Casimiro Curbelo
The year 2026 begins in the Canary Islands with an unquestionable reality: we have recently approved regional budgets, which reach a non-financial figure of 12,491 million euros. These are, without a doubt, budgets with a reasonable economic dimension, but clearly insufficient if the challenges facing our Autonomous Community are analyzed in depth.
But beyond the budget photograph, it is essential to talk about the great challenges that the Canary Islands face this year. Challenges that are projected in three fundamental areas: the international, the national and the internal sphere of the autonomous community. All of this, furthermore, in a context marked by global uncertainty, geopolitical conflicts and an evident lack of parliamentary majorities and dialogue in the State.
One of the most urgent challenges is the reform of the regional financing system. An obsolete system, which has not been updated for almost fourteen years, and which does not respond to the current demographic reality of the Canary Islands. Our community now exceeds 2.2 million inhabitants and continues to grow, which requires more resources to adequately address health, education and social policies. We cannot continue to depend on extraordinary transfers, such as those received in 2025, without a solid and fair structural basis.
Added to all this is the political instability and the lack of parliamentary majorities that have prevented the continued approval of the general budgets of the State, and everything indicates that this situation will not change in the short term. But if there are no new budgets, at least there must be political will to update the regional financing system, adapting it to the adjusted population and the specific needs of the Canary Islands. For our community, this system is extraordinarily necessary.
Added to this debate is another crucial aspect that continues to generate confusion: the difference between the regional financing system and the Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands. They are different realities and should not be mixed. The financing system serves to guarantee essential services; The REF, on the other hand, responds to the singularities and structural deficits of a territory that is remote, fragmented and highly dependent on the outside. It is not a privilege, but a historical and necessary compensation tool.
Bonuses such as 75% for the transportation of residents or aid for the transportation of goods are not ex-gratia concessions, but rather essential mechanisms to guarantee equal opportunities. Any attempt to dilute or confuse the REF, even in debates such as debt forgiveness, represents a serious weakness for the Canary Islands.
In this context, the so-called Canary Islands agenda and its possible articulation through a Royal Decree Law take on special importance. A path that, given the current parliamentary circumstances, could allow progress in concrete solutions for the Canary Islands without depending on unattainable majorities. Of course, as long as its content responds exclusively to the needs of the Archipelago and is not used as a political currency.
Within this agenda it is essential to address the situation of the Green Islands: La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. Territories with serious structural difficulties derived from their small demographic size, double and triple insularity and high extra costs to develop economic activity. Without specific taxation, these islands will always continue to follow general decisions that do not address their reality.
The application of a tax credit similar to the one that existed in La Palma after the volcanic eruption - such as 60% of the state personal income tax - for La Gomera and El Hierro is a reasonable, acceptable and necessary measure. We are talking about small towns, with just over 22,500 inhabitants in La Gomera and 11,000 in El Hierro, for which a differentiated fiscal policy can make the difference between stagnation and economic survival, or a REF that adapts to our needs.
2026 cannot be a year of waiting or resignation. The Canary Islands need clear decisions, political courage and respect for their uniqueness. Adequate budgets, a fair financing system, a fully dimensioned REF, a Canary Islands agenda that responds to the reality of the Archipelago, and that the European Commission and Spain continue to see the Canary Islands as an Outermost Region, with a new updated and modern financing framework, which is negotiated directly with the Islands. These are not excessive demands: they are minimum conditions to guarantee the future of our land and the quality of life of those who inhabit it.
