The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, has committed to studying the continuation beyond 2030 of the exemption from emission rights payment for air and maritime routes of the Canary Islands. She conveyed this to the Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, during a meeting held in Brussels.
The meeting focused on the impact that the EU ETS is having on the archipelago, especially due to the increase in passenger and goods transport costs and the Canary Islands’ dependence on maritime and air connectivity.
Ribera explained that the review of the European emissions system is still in the evaluation phase and that the final proposal from the European Commission will be known in July. In this context, Clavijo argued that the outermost regions must maintain a differentiated treatment under the protection of Article 349 of the EU Treaty.
The Canary Islands president also warned about the loss of competitiveness of the archipelago’s ports, pointing out that routes with European countries bear 100% of the emissions, while connections with third countries only pay 50%, which would be favoring the diversion of maritime traffic to African ports.
The community vice-president acknowledged the existence of these distortions and noted that other member states are also calling for changes to avoid competitive disadvantages against ports outside the European Union. Clavijo also urged the Spanish government to join France and Portugal in the joint defense of the outermost regions before Brussels.
Photo: Government of the Canary Islands