The President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo (CC), has stated in the monitoring session of the Canary Islands Parliament that now is the time to negotiate with the European Union on limiting foreigners from buying properties on the islands. A similar proposal by Nueva Canarias was rejected just a few weeks ago.
Clavijo stressed that his government has already commissioned the necessary legal studies to be able to explain its proposal to the new European Commission that emerges from the elections next June.
In a potentially lengthy process, not only will the island councils have to participate, but also the central government in Madrid and Brussels will have the last word.
The President of the Canary Islands said that he understood the unease and concern of the population of the Canary Islands about the increase in population that the provision of services and infrastructure has not accompanied. "We must combine the productive system with quality of life, without losing our tourist appeal," he said.
This announcement follows the vote against a motion tabled by NC-BC proposing to limit foreigners from buying property. In addition, the motion included other measures such as imposing a tourist tax, introducing an eco-tax and urgently developing tourism and urban planning legislation adapted to the islands' realities and public service capacity.
The Canarian nationalist parties want to resemble the examples of Malta and Finland, which offer limitations on the purchase of housing by foreigners, and their character as an outermost European territory to continue with this initiative.
