What has applied since 10 September
Approved on the 8th, published on the 9th, in force since 10 September. The title names both halves of the text: urgent measures for the reconstruction of La Palma, and rules for regions holding surpluses. It is not final — under article 86.2 of the constitution the Congress of Deputies must vote on ratification within 30 days. The tax reduction itself, who may claim it and which proofs of residence count, was covered by cita.news in April 2026. This piece is about the legal act and about the money.
100 or 600 million — the difference is in the text
On 8 September both figures stood side by side, and they do not mean the same thing. Article 2 resolves it: the 100 million is a named tranche the Canaries may draw from their own surpluses for La Palma. The 600 million does not appear in the decree at all — it is the order of magnitude of the entire Canarian surplus, cited by Minister Torres, not by the legislator.
What the 100 million is meant for
Article 2 states the purpose as aid to natural persons and entities affected by the 2021 eruption — so not only agriculture. "With priority", however, the text then lists almost nothing but the primary sector: compensation per unproductive kilogram for 2024, 2025 and 2026, the rebuilding of tool sheds, stables, water tanks, banana packing plants and hydraulic works, plus farm plots and the CO2 evacuation system. Both readings of recent days are half right: legally broad reconstruction aid, in its priorities farming and livestock.
The sequence that sets the timing
One paragraph missing from the news reports decides the pace: Canarian spending on volcano damage is charged first against the authorisation in Real Decreto-ley 13/2025, until that amount is exhausted. Only what goes beyond it runs through the new rule. The 100 million is not a second pot but the same channel with a higher ceiling.
Two tracks, both with a deadline
For investment out of the surplus the decree creates two routes. Article 2 applies to regions with debt below 12.4 percent; they may invest from 2026 to 2028 and need not classify the projects as "financially sustainable". La Provincia put the Canarian ratio at 10.5 percent on 16 August 2026, based on a press table drawn from Banco de España data. Article 3 applies to all regions with a 2025 surplus, only for 2026 and 2027, and additionally requires that no deficit arise and that the supplier payment period has been met for six months. Before any spending comes a prior audit: where the financial control report is unfavourable, no investment may proceed.
The political balance
Regional president Fernando Clavijo said in Teror on 8 September, according to EFE, that the decree was "not going as we would have liked" but contained "important advances". El Día notes that the Canarian parliament had approved a far larger package in February 2026 with the votes of CC, PP, ASG and AHI; housing, roads, care, education, health and tourism were left out. Nueva Canarias had called that list of demands — not the decree — "the letter to the Three Kings", according to El Día. The PSOE island leader on La Palma, Borja Perdomo, spoke to eldiario.es of "facts and results".