The Government of Spain has maintained its commitment to the territory and citizenship of the Canary Islands during the first months of the new legislature, particularly in terms of support for the economic dynamization and modernization and social cohesion of the archipelago, for which 2,892.6 million euros of Next Generation funds of the European Union have been allocated.
This is what emerges from a new edition of Complying, the accountability report of the Government of Spain that was presented this Wednesday by President Pedro Sánchez in the Palacio de la Moncloa and from which today the specific data of government action in the Canary Islands have been released.
“This report shows that the Government of Spain has continued and continues to work to promote the socio-economic impulse of the Canary Islands, from a perspective of social equity, worrying for people and also for companies, to project a better model of prosperity for our islands,” says the Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana.
“The Canaries have always been in the mind of the Government of Spain in the reactivation after the pandemic, for how much this territory suffered the halt due to Covid-19, and example of this is that Next Generation funds have continued to arrive, most of which have been allocated to the Autonomous Community for its management,” he adds.
Of these approximately 2.9 billion euros of Next Generation funds, 2.262.7 million euros come from the European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism: 1,644.7 million have been allocated for the direct management of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and 618 million for the state management. In addition, EUR 629.9 million has been earmarked for REACT/EU funds.
About 20,000 companies, institutions and citizens have been direct beneficiaries of Next Generation funds in the Canary Islands, developing 26 emblematic projects in the archipelago with a total of 238 million euros, among which are the strengthening of underwater connectivity with the Iberian Peninsula, the Deep Geothermal Project in Arona (Tenerife) and renewable energy projects in all the islands.
Socioeconomic modernization in green and digital key
The Canary Islands, which received 6,072.5 million euros in cash deliveries in 2024 and will receive 6,594 million euros in 2025, the largest in its history, has seen how the Government of Spain has approved 16.9 million euros in aid for social sustainability, energy efficiency and digitalization of the tourism sector, reaching a total of 275 million euros.
In the year 2024, 110.4 million euros have also been approved for active employment policies for a dynamic, resilient and inclusive labour market in the Canary Islands, where the figure of 910,547 people affiliated to Social Security as of June 30, 2024 has already been reached.
In addition, 21 million euros have been allocated to the Canary Islands within the framework of the Community Support Programme for Agricultural Production (POSEI), and 1.5 million corresponding to the State contribution to the regional rural development interventions included in the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027.
Likewise, 5.6 million euros are going to be allocated in 2024 to the financing of the Gran Telescope de Canarias (GRANTERIC), budgeted for the period 2024-2030 a total of 42.3 million euros of financing.
Strengthening the welfare state
In total, 4.5 million euros have been allocated to projects of the program “Protection of the family and attention to child poverty” for 2023, and the same amount has been authorized for the year 2024, with 5.3 million euros for the program of basic benefits of social services to develop basic benefits at the municipal level by 2023, the same amount being authorized for 2024.
In addition, 8 million euros will go to the territorial cooperation program to promote schooling in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education for the creation of 1,293 public and free places, within the framework of Component 21 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, thanks to which, until May 31, 2024, a total of 1,271 places had been created in the Canary Islands.
A budget of 9.6 million euros has also been approved for the redimensioning of the Vocational Training offer of the Vocational Training Modernization Plan within the framework of component 20 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the creation of 5,100 places, reaching a total of 9,360 places in the Autonomous Community until May 31.
In addition, 25.3 million euros have been agreed for the promotion of personal autonomy and care for people in situations of dependency in the framework of the Dependent Shock Plan for the year 2024, and 51.2 million euros have been distributed in the framework of Component 22 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, to finance care policy projects.
In the field of Health, 1.9 million euros have been authorized for the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands for actions in the field of mental health of the population through the development of prioritized actions of the Mental Health Strategy 2022-2026, and 1.5 million euros have been contributed, through an agreement with the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, to continue supporting the mental health care of the population of La Palma after the volcanic eruption. In addition, 2.9 million euros have been approved to expand the oral health portfolio.
Access to housing and fair ecological transition
Within the State Housing Plan 2022-2025, 19.5 million euros have been approved in subsidies for the rental of vulnerable groups, to increase the public housing stock and to promote the rehabilitation of housing in 2024 in the Canary Islands.
EUR 19.7 million has also been ratified for the development of the “Rehabilitation Programme for Economic and Social Recovery in Residential Environments” of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and two agreements have been signed for the amount of EUR 17.1 million for the rehabilitation of 694 homes.
From the beginning of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in 2021 and until April of this year, the Canary Islands has received 45.9 million euros for the construction of 1,054 homes within the framework of the “Program of construction of homes for social rent in energy-efficient buildings”.
With regard to a fair ecological transition, the Canary Islands has had 10.5 million euros for the financing of energy efficiency and circular economy projects in tourism companies; 26.8 million additional in aid for the implementation of various incentive programs linked to self-consumption and storage, with renewable energy sources, as well as the implementation of renewable thermal systems in the residential sector; 84.9 million awarded for 51 projects to expand energy storage capacity and renewable power, and 16.2 million euros are being implemented in projects for adaptation to the risk of flooding and digitization of the water cycle (PERTE).
In addition, of the actions of the Recovery Plan Transformation and Resilience of the Government of Spain that are based on the optimization and improvement of the use of non-conventional waters, there are 11 actions that use desalinated waters, of which 3 correspond to both projects in the Canary Islands, with a global budget of 26.6 million euros.
A total of 13.2 million euros has been allocated to irrigation modernization works: 7.1 million in Tenerife and 6.1 million in La Palma, and 101.9 million euros have been awarded to research projects on the potential of deep geothermal energy in the archipelago (14.4 million for La Palma).
In terms of combating gender violence, 8.3 million euros have been allocated to the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands within the framework of the State Pact against Gender Violence, and 9.4 million euros have been allocated to the Joint Responsibility Plan for 2024.
Territorial cohesion and demographic challenge
In the field of aid for the transport of agricultural, industrial and banana goods managed by the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands, 23.2 million euros have been paid to 106 companies in advance for the transport carried out during 2023.
Within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, 3.8 million euros have been allocated for the UN-Broadband Programme, whose objective is the deployment of very high-speed broadband infrastructures throughout the territory, and 7.3 million euros for the UN-Active Networks Programme, which allows the provision of mobile communication services with 5G technology in areas where there is no 4G mobile coverage with a minimum service of 50 Mbps.
To this are added the 376,590 euros of the Territorial Cohesion Fund for the Demographic Challenge aimed at the fight against depopulation, being allocated 1 million euros to the Cabildo de La Palma for the improvement of the LP-4 road (there are already 12 million euros of state funding) and, with regard to the road agreement with the State in force until 2027, it contemplates an investment of more than 1.4 billion euros in the Canary Islands, of which a total of 384 million euros have already been paid in its entire period of validity.
In La Palma, around 950 million euros have already been mobilized for the recovery of the island after the emergency of the Cumbre Vieja volcano with the eruption at the end of 2021, extending for this year a series of measures such as the 60 percent reduction of the Personal Income Tax.