term and, meanwhile, irregular immigration will continue to arrive in the way it is doing these days.
The people who inhabit this Archipelago must feel that our Government defends us, that we are not only obeying orders and decisions without protesting. We must feel that we raise our voices. There are issues such as the migratory issue, which are not of partisan obedience, but this is something that happens a lot with state parties that owe themselves to agendas of their political organizations without understanding that there are issues that simply need to break party discipline.
The same thing happens in Lanzarote, the president of the Cabildo does not raise her voice either. I told her very clearly in a plenary session: “You represent all of us and, above all, defend the people of Lanzarote”...
But, once again, partisan issues silence a problem that all the people of Lanzarote feel, which is feeling that no one defends us against the Government of the State. Meanwhile, irregular immigration continues to be patched up and people who arrive are placed in one place or another.
The senator for the Autonomous Community, Fernando Clavijo, asked the Ministry of Defense, just a few days ago, if it planned to cede the facilities of the “Marqués de Herrera” barracks in Arrecife and, the response was that “there is no plan to consider the transfer of part of the space for its temporary use as a reception center for immigrants”.
Unfortunately, the situation is very complicated and, the worst thing we can have is the feeling that our leaders do not have a plan, but are acting through improvisation. We must not forget that the Canary Islands and those of us who live here are above all else, even above any partisan issue.
Migdalia Machín Tavío. Island Secretary of the Canarian Coalition
Lanzarote