 Along with Saavedra, the first Canarian government was formed with Juan Alberto Martin as the vice president; Luis Balbuena as the Minister for Education; Rafael Molina, Economics and Business; Francisco Jimenez, Housing; Maria Dolores Palliser, Tourism and Transport; Nicolas Alvarez, Industry, Water and Energy; Felipe Perez Moreno, Agriculture and Fishing; Jose Medina, Public Works, Organisation of the Regions and the Environment; Alberto Guanche, Work, Health and Social Security and Alfredo Herrera Pique, Culture and Sports.
The six electoral processes which the Canaries have held to date have given place to six legislatures, complicated by a lack of absolute majority. Although the presence of five presidents gives an appearance of normality, in truth there have been seven governments, presided over by Jeronimo Saavedra from 1983 to 1987 and from 1991 to 1993; by Fernando Fernandez between 1987 and 1989: by Lorenzo Olarte, between 1989 and 1991; by Manuel Hemoso from 1993 to 1995 and from 1995 to 1999; by Roman Rodriguez from 1999 to 2003; and by Adan Martin from 2003 to the present date.
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The present Government of the Canaries is made up of ten advisers and one commissioner. The nomenclature and areas of responsibility have changed in some cases and for the first time there is a commissioner.
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Along with Adan Martin, responsibility is shared by Maria del Mar Julios, as the vice president and the head of Department for the Health; Jose Carlos Mauricio, Economy and Estate; Antonio Castro Cordobez in Infrastructures, Transport and Housing; Pedro Rodríguez Zaragoza, Agriculture, Farming, Fishing and Food; Jose Miguel Ruano, Education, Culture and Sports; Augusto Lorenzo Tejera, Environment; Jose Juan Herrera Velazquez, Tourism; Luis Soria Lopez, Business, Industry and New Technologies; Maria Australia Navarro, Presidency and Justice; and Agueda Montelongo, Employment and Social Affairs.
The Commissioner of Foreign Action and Institutional Relations with Europe, Africa and America is Javier Morales.
The economy is based primarily on tourism, which makes up 32% of the GDP. The Canaries receive about 12 million tourists per year. Construction makes up nearly 20% of the GDP and tropical agriculture, primarily bananas and tobacco, are grown for export to Europe and the Americas. Ecologists are concerned that the resources, especially in the more arid islands, are being overexploited but there are still many agricultural resources like tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cochineal, sugarcane, grapes, vines, dates, oranges, lemons, figs, wheat, barley, maize, apricots, peaches and almonds.
The economy is € 25 billion (2001 GDP figures). The islands experienced continuous growth during a 20 year period, up until 2001, at a rate of approximately 5% annually. This growth was fueled mainly by huge amounts of Foreign Direct Investment, mostly to develop tourism real estate (hotels and apartments), and European Funds (near € 11 billion euro in the period from 2000 to 2007), since the Canary Islands are labelled Region Objective 1 (eligible for euro structural funds). Additionally, the EU allows the Canary Islands Government to offer special tax concessions for investors who incorporate under the Zona Especial Canaria (ZEC) regime and create more than 5 jobs.
The Canary Islands have great natural attractions, climate and beaches make the islands a major tourist destination, being visited each year by about 12 million people (11,986,059 in 2007, noting 29% of Britons, 22% of Spanish, not residents of the Canaries, and 21% of Germans). Among the islands, Tenerife has the largest number of tourists received annually, followed by Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The archipelago's principal tourist attraction is the Teide National Park (in Tenerife) where the highest mountain in Spain and third largest volcano in the world (Mount Teide), receives over 2.8 million visitors annually.
The combination of high mountains, proximity to Europe, and clean air has made the Roque de los Muchachos peak (on La Palma island) a leading location for telescopes like the Grantecan.
The islands are outside the European Union customs territory and VAT area, though politically within the EU. Instead of VAT there is a local Sales Tax (IGIC) which has a general rate of 5%, an increased tax rate of 12%, a reduced tax rate of 2% and a zero tax rate for certain basic need products and services (e.g. telecommunications).
Canarian time is Western European Time (WET) (or GMT; in summer one hour ahead of GMT). So Canarian time is one hour behind that of mainland Spain and the same as that of the UK, Ireland and Portugal all year round.
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