The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, has positively assessed the support expressed by the executives of Spain, France, and Portugal for the maintenance of the Programme of Specific Options for Distance and Insularity (POSEI). This backing is demonstrated in the request for the program to have a specific Regulation and adequate own funding within the next European Union Multiannual Financial Framework.
Quintero highlighted the letter sent by the Agriculture Ministers of the three member states to the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, which calls for differentiated treatment for the Outermost Regions (ORs). According to the Canarian minister, this communication represents a 'first-class institutional endorsement' of a demand that the Canarian Executive has defended with solid technical arguments alongside primary sector stakeholders.
The joint document reinforces the common position of the ORs, reached in the Canary Islands during the Horizon ORs meeting, and confirms that the defense of POSEI has become a central issue in the debate on the future European budget. Quintero stated that it is a very important step for this demand to be assumed by the three involved member states, ensuring that ORs need their own instruments, sufficient allocations, and effective recognition of their unique characteristics.
The letter sent to the European Commissioner emphasizes that ORs face specific challenges requiring an adapted approach and political responses consistent with their particularities, in line with Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It is stressed that the effective integration of these territories into the internal market depends on robust instruments capable of compensating for their structural limitations, and their strategic importance for Europe due to their location in key geographical areas is also recalled.
Therefore, Spain, France, and Portugal call for the preservation of the POSEI acquis as a specific instrument to recognize the limitations arising from distance and insularity, requesting a specific regulation and adequate own financial allocation. It is also recalled that the funding for this aid program has not increased since 2011, despite the significant rise in production costs over the last two decades, a primary concern raised by the Canary Islands.
Quintero noted that this approach fully aligns with the position defended by the Canary Islands alongside professional agricultural organizations, producer associations, and the Parliament of the Canary Islands, before the Government of Spain and European institutions.
