Lola García steps up her defense of the islands' primary sector

The Cabildo President Warns of the Risk Posed by the European Proposal on POSEI and Backs the Canary Islands Government

The president of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Lola García, expressed today her concern over a European Commission proposal that could open the door to a possible renationalisation of the Community Support Programme for Canary Agricultural Production (POSEI). Such a move would alter the programme’s current status as a specific European funding instrument for ultra‑peripheral regions.

García reaffirmed her support for the Canary Islands Government and, in particular, for the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty, Narvay Quintero, who is defending the maintenance of POSEI as a differentiated, stable funding tool directly financed by the European Union.

“POSEI is an essential tool for sustaining the primary sector on islands like Fuerteventura, where farmers and ranchers face significant extra costs due to remoteness, insularity and climatic conditions,” the president said.

The Cabildo warns that any step toward renationalising POSEI would introduce uncertainty into a sector that is already especially vulnerable, as its financing would become dependent on national budget decisions and would lose the stability provided by direct EU support.

“We are not talking about privileges, but about compensations recognised by the EU itself for ultra‑peripheral regions. Weakening POSEI would question that principle and jeopardise the continuity of many farms,” García added.

She highlighted that the primary sector in Fuerteventura plays a key economic, social and territorial role, contributing to landscape preservation, population retention and the archipelago’s food sovereignty.

In this context, García reiterated the Cabildo’s commitment to work in coordination with the regional executive to defend, in every institutional arena, the continuity of POSEI as a fully European programme tailored to the specificities of ultra‑peripheral regions.

“Defending POSEI is defending our countryside, our traditions, and the future of Fuerteventura,” the president concluded.