In the halls of the Canary Confederation of Entrepreneurs (CCE), the atmosphere this Tuesday not only carried the echoes of the global macroeconomy but also the unmistakable scent of electoral strategy. The Board meeting held on April 28, under the leadership of Pedro Ortega, has marked the ‘zero kilometer’ of a succession race that will culminate on June 30 in a context where there are no port employers’ associations of the real economy such as Asocelpa or Oneport. With the official opening of the electoral process approved this Tuesday, employers’ associations with port interests such as FET, Asosdican, Fedeport, Fedex, or Femepa initiate a period of internal consultations. In the CCE, the port sector has always acted as a block of order. Ortega’s presidency has navigated in consensus waters, but the formation of the new Board on June 30 will determine who will lead the dialogue with the central Executive and the Ministry of Finance after 2027, the election year. Currently, Vicente Marrero remains within the perimeter of the employers’ association at the top of the CCE from when he was an executive of the Lavinia Group subsidiary via Femepa. The war is not for a seat, it is for who will have the direct phone line with the REF Commissioner. Employers’ associations with logistics interests such as Fedeport, Femepa, FET know that the growth of the Canary Islands for 2026 is at a minimum (1.9%). In this scenario of lean times, the port needs the CCE to be more addicted to port statistics rather than relying on the liquidity injection from the BOC. With internal consumption weakening, the Port of La Luz stands as the only engine capable of resisting the storm at a time when employers’ associations such as Cecapyme are faltering, and others like Fedalime are on the verge of extinction. This is not just another administrative process. The employers’ associations of the Port of La Luz and Las Palmas, historically the financial and logistical muscle of the Canary Islands, observe the opening of the electoral calendar with a mix of caution and ambition. The outlook for 2026 presents a puzzle of forecasts in an environment of ‘normalization’ after an exceptional 2025. While the Balearic Islands consolidate as a national engine with a robust 4.6%, the Canary Islands navigate through waters of greater uncertainty. According to the latest official forecast reports, the Autonomous Community estimates a GDP growth in real terms of merely 1.9% for 2026, a significantly more conservative figure than the 2.3% projected by AIReF. This discrepancy in figures — which Ceprede places the region below the national average of 2.4% — reflects the fragility of a model conditioned by geopolitics. The high uncertainty, fueled by revisions of the Regional Accounting of Spain (CRE) and international environment risks, hinders budget planning and forces the port lobby to secure its competitiveness in the face of a slowdown that seems sharper than initially anticipated. The CCE enters its renewal phase at a time of systemic uncertainty marked by the impact of conflicts in the Middle East on local CPI and the implicit GDP deflator. The Port of Las Palmas does not just vote on June 30; it votes for a model that allows it to continue being the safe haven of the Atlantic in a year where budget planning and compliance with national and European fiscal rules will be under unprecedented pressure.
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