The Canary Islands Federation of Municipalities (Fecam) has requested the regional government to ensure an equitable distribution of the new Canary Islands Development Fund (Fdcan), granting municipalities decision-making power over 40% of investments. This comes as a decade-long investment program, potentially reaching 2.8 billion euros, is being prepared.
Fecam president María Concepción Brito and her team met with the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo. It was agreed that a Conference of Presidents will be held on July 23rd to finalize the decree for the new Fdcan, which will cover the next ten years. A monitoring commission involving the Government, cabildos, and Fecam will also be established.
The primary municipal demand is that, regardless of agreements with the cabildos on each island, municipalities, as co-owners of the Fdcan, should be able to manage 40% of the funding. Both the Government and the municipalities agree on prioritizing housing and socio-sanitary infrastructure, with Clavijo advocating for municipalities to have "a voice and a vote" in local investments.
The Government of the Canary Islands will contribute a minimum of 1.6 billion euros (160 million annually), with cabildos potentially adding further financing to reach an estimated total of 2.8 billion. Clavijo highlighted the ten-year funding guarantee, which facilitates the tendering of large infrastructure projects.
Brito stated that housing and socio-sanitary infrastructure are priorities, but stressed that municipalities, as co-owners of the fund, must also be able to allocate a portion to their own priorities. She argued that the decrease in subsidy calls and the depletion of European funds necessitate autonomous decision-making over a percentage of the Fdcan.
The Fecam president mentioned that on islands like La Palma, Gran Canaria, and La Gomera, funding was already agreed upon with the respective municipalities. The aspiration is for this model to extend to all islands, ensuring that 40% of the fund reaches municipalities according to the established distribution, even without island-wide consensus.
Clavijo agreed that coordination between cabildos and municipalities allows for additional financing, but clarified that if a municipality does not wish to join the island program, it can opt out and still receive funding, as happened with municipalities like Mogán, Firgas, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, and la Vega de San Mateo in the previous Fdcan.
