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High school students from IES Cabrera Pinto interview Manuel Domínguez and José Ramón Barrera
Young people believe that the island’s jurisdiction will help solve the region’s main problems, such as access to housing and low salaries
Vice President and Minister of Economy, Manuel Domínguez, and the Commissioner of the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) of the Canary Islands, José Ramón Barrera, visited IES Cabrera Pinto today, the oldest in the Canary Islands. Both participated in a meeting with second-year high school students, who asked them a series of questions about the impact of the REF on key issues for the future of the archipelago.
The event, held in the auditorium of the institute in La Laguna, began with a welcome from the school’s director, Cristina Álvarez Rodríguez, who emphasized the importance of students knowing about the REF. «It is key for our islands, shaping our present and our future,» she stressed.
The students were excited about the opportunity to put into practice the principles of the REF they learned in their Economics class, and during the meeting addressed relevant issues of the jurisdiction that are currently of utmost importance, such as housing access problems, youth employability, economic diversification beyond tourism, and improving salaries in the Canary Islands. The conversation was moderated by journalist Antonio Salazar, the promoter of the school contest ‘What does the REF mean to you’, in which the school has received several awards in recent editions.
A few minutes before nine in the morning, Manuel Domínguez and José Ramón Barrera arrived at the auditorium of Cabrera Pinto where a hundred expectant students awaited them. The first to speak were Ariadne Fresneda, Guillermo García Pérez, Violeta Rodero, and Daniel Páez Expósito. The first set of questions focused on the passage in Congress of the modification of the Investment Reserve in the Canary Islands (RIC) to increase the supply of rental properties.
The Vice President began by thanking the students and teachers for their interest in understanding the special regime that the Canary Islands have. «I am pleased to see that the main objective we have, which is to bring the REF closer to the citizens, is being achieved,» Domínguez pointed out, expressing his confidence that restoring the RIC will help bring more housing to the market soon.
As head of the Economy department, Domínguez also addressed questions about the record number of self-employed individuals and the benefits that the REF offers for entrepreneurship in the islands, incentives for the digitization of the regional economy, and diversification into innovative sectors that provide new business and employment opportunities.
«Self-employed individuals are an important part of our productive system, and the Government is working to support them with successful measures like zero fees,» the Vice President remarked. He also acknowledged that «Canary Islands need to grow in new areas that are not yet established in our land, where talent can develop its full potential.» «The REF should support these new businesses and accompany us in the digitization of our economy and in improving our productivity,» he emphasized.
On his part, the Commissioner mentioned that they are studying measures to «make the REF help small and medium-sized self-employed entrepreneurs so that they do not have to bear the IGIC and to give them favorable treatment in their investments.» He also explained to the students from La Laguna that the special regime for sectors with scarce presence in the islands «will be crucial to promote entrepreneurship and attract investments capable of boosting our growth,» as is already happening with the film industry, the video game industry, and new businesses established in the Canarian Special Zone and Free Trade Zones.
«We want the REF to be more social and directly assist people, not just businesses,» Barrera emphasized. In this regard, the Commissioner explained that the jurisdiction could enhance the employability of young people and those over 45, who are the most numerous groups among the long-term unemployed, if one of their proposals to reduce hiring costs goes through.
In the second part of the event, Paula González, Laura Durán, Otto Farrujia, Daniel Núñez, and Nerea Corona were responsible for bringing up other aspects covered by the Canarian jurisdiction, such as compensations for passenger and cargo transportation, and recycling and waste valorization.
Regarding the development of the circular economy, the Commissioner mentioned that they are working with local companies to promote this new sector, capable of treating waste to give them value by transforming them into a new product. «The REF can help us build a greener Canary Islands, which also provides us with economic activity and generates quality employment,» he added.
The controversy over the central government’s non-payment of subsidies for resident discounts to airlines was also addressed during the meeting with students from Cabrera Pinto, who highlighted the importance of transport subsidies to improve regional competitiveness.
«Canaries can be competitive in the global market thanks to the REF,» stated José Ramón Barrera as the Vice President nodded in agreement. As an example, the Commissioner mentioned the rise of the audiovisual industry. «Think of all the options someone in Hollywood has before coming to a distant place like the Canary Islands, and yet, major productions come here to shoot,» he argued.
Both members of the regional government emphasized the crucial role that the transportation compensations of the jurisdiction play for the islands. «It is a key axis of the REF, without which the equity principle it pursues to allow us to compete on equal terms with the rest of the continental territory is broken,» the Commissioner concluded.
