The Government of Spain continues to consolidate its commitment to job stability, social cohesion and the sustainability of the development of the Canary Islands during the first months of the new legislature, in which its Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan continues to be implemented and European funds channeled.
The data show, in particular, the advances that have occurred in the Canary Islands in recent years in job stability thanks to the changes in legislation put in place by the Government, which has facilitated that, as of January 1, 2024, there are 305,257 indefinite contracts in the Canary Islands, 212.7 percent more than in 2019, the last year before the labor reform that was not marked by external factors in the labor market, as was the pandemic.
In addition, 2023 closed with 910,207 people affiliated to Social Security in the Canary Islands, which means an increase of 97,220 compared to December 2018, with 356,925 pensions in the archipelago as of November 30, 2023, and, at the end of last year, 84,138 people benefiting from the Minimum Vital Income.
“The data demonstrate the government’s commitment to progress and social equity in the Canary Islands. Experience is showing us that, far from the messages that want to be transferred from some sectors, it is possible to combine the good progress of the economy with an improvement in working conditions and a fairer redistribution of wealth, which leaves no one behind,” says the government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana.
“The government continues to work to give this country a future, a sustainable future. In the last year, we also allocated 100 million euros for scholarships for students from the Canary Islands, both at university and non-university levels. We are concerned about the present of the archipelago, but also the future, with the impulse, the improvement and the adaptation of our productive model to the new realities”, he adds.
Implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in the Canary Islands
Until the end of 2023, the Canary Islands received 2,928 million euros from the Next Generation EU Funds, of which 630 million euros are REACT EU funds, 1,644 million euros correspond to transfers agreed at the Sectoral Conference and direct concessions of the Recovery Plan to the Autonomous Community and more than 654 million euros through direct execution actions of the General Administration of the State (more than 13,700 beneficiary projects in the archipelago only through the state execution actions).
Thus, in the calls for projects in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for the transformation of the tourism model towards sustainability, 23 projects have been funded in the Canary Islands with more than 116.5 million euros of grant, and there are already more than 13,200 SMEs and autonomous beneficiaries of projects of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain.
More than 12,450 SMEs and self-employed people in the Canary Islands have the digital kit voucher and more than 760 SMEs and self-employed people have been able to access funding to tackle their transformation projects thanks to CERSA’s financial guarantee program.
Eight modernization projects of 2,200 hectares of irrigation are being developed, with 43 million euros of aid from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and there are already 51 energy efficiency projects in the Canary Islands financed with 84.9 million euros by the IDAE.
With regard to housing, the Canary Islands are dealing with energy rehabilitation actions at the neighborhood level with 34 actions already agreed between the Government of Spain and the Government of the Canary Islands, which will affect more than 4,270 homes that will have more than 76.4 million euros of aid.
In addition, in the Canary Islands, 20 promotions are already being developed with more than 1,050 social rental homes with 46 million euros of funding from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain, which has also allocated 38 million euros for the modernization of high-technology sanitary equipment in nine centers in the Autonomous Community.
And in terms of energy sustainability, through the Recovery Plan, a specific investment has been dedicated to improving the energy sustainability of the islands, with 467 million euros for the Canary Islands, of which 302 million euros have been transferred to the Government of the Canary Islands, which has already launched calls for nearly 250 million euros.
In the archipelago there are also more than 2,500 beneficiaries of the program of support for self-consumption and energy storage in the productive sectors and households, with about 15 million euros of subsidy from the 40 million that have been transferred to the Autonomous Community.