The coordination of the Council of Environment Ministers of the EU has just been assumed by the Canary Islands, which for 6 months will be the voice that represents and defends the common position of the rest of the Spanish Autonomous Communities.
The Government of the Canary Islands and specifically the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy, led by Mariano H. Zapata, will assume, as of January 1, 2025, the coordination of the Council of Environment Ministers of the European Union, where it will represent the communities Spanish autonomous organizations in environmental matters.
The Canary Islands will represent the CCAA in the EU
After the transfer meeting held on Thursday, December 19 with the Xunta de Galicia, whose Government has assumed coordination throughout the second half of 2024, the Canarian executive will begin working to favor the interests of the Spanish autonomies in this matter.
The counselor, Mariano H. Zapata, explained that “every six months an autonomous community leads this coordination task,” and assured that assuming this task “positions the archipelago in a situation of environmental influence, both at the national and community level,” which which represents “a unique opportunity to put the focus on issues that affect our islandssuch as the impact of climate change in island regions or the difficulties of decarbonization in energy-isolated systems.”
In this same sense, he highlighted the pride that comes with representing the autonomies in Europe, claiming the importance of the European regions “participating in the making of decisions that they must subsequently apply directly in their territories, as it is key to bring all these policies to fruition”.
Throughout this period of leadership, the Canary Islands Executive will coordinate the common position of the autonomous communities on environmental issues dealt with in the European Union that They will later be debated by the environment ministers of the member countries. During this period, the Ministry will lead two meetings with the rest of the autonomies and will travel to Brussels to defend the position of the Spanish regions before the European Council.
Throughout the meeting held with the Galician government and the Permanent Representation of Spain in the European Union (Reper), the main issues to be addressed in the Councils of Ministers of the Environment of the first half of the year, as well as the most important issues that are in the analysis or discussion phase and the procedures carried out in this last period.
Once this coordination role was assumed, the counselor conveyed his willingness to collaborate with the Ministry to achieve progress in this matter and defend the interests of the Spanish regions, stating that “The Canary Islands will work hard and will address singularities in a special way territorial areas of the archipelago to advance its decarbonization.”
For six months, the Canary Islands Ministry will be in charge of represent the Spanish autonomous communities on environmental issues that are dealt with in the European Union, which will subsequently be debated by the environment ministers of the member countries.