Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands: "In this legislature we will be the key on many occasions"

The Government of the Canary Islands faces the greatest migratory pressure on the islands since the cayucos crisis of 2006 and, in order to face it, its president has demanded from the central Executive a single command that allows coordinating the work of the six ministries with powers in the matter.. In the political field, Fernando Clavijo tries to ensure that the voice of the only member of the Canarian Coalition in Congress, Cristina Valido, plays a “fundamental role” in decision-making during this legislature.

So far this year, 21,500 immigrants have arrived in the Canary Islands, 6,400 of them in the first 13 days of October alone.. How do we deal with a situation like this? We need help from the State, to increase the transfer of unaccompanied minors through different communities and, what is more important, to provide the resources for what is foreseeably going to happen in the coming months ( …). They will probably continue arriving because the sea of calm is coming and that makes the journey safer.. It could last perfectly well until the end of November and as the weather is, it could last longer. How could we act to try to avoid it? First of all, we need a responsible minister.. And we are with six. As happened in the 2006 crisis, when it was María Teresa Fernández de la Vega who assumed coordination, it is reasonable to have a single dialogue with the Government of Spain to be able to coordinate better.. Secondly, we request that Frontex [European Border and Coast Guard Agency] be deployed: this would save lives and have greater control. And then what we believe is that the European Union has to have a joint migration policy so that the response is unique and that we find ourselves with that confusion. You warned that El Hierro could become Lampedusa…The risk that I warned was precisely so that action could be taken and that this would not be like a prison in southern Europe. Right now from El Hierro they are leaving for Tenerife, Gran Canaria and the Peninsula. In the last week there has been important progress in this coordination and this referral that we hope will continue. Do you lack greater diligence in the Government's response? The main problem is that there are six ministries. Each person believes they are doing well in their part, but in the end it is as if you have an orchestra with six different instruments that each play a different score: what comes out of there cannot be Beethoven's fifth symphony. Would you prefer that Was it not the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who assumed that sole command? Harsh mutual reproaches have been exchanged…With some people you have more affinity than with others, but institutional loyalty has to lead us, regardless of philias and phobias, to be able to be professionals.

Boats will continue to arrive until the end of November and as it is the weather can last longer

What will your party, the Canarian Coalition, ultimately vote for in Sánchez's investiture? What we have conveyed to you is that we have a serious problem, which is immigration; that for us the amnesty is a red line; and that we have a Canarian agenda which is what was also signed with the PP for the first investiture [that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo] and which are the conditions with which we would have to sit down to negotiate to assess our position (…). I am convinced that Mr. Sánchez has already guaranteed the support to be inaugurated, but the day after he must govern and in that legislature we believe that we are going to play a fundamental role on several occasions, if not on all of them. So if there is amnesty for those involved in 1-O, you will vote 'no' in the investiture. That is the position we have in the party. Without going into assessing whether it is legal or not, because there are opinions for everything, we consider that it is not moral: an amnesty has to obey a general interest, not a particular, partisan or personal interest.. That is breaking the rules of the game. But they do not rule out reaching agreements during the legislature. Now in the investiture we are the key if they want to reach other types of agreements. If not, obviously, there is a majority of 178 that Mr. Sánchez can appeal to. But I am convinced that throughout the legislature they will need that latch on many occasions.. In the commissions then the majorities are different. In a commission, the Mixed Group, which will have three deputies, has the same weight. We are convinced that we are going to be decisive. Before sitting down to talk, they have demanded that the Treasury pay them the 700 million euros of the 2023 Budgets that they have not yet received.. When those Budgets were prepared, we were decisive in the Budget Commission. We got free public transport, 100 million for the island of La Palma… and the reality is that some things have been fulfilled but there are others that have not. Among them, our Economic and Fiscal Regime establishes that the transport of containers and merchandise from the Peninsula to the Canary Islands must be compensated.. This has to be done at real and effective cost and it has not been done, which is resulting in us having the most expensive shopping basket in Spain with the lowest salaries. Could an agreement with the PSOE in Madrid put at risk your coalition with the PP in the Canary Islands? The Government of the Canary Islands was agreed and made in the Canary Islands and it is working fantastically well, the relations are magnificent. In fact, we gave support to Feijóo because we transferred the Canarian agenda to the PSOE and the PP at the same time and it was the PP who wanted to sit down and negotiate.. In fact, we are still not negotiating anything with the PSOE. It is not the first nor will it be the last time that there is a Government of a different color and a different support. And when has the Canary Islands done better, with the PSOE or with the PP? The Canary Islands do well when in Madrid they need our votes. Then most of the laws are complied with, then there is sensitivity and then there is understanding of the Canarian agenda.

The amnesty is not moral, it has to obey a general interest, not a particular, partisan or personal interest

Do you have guarantees that the alleged scheme of granting aid by the Government of the Canary Islands in exchange for 'bribes' that is being investigated in the 'Mediator case' is settled? There is a judicial investigation that continues its path. They have told us to do a review of all the files [of the Department of Agriculture] of the previous Government and the report is being prepared (…). We do not like this policy of generating suspicion, of pulling up the rugs. We come to work and if at any time any problem is detected, which is not the case, it will be brought to the attention of the judicial authority. Will the schools reopen on Monday after being closed due to the heat? Yes. They have only been closed on Wednesday and Friday because we had had very high temperatures, haze, and very low relative humidity for almost a week.. and fainting, nosebleeds and quite a few incidents were occurring in the schools. Aren't they conditioned for inclement weather? We are not used to high temperatures, that is the problem: we do not have the centers with heating or air conditioning, because Our average temperature is 22 degrees, with a maximum difference of six degrees. The great Tenerife fire also came from almost 10 days of 37-38 degrees. That is very rare in the Canary Islands. Have you already taken stock of the losses derived from that fire in Tenerife? The Island Council of Tenerife valued the damage to light poles, guardrails, pavement at 85 million euros.. Now we are doing the forest assessment and everything else to transfer it to the Ministry of Ecological Transition and there will be a part that the community assumes. Could it have been prevented? It was a fire that professionals say they had never had before, with 92 kilometers perimeter…. Fortunately, the expertise and work of the firefighting and security teams prevented personal misfortunes from being suffered, which is the first thing, and no homes, businesses, or important infrastructure were burned.. There was a magnificent collaboration with the Government of Spain.