The data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) certifies that, despite the historical figures that the tourism sector is experiencing, a single engine is not enough for the Canary Islands economy to advance towards a productive model that generates employment. Although the diagnosis of all analysts indicates that unemployment will become chronic in the Canary Islands if we do not bet on diversification and articulate new ways that generate growth, the Popular Party rejected this week an initiative that I defended in the Congress of Deputies to develop one of our main strengths: guaranteeing the fifth freedom of the air in the Islands and allowing the Archipelago to become a hub of air and maritime communications between Europe, Africa and America.
The popular deputies opposed in Congress a measure that they themselves have defended in the Canary Islands and in Madrid. Rajoy said in the debate of investiture that he was going to "raise the fifth freedom for the Canary Islands, because the great continental highways do not reach there neither high-speed trains nor anything that resembles it" and the Ministers of Industry and Development have also spoken on several occasions in the same sense, but when making decisions they forget their own promises.
The State Government -more aware of the future of the Barajas airport and of certain companies- has not taken a single step in the Canary Islands to allow that this tool so important for the consolidation of the Islands is articulated as a geostrategic platform in the mid-Atlantic. And I am going to cite only one example of the difficulties and obstacles faced by companies: an airline has been waiting since November 25, 2013 for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation authorizes it to carry out air operations between Canary Islands and Malabo, via Dakar.
We demand that the Islands can aspire to the fifth freedom based on of the commercial strategies of the airlines and not of those interests business and political conjunctural that are reflected in each bilateral agreement with other countries. The Canary Islands enjoy a strategic geographical situation to be an air and maritime logistics hub that facilitates the internationalization of our companies and, with it, their competitiveness and long-term sustainability, in addition to the installation of foreign companies on the islands, which would mean new opportunities for the Canary Islands. And we cannot renounce that our economy is more competitive, promoting those sectors that allow to build a more diverse model, creating new synergies, opportunities and employment. But this opportunity can only become a reality with the establishment, increase and consolidation of international air and sea connections, especially with the African and American continents.
Our proximity to West Africa allows us to aspire to be a center of operations between three continents. At the moment, most of the traffic between America and Africa passes through the existing hubs in Europe, such as Paris, London, Frankfurt or Dubai, in the Middle East, which lengthens trips and the makes them substantially more expensive. Diverting that traffic to the Canary Islands would allow said flights were more direct, short and economical, making the cost profitable of the same.
Faced with the option that arises for many companies to establish headquarters directly in some African countries, the Canary Islands appears as a much more stable location, both from the macroeconomic point of view as legal, with modern infrastructures, attractive economic packages and tax for companies and a much more qualified workforce and more prepared to perform in international and competitive environments. In addition, the Islands have an air connectivity with the European Union much higher than the of other African countries, which is a point in our favor for companies multinationals.
We have strengths that are reflected in the study prepared by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in Spain on the role of the Canary Islands as international business platform. A study in which it is stated that "Canary Islands can position itself to play a role in Africa similar to that of Singapore develops in a part of Southeast Asia or the one that Miami has assigned to a part of the Caribbean".
Congress closed on Tuesday an unavoidable exit for the Canary Islands due to the opposition of the Popular Party, but we will insist on opening a door necessary for the Canary Islands to develop an economic model that allows us to be stronger and more competitive and that, in addition, reverts to the benefit of the entire State and of the European Union, which will be able to extend its commercial networks with Africa and with America through the strategic platform represented by our Archipelago.
Ana Oramas, deputy of the Canarian Coalition