This text belongs to ‘Penínsulas’, the newsletter that Enric Juliana sends every Tuesday. If you want to receive it, sign up here.
Today ‘Peninsulas’ talks about an archipelago. I suggest you pay attention to the Canary Islands in the current political moment. There is a theme. There is a pact. The autonomous government of the Canary Islands will have a seat in the bilateral meetings between Spain and Morocco, if Alberto Núñez Feijóo obtains the investiture. The Canarian president will be able to attend the deliberations on the delimitation of territorial waters, the control of emigration and economic cooperation and other matters. This presence of the Canarian autonomous government in the high-level meetings with Morocco would be subject to prior dialogue with the central government. Consequently, the Canary Islands government will participate in the elaboration of an important fragment of Spanish foreign policy, if the Popular Party returns to the Moncloa palace. That’s the pact. We are talking about federalism.
I have just reproduced point number seven of the agreement signed between the Popular Party and the Canarian Coalition (see PDF) on August 22, through which the nationalist formation undertakes to support Núñez Feijóo in the two investiture votes that are going to take place. place this week. This agreement summarizes the so-called Canarian Agenda. It is very interesting to read, since it covers various subjects. It is, in reality, a reinforcement of Canarian autonomy without modifying the autonomy statute. The document is signed by Cuca Gamarra, general secretary of the Popular Party, and David Toledo, secretary of the Canarian Coalition Organization.
With the noise of the amnesty, the signing of that agreement has gone almost unnoticed. Soon twenty years ago, the same did not happen with a minor agreement between José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Pasqual Maragall, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia. There was then a great scandal in the Madrid stands. July 21, 2004. I remember that day well, since I went to take notes in the press room of the Moncloa palace. I had been in Madrid for a few months as a political correspondent and everything surprised me. I was surprised, for example, by the sleepless aggressiveness of some of the capital’s media. That ease with the broad brush and the insult. Now it doesn’t surprise me anymore. I already know them: they know very well when to shout and when to be silent.
At the end of the meeting with Zapatero, Maragall explained that they had agreed on the presence of the Generalitat at some international summits, as well as the participation of senior officials of the Catalan autonomy in working meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After a few weeks, Maragall accompanied Rodríguez Zapatero to Toulouse and Montpellier to discuss with the French Government the configuration of a cross-border region, structured by high-speed rail, a project that, twenty years later, is not fully developed, due to French reluctance. After a few months, the Government invited the presidents of Galicia, Castilla y León and Extremadura to participate in a bilateral summit between Spain and Portugal. It was a change of federal sign.
That federal agreement was not liked at all in certain environments. I remember some headlines. “The Generalitat will dictate the Government’s foreign policy,” said one of them. I have been reminded of this manipulation when reading the notorious agreement between the PP and the Canarian Coalition, an agreement that includes the power of the Canarian Government to appoint the directors of TVE and Radio Nacional on the islands. Nobody has raised a cry to the sky. This can mean two things. One, that certain changes in Spain require twenty-year cycles to go from scandal to conformity. Two, that the scandal depends on who signs the agreements. Both points are not excluded.
In short, the PP has accepted the Canarian Agenda and the Canarian Coalition has promised its vote. That vote is very important in the current parliamentary arithmetic. At La Vanguardia we have been warning about this since the day after the last general elections.
The Canarian vote allows the right-wing bloc to reach 172 seats, one more than the progressive bloc, the majority in the previous legislature. Consequently, the progressive bloc needs the active support of Junts to have a majority. In other words, if the Canary Coalition oscillates towards the progressive bloc, Junts has room to take refuge in abstention. Since the constitution of the current Congress there have been two votes that show this arithmetic. On August 17, a month ago, the Canarian Coalition voted for Cuca Gamarra for the presidency of Congress, since the PP had already promised to support the Canarian Agenda. In the same session, Junts voted for Francina Armengol, to the extent that the PSOE had committed to modifying the Congress regulations so that Catalan, Basque and Galician can be freely used throughout Parliament. On Thursday of last week, September 21, the Canarian Coalition voted in favor of this reform of the regulations and left the PP alone. I think we are understanding each other.
In August I wanted to learn more about the Canary Coalition’s plans and traveled to Santa Cruz de Tenerife to interview President Fernando Clavijo, who governs the autonomy in coalition with the Popular Party, the Independent Herreña Group and the Socialist Group of La Gomera, a split from the PSOE. headed by former senator Casimiro Curbelo, a unique character. In that interview, in addition to proposing that the PNV preside over the Congress, Clavijo did not exclude a subsequent Canary Coalition agreement with the PSOE, if the investiture of Núñez Feijóo failed. “Our position is not exclusive, everything depends on support for the Canarian Agenda,” he said.
Key fact: if the Canary Coalition supported the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, the affirmative vote of Junts per Catalunya would not be necessary, their abstention would be enough. The socialists obviously keep in touch with CC, but I think it would be wrong to confuse that group with a simple switch. Canarian politics is a complex aggregation of island interests, in which the hotel industry weighs heavily. The Canarian Coalition could vote for Sánchez’s investiture, following an agreement on the Canarian Agenda, but we are talking about a coalition. We are talking about a party that is actually a coalition of insular groups. There are other actors. There is, for example, Ana Oramas, a representative in Congress for fifteen years, with an intense agenda of contacts in Madrid. The influential Mrs. Oramas has just spoken out against the amnesty for the Catalan independence movement.
Junts has the key, but the Canarian Coalition has the key. Let’s see how they handle it.
There is much concern in the Canary Islands about the growing instability and tension in the Sahel, the infinite desert strip that begins on the coasts of Western Sahara and Mauritania and crosses the continent until it reaches the coasts of Sudan and Eritrea in the Red Sea. In that harsh and vast region, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, everything is insecurity and war right now.
This Sunday France announced the withdrawal of its troops from Niger, a major uranium producer, after having lost its footing in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic. France also withdraws its ambassador two months after the military coup d’état in that country. A complete humiliation.
A greater African exodus to Europe is what is of most concern in the Canary Islands. While in Spain we are arguing heatedly about the amnesty, Italy, Germany and France are these days immersed in a difficult negotiation over the reception of the thousands of refugees crowded on the Italian island of Lampedusa, coming from the coasts of Libya and Tunisia, countries in very critical situation. (Tunisia is on the verge of bankruptcy and in Libya the state has practically collapsed).
The situation in Spain is not the same, by virtue of the agreements with Morocco. The Canary Islands government wants to be at the delicate meeting table with Morocco, the Popular Party has said yes and no one has protested this federal pact. Spain presents many nuances. It’s not all fury and flying flags.
