The Government is putting pressure on the PP and Coalición Canaria to resolve the crisis of immigrant minors in this community once and for all. The central Executive had agreed a solution in July with the Government of the Canary Islands – led by Coalición Canaria and also made up of the PP – to reform the immigration law and thus allow a mandatory distribution between all the autonomous communities of the minors that the archipelago now has (5,200, which could reach 7,000 this autumn, when arrivals are expected to increase), but the PP rejected this reform and the situation has been bogged down since then. The Government thought that Coalición Canaria would turn against the Popular Party for knocking down the previously agreed solution, and there was even speculation about a possible crisis in the Canarian Executive. But the situation has turned around due to the change of direction by Fernando Clavijo, president and leader of CC, who has now stopped putting pressure on the PP and has turned against La Moncloa.
Clavijo’s about-face has led the Government to react quickly by putting pressure on the Canarian president with harsh words. “This is not about the distribution of powers. This is about caring for boys and girls,” warned the spokesperson minister, Pilar Alegría, in a press conference after the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. “Mr. Clavijo is making a mistake. I think that all the efforts he is making should be used to convince his ally in the Government, which is the PP. Clavijo is co-governing with the PP, and he was the one who voted against. The Government is working on solutions with an outstretched hand,” Alegría insisted.
The minister’s push came after the PP revealed today that there were meetings in August to try to close an agreement, something that the Executive admits. However, while the Popular Party proposes that the State take over the minors when the communities have exceeded 150% of their capacity, the Government insists that there was already an agreement with the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla – the latter in the hands of the PP -, closed in July, to establish a mandatory distribution of the minors. Moncloa demands that the PP take it on by approving the processing of the reform of the immigration law without any detours and then propose other reforms.
It was the PP spokesman, Miguel Tellado, who confirmed from Congress that on August 12 a three-way meeting took place in the Canary Islands Government office in Madrid, a meeting brought forward by Article 14. Clavijo called Tellado and the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, there. During the meeting, according to the PP, the Canarian leader came with a series of proposals to try to bring positions closer together. “Clavijo brought a document to that meeting and it was useful to us,” say sources from the leadership of the Popular Party.
At the meeting, the PP claims, Clavijo put forward a change in the reception of unaccompanied minors, whose competence according to current regulations corresponds to the autonomous communities. The proposal consists of three assumptions: the autonomous communities will continue to assume the reception of the children in their centres until 100% of their capacity is reached; when the centres are between 100 and 150% full, they will continue to stay in the centres managed by the communities but the State will have to transfer economic resources to them and, when that 150% is exceeded, it will be the State that will accommodate the minors in housing solutions intended for that purpose, as occurs with adults. These housing solutions could be barracks, pavilions or other types of accommodation under the umbrella of the central Administration.
Sources from Génova argue that, before negotiating the distribution quotas, La Moncloa would have to accept these last conditions, in addition to calling the conference of presidents and approving the declaration of a migration emergency. The PP leadership assures that Minister Torres was going to study the numbers and summon them to a future meeting to discuss the matter. One of the problems that this assumption poses is that, for now, no objective quantitative criterion has been established on how many resources the autonomous communities must make available for the reception of these children. “We are not against mandatory distribution. We ask that the State incorporate resources to the capacity of the autonomy on housing solutions. And from there we can distribute with a previous map.”
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The president of the Canary Islands himself admitted this Monday in statements to Cadena Ser the existence of these points demanded by his government partner in the islands and placed most of the responsibility for the disagreement on the PSOE. “The situation is that the Popular Party has presented a document with four points to be included in this legislative project,” explained the nationalist leader, who clarified that these points come from the parliamentary group in Congress, not from the PP in the Canary Islands. “That is the situation,” said Clavijo. “The one who has not responded is the Government of Spain.” […] “I am waiting for this meeting to take place with the Popular Party, which is the main opposition party, and with Junts,” he stressed. “Then, the ball has been in the court of the Government of Spain throughout the month of August. I have called… I have asked… And I told President Sánchez when I met with him in La Palma, and he promised to give a boost,” he said. Guillermo Vega.
The Government admits the meeting, but insists that the solution is to modify the law. “At that meeting on August 12, ordinary and extraordinary percentages were raised regarding the arrival of minors to Spanish territory. And the importance of this matter lies in determining what the maximum capacity of each community is, what its potential resources would be and according to what criteria,” the Executive points out. “Given the urgency of the Canary Islands, the Government reminds us that there is already a text agreement approved by nine parliamentary groups. An agreement that, with the yes of the PP, would be of immediate approval and to which the issues that would continue to be negotiated with the PP could be added,” the Government concludes.
In the background there is an obvious political problem: the PP is under a lot of pressure from Vox and conservative sectors not to accept the distribution of thousands of minors. And for Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party it is more comfortable if it is the Government that imposes this distribution, thus passing the ball to the Executive. In fact, the PP and Vox governments broke up over this issue. The central Government insists on defending the agreement and demands that everyone assume their responsibilities. “Less incendiary speeches and more responsibility. We are talking about 6,000 children who need care. We are a border country, we have asked for solidarity from Europe, can the PP really not provide responsibility with 6,000 children in a country of more than 45 million?” Alegría cried.
The issue is not yet closed, but everything indicates that negotiations will take place in the coming days and although it seems complex from a political point of view, the situation in the Canary Islands is so pressing that there is also a lot of pressure to find an agreement.
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