The president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, defended this Wednesday in the regional Parliament the draft budget for 2027, amounting to 13,209 million euros, accounts that, as he emphasized, "respond" to the demands of Canary society and aim to "strengthen" public services on the archipelago: "The budgets are the expression of the political will of a government. And that expression here is clear and evident," he said.
Clavijo spoke during the plenary session to answer a question from the deputy Luis Campos (NC-BC), who criticized some accounts that, in his view, "are disconnected" from the reality experienced by the autonomous community, marked by "more than 700,000 people who are at risk of exclusion, the more than 500,000 in a situation of poverty, as well as the 180,000 who are in extreme poverty".
Campos stressed that "41% of our boys and girls are living in child poverty, the highest in Spain. We also have the lowest salaries in Spain. We have one of the highest rental prices in the entire Spanish State, and one of the highest grocery baskets in the entire country", and he drew attention to the economic slowdown reflected in the 2027 accounts report: "From an average of 3.5% GDP growth in recent years we go down to just 1.1% in 2027," he pointed out.
The deputy also reproached the regional Executive for the fact that the investment aimed at combating poverty through the Renta Canaria de la Ciudadanía has increased "by zero euros". "And to tackle the increase in unemployment data, with the budget items of the Servicio Canario de Empleo frozen, and for the economic deceleration situation, a cut across the set of economic sectors of 50 million."
Campos continued to question the priorities of the budget draft: "Do you know how much money we allocate to alleviate the scourge of gender-based violence? An increase of 0 euros in the Instituto Canario de Igualdad. And in the face of climate change? We cut more than 300 million euros. These are the figures from your budget, Mr. Clavijo, where the star measure to combat inflation is a straight-line de-indexation in the IRPF".
In his reply, Clavijo has admitted that the indicators on poverty and risk of social exclusion in the Canary Islands "he does not dispute them," but he has defended that they are "much better" than those existing at the start of the legislature. He has also assured that the regional Executive "has improved those records notably," despite the fact that "structural reforms" still remain to be completed.
The president has put the focus on strengthening the welfare state that, in his view, the accounts reflect: "This budget provides clear answers to what citizens are demanding, which is the strengthening of the Welfare State. For the first time, more than 2,500 million euros for education, 5,245 million euros for healthcare, and more than 1,000 million euros for social welfare. We make the budget in a serious way, and it also takes into account that anticipated economic slowdown, which is not exclusive to the Canary Islands," he emphasized.
Clavijo, who has insisted that it is a budget that "provides a response" to the Canary Islands, has also outlined the difficulties in preparing it, in a scenario marked by the negotiation of the EU's new multiannual financial framework, with several member States in favor of "cutting" the Community budget and the disappearance of the MRR funds.
The head of the Canary Islands Executive has also lamented the absence of new state accounts: "We would have liked to have the general State budgets in order to have much more stability. Of course, we would have liked to be able to count on an increase in current transfers, but we do not have it. And since we do not have it, we do the best we can. And the budgets are the expression of a government's political will. And that expression is clear and evident," he concluded.