Eurasia Press & News
The Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) should declare a state of “migratory emergency” in the whole of Spain and not just in the Canary Islands – the region currently hardest hit by the influx of irregular migrants from West Africa – the main opposition centre-right Partido Popular (PP/EPP) said on Monday.
The PP made the call on the day that the PSOE, its left-wing partner Sumar, and Coalición Canaria (a platform of several centre-right regional formations) presented a bill in parliament to reform the current immigration law. The bill aims to establish a compulsory distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors among Spain’s 17 autonomous communities.
The aim is to alleviate the migratory burden in particularly vulnerable regions such as the Canary Islands, which suffers, particularly during the summer, from the massive arrival of irregular migrants, many of them unaccompanied minors, who require urgent humanitarian attention.
Specifically, the proposal by the PSOE, Sumar (the fourth force in parliament) and Coalición Canaria aims to amend Article 35 of the current immigration law to establish a mandatory distribution of migrant minors to other regions when the territory concerned exceeds 150% of its reception capacity.
According to sources from the three parties, the main objective is to find a safe destination for the nearly 6,000 foreign minors currently being held in the Canary Islands, even though the region only has 2,000 places available.
However, the PP has vehemently rejected the move.
In a document sent to Territorial Policy Minister Víctor Ángel Torres (PSOE), the PP complained that the proposal only recognises a ‘migratory emergency’ in the Canary Islands and the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla but excludes other regions ‘which are in a situation of migratory collapse’.
Instead, the PP is calling for “a migration emergency be declared for the entire national territory” based not only on the current situation in the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla “but also on the forecasts (of migrant arrivals) for the coming months” provided by the government and various NGOs.
“In this way, all (the regions) could take advantage of this emergency plan and could, if necessary, tender resources urgently for reception needs”, the PP states in the document seen by EFE.
Youth and Children’s Affairs Minister Sira Rego (Sumar) sharply criticised the PP’s lack of support for the initiative.
Preparing for a wave of migrants in August
Rego urged PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to put the centre-right party “on the side of children” to facilitate the reform and asked him to stop maintaining “far-right policies” on migration.
Meanwhile, Íñigo Errejón, Sumar’s spokesman in parliament, also had harsh words for the PP.
“Either you are with the policies of reception and human rights guarantees, or you are with racism and the politics of hate”, he stated.
However, PSOE, Sumar and Coalición Canaria expressed hope on Monday that the PP would finally support the proposal, especially after the shocking “exit” of representatives of the far-right VOX party, the third largest force in parliament, from the five regions where they have governed with the PP since May 2023.
Read more: VOX breaks regional deals with PP after row over unaccompanied minors
VOX leader Santiago Abascal announced on Friday that his party would no longer govern alongside PP in regional governments after the latter announced its support for PSOE’s and Sumar’s proposal to receive a small group of unaccompanied minor migrants from the Canary Islands in other Spanish regions.
The Spanish government wants the initiative to be dealt with urgently in Parliament to provide maximum legal guarantees for the unaccompanied migrant minors who are expected to arrive in the waters of the Canary Islands in August.
