The Government does not contemplate that the Canary Islands have full autonomy over their waters

The Government does not contemplate that the Canary Islands have full autonomy over their waters

The leader of Más País, Íñigo Errejón, author of the question to the Government about Canarian waters. / EFE

More Country defends that the islands be officially recognized as a State archipelago in order to delimit their maritime spaces

Loreto Gutierrez

The State Government has no intention of promoting any action so that the Canary Islands acquire the status of
Full Internal Autonomy (PAI) that allows it to delimit its maritime spaces from archipelagic waters, as required by the
Platform by the Canary Seamade up of 132 citizen associations.

In response to a written question from the leader of Más País and deputy in Congress,
Inigo Errejonwhose training defends the need for the archipelago to have a
Greater control over your watersthe Executive points out that the consideration of the Canary Islands in the Spanish Constitution does not conflict with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Convemar), despite not having official recognition as a State archipelago.

In his initiative, Errejón recalls that the
International Treaty of the Sea, signed by Spain, enables the State archipelagos to have full internal autonomy in their waters, "as would be the case of the Canary Islands" and asks the Executive if it considers the Canary Islands for legal purposes as
"an island or an archipelago"an issue that links to the adaptation of international treaties to the Constitution.

The Government's response reproduces the distinction that the Convemar makes in its article 46 between "archipelagic State" - a State constituted entirely by one or several archipelagos - and "archipelago", which is understood as a group of islands and the waters that connect them. , which form a
geographical, economic and political entity. In this regard, the Executive states that "there is no evidence of the existence of reasons for incompatibility between any provision of the Convention and the Spanish Constitution."

Javier Navarro, leader of the Errejón formation in the islands,
More Canary Islandsunderstands that the Government of Sánchez implicitly recognizes in its response that the international status that applies to the Canary Islands is that of a State archipelago, which in its opinion should give way to the same official recognition also in the
state level, for the purpose of delimitation of territorial waters and competences. "Especially when there is competition with Morocco for territorial waters and for doing
underwater mining around our islands”, emphasizes Navarro.