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Return of 22.4 million in European funds as Canary Islands universities deteriorate

Nueva Canarias criticizes low execution and loss of European funding for ULPGC and ULL.

Generic image of money and a government building.
IA

Generic image of money and a government building.

Nueva Canarias deputy, Carmen Hernández, described the Canary Islands Government's return of 22.4 million euros in European funds as "scandalous," occurring while public universities in the Canary Islands are deteriorating.

The parliamentarian for Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC), Carmen Hernández, has strongly criticized the Canary Islands Government's management of European funds allocated to public universities. According to a statement from the nationalist group, Hernández described the confirmed return of 22.4 million euros as "scandalous," arguing that this happens "while the public universities of the Canary Islands deteriorate."
Hernández reproached the "Government of the two Canarian right-wings" for the low execution of European funds and demanded stable financing for the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). The deputy questioned the management by the Ministry of Universities, led by Migdalia Machín, regarding funds from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MRR), pointing out that over 22.4 million euros assigned to these academic institutions will be returned.
The ministry has a total of 73.5 million euros in European funds. As of December 31, 2025, only 42.9 million had been executed. The statement details that 5.8 million had already been lost and another 25.4 million were still pending. The Ministry of Finance itself acknowledged in October 2025 that it only planned to execute 8.8 million euros of the pending funds, which would imply returning an additional 16.6 million to Europe. In total, the figure amounts to 22.4 million euros that the Canary Islands Government will return.
NC considers this situation "scandalous" and "terrible," especially because, in their view, "the Executive of CC and the PP subjects both public academic institutions to permanent deterioration." Carmen Hernández stated that "when public universities are not provided with the necessary resources, cuts are being applied in practice," rejecting President Clavijo's discourse about having "the largest budgets in history."
Nueva Canarias-BC raises the question of whether the ULPGC and the ULL "have sufficient funding to respond to the needs of the Canary Islands." They emphasized that the demands for greater funding come not only from the opposition but also from "broad sectors of Canarian society united around a platform in defense of public universities," which already has thousands of supporters, including rectors, scientists, professors, and other professionals.

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