Canary Islands reorganizes the FDCAN with 1.626 billion and expands housing and dependency care

The Government of the Canary Islands has approved Decree 150/2026, of October 19, which reorganizes the Canary Islands Development Fund (FDCAN) as a financing instrument through monetary contributions to the Island Councils (Cabildos Insulares), City Councils, and Canarian Public Universities. The regulation is published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 209, of October 20, 2026, in section I (General Provisions), and enters into force on October 21, the day after its publication.

The FDCAN originates from resources derived from the suspension of the annual compensation from the Canary Islands to the State due to the suppression of the General Tax on Business Traffic (IGTE), agreed upon in the Joint Commission for Transfers between the State Administration and the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands on November 16, 2015. The new text replaces Decree 85/2016, of July 4, and maintains the validity of the Fund as long as that suspension remains in place or the definitive suppression of the compensation occurs, with a guarantee of financial sufficiency. The decree is signed by the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo Batlle.

Three axes and 1.626 billion over ten years

The Fund is provided with a maximum financing of 1.626 billion euros for ten years, with a maximum annual amount of 162.6 million, allocated in the General Budgets of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. The indicative distribution by axis is:

• Axis 1, research, development, and innovation: 15% and 243.9 million.
• Axis 2, infrastructures and equipment of strategic interest, including housing subject to a public protection regime: 50% and 813.0 million.
• Axis 3, construction, expansion, and operation of socio-sanitary places and facilities for dependency and active aging: 35% and 569.1 million.

Employment, training, and entrepreneurship are integrated as a transversal axis across the three blocks, without constituting an autonomous financing axis. The percentages are indicative and may be adapted by agreement of the Government of the Canary Islands or by the Update and Monitoring Commission.

Island Councils and universities as direct recipients

The direct recipients of the contributions are the Island Councils and the Canarian Public Universities, which must present, execute, and justify the actions before the competent department in matters of finance. City Councils participate through the island council of their island, within the framework of the Canary Islands Action Plan (PACAN), without acquiring the status of direct recipients.

The financing percentages for the programs are set at:

• 50% for the councils of Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
• 80% for those of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and La Palma.
• 90% for those of El Hierro and La Gomera.

The minimum execution cost for projects is set at 100,000 euros, unless the allocation agreement establishes another threshold with justification. The PACAN will have triennial programming and will ordinarily be submitted in December prior to the first annual period; proposals from island councils (cabildos) and city councils will require the conformity or acknowledgment of the corporate plenary, and those from universities will require approval from their social council.

Fewer formalities and more financial control

The UNIFICA corporate platform becomes the official tool for planning, submission, monitoring, reformulation, reprogramming, justification, and documentary archiving. Execution variations less than or equal to 20% of the total PACAN will not require additional authorization, and the first disbursement of each period may be advanced up to one hundred percent of the approved annual amount. Indirect costs may be charged up to 15% of the eligible direct costs.

In parallel, control is reinforced: modification requests will be resolved within a maximum period of three months with a negative administrative silence; justification must be submitted via UNIFICA in the month following the set date, and its validation is a condition for subsequent disbursements. Total or partial reimbursement will proceed in cases of application of funds for different purposes, lack of justification, double funding, serious breach of regulations, substantial breach of obligations, or resistance to verification activities, with the possibility of offsetting the debt against future Fund payments.

New governance and transitional regime

The decree creates three collegiate bodies: the Update and Monitoring Commission, attached to the Presidency of the Government; the Program and Project Admission and Selection Committee, also within the Presidency; and the FDCAN Evaluation Commission, attached to the department competent in economic matters, with the presence of the Canarian Federation of Islands (FECAI) and the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (FECAM). Up to 0.5% of the annual allocation may be destined for technical assistance, evaluation, auditing, and communication.

Actions already under execution may continue to be governed by Decree 85/2016 until their completion, and island councils that closed the 2016-2025 FDCAN Agreement in 2025 may opt for an additional annual payment in 2026 without the need for a PACAN or prior call.

The impact of the regulation is direct for all Canarian local corporations: it establishes for a decade the framework through which island councils, city councils, and universities finance investments, public housing, socio-sanitary places, and R&D&i, and shifts the weight of control to electronic justification and the accreditation of results.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 209, of October 20, 2026, section I (General provisions), page 37549 (official reference: boc-a-2026-209-3599).