It seems obvious that we take it, however, the reality is very different. We have been throwing away the money that Europe allocates to us through European Funds for years. And it is that we do not have the capacity or we do not know how to execute it on time. So returning uninvested money is more common than we would like. With the need there is!
The crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has mobilized an unprecedented European financial response. The Spanish economy faces a historic opportunity for transformation. In this context, the Canary Islands will be one of the most benefited regions, but it will not achieve it if it does not first adapt its administrative apparatus to this scenario.
It would be a great sadness if we could not execute these funds. Spain, with an absolutely uncoordinated and excessively bureaucratized administration, in comparison with other countries of the European Union with a larger population, is not capable of executing more than 50% of the funds that reach it through the European Social Fund or the ERDF Funds, period after period. And this has been the case, almost by tradition. The administrative bureaucracy we have is enormous, the lack of coordination between administrations is increasing, the complexity of files of certain relevance grows exponentially, while we are still talking about administrative simplification, and productivity in offices is scarce.
It is imperative to carry out a planning with objectives and minimums that mark a strategic change. We need to incorporate external actors into the administration to achieve higher execution percentages. It is necessary to apply business management to the inefficient management of the Administration. We must end the kingdoms of taifas in favor of a correct organization of the administrative system. Without that change, we cannot face challenges such as climate change, innovation, digitization, resilience, natural resources, migration and border management and other imminent issues, and we cannot because at this rate, we will have to return the money without being able to execute it.
José Torres Fuentes, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
