Shock in the overwhelmed CCAA

“This has caused perplexity and indignation,” say sources in the Madrid government. Isabel Diaz Ayuso. Perplexity about finding a solution to a problem for which the president, it is assumed, was not going to Africa. And indignation at not responding to the current “migration emergency” with solutions for now.

Moncloa sources assure that, during their bilateral meetings with the presidents of Mauritania, Gambia and SenegalThe head of the Spanish Executive insisted that these countries respect the agreements on returns. “There is much to improve on this aspect,” explains the president’s entourage, after two years in which Spain has increasingly had difficulty in accepting returns from transit and origin countries.

This is essentially the case because, although more than 50% of those arriving in the Canary Islands, for example, have left from Mauritania, the vast majority of these migrants are sub-Saharan or Sahelian. They flee wars, jihadist terrorism, coups, violence and lack of opportunities; they do so by crossing the Mauritanian desert, but coming from Mali, Burkina, the Guineas…

This is why there has been shock among the autonomous and opposition governments when they see the president talking about “regular migration” in Nouakchott, Banjul and Dakar, capitals of Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, instead of seeking solutions to “stop illegal migration”.

“You can’t spend the summer doing nothing, four kilometres from the landing site, and now show up in these countries and say that Spain is a good destination,” he lamented. Alphonse RuedaGalician president, this Wednesday. “We are asking for planning, because of course we agree that they come, but with a policy that does not exist… let’s hope it does.”

An example of an uncontrolled emergency is the region of Murcia. “Every day, sometimes up to a dozen people swim to our shores,” the sources explain. How is this possible? “This can only be explained with the motherships.”

The African tour

Sanchez proposed in his first public speech, alongside the Mauritanian president, Mohamed Ould Ghazouaniup to 250,000 jobs for “regular migrants” from the countries you visit. And he explained that their arrival is necessary for the Spanish economy to continue growing and support its welfare state.

But another of the statements that raised eyebrows for himself and others was the one he made on Wednesday in Dakar (Senegal), during the last part of his tour, when he addressed the issue of returns for the first time. He had not spoken about it since the incidents in Melilla.

If his message these days was one of “safe, orderly and regular migration”, as he argued in Gambia, in Senegal he went off the programmed script and addressed returns, precisely an issue on which agreements have already been signed. It did not matter.

“The return of those who arrived irregularly in Spain is essential. Mainly because this return sends a discouraging, clear, clear and strong message to the mafias and those who put themselves in their hands,” he said from Senegal, precisely one of the main departure points of the cayucos.

A paradigmatic case of arrivals is that occurring in the Balearic Islands. In Formentera, 8% of the island’s inhabitants arrived recently, this year, on barges. At the same time, the growth of tourism and the relocation of the workforce are changing the demographic landscape of the islands.

“There is a Spain that is emptying, but also a Spain that is filling up,” explains a collaborator of Marga Prohens“We cannot do politics in the broad sense, we have here problems of access to housing, lack of educational infrastructure, congestion… and with the forecasts of significant population growth in the years to come.”

“But beyond the irresponsibility of the call effect” adds a spokesman for the Balearic Islands government, “we are experiencing a record number of boat arrivals.” And, in addition to the African route to the Canary Islands, the deadliest of all those arriving in Europe, there is the restored in the Balearic Islands.

Tensions with Algeria, according to sources consulted on the ground, have transformed a previously blocked route from Morocco into a new problem.

“So far this year, almost 2,400 migrants have arrived irregularly” in the Balearic archipelago. “As of August 15, we are already above the total of 2023, and there is still the season that usually arrives, that is, late August, September and early October.”

The emergency is total in the Canary Islands, with almost 5,500 minors, and in Ceuta, where their centres are located. 360% capacity“We are violating the rights of these children, because we can no longer provide them with dignity or respect the international agreements signed by Spain.”

On September 6th, Alberto Nuñez FeijOh It will bring together the regional barons of the PP who govern in 12 autonomies, in addition to Ceuta and Melilla. “It will be a conference of presidents,” explains a source from Genoa, “not like the one that Sánchez says he is going to call, but of which no regional executive knows anything.”

In this conclave, which in principle was essentially focused on the “constitutional coup” that the Catalan concert represents for the PP, the people will also share their concerns about the immigration crisis. “We must be very careful about the effects according to policies and messages,” insists a popular regional spokesperson.

At the last meeting of the National Board of Directors, last July, the regional leaders were already sharing their data. “No LACC is saturated at less than 140% in its resources to deal with the menas,” warns a PP spokesman.

“Everyone is willing to lighten the load for their colleagues in the Canary Islands and Ceuta,” he adds, “but it is the same that children are overcrowded in Lanzarote as in Cartagena… without the State assuming its share, we will not be able to vote on the reform of the immigration law”, which, for the moment, is the only concrete plan of Moncloa for the “migration emergency”.

The conditions of the Popular Party can be summed up as this: to sit down and discuss with the minister. Angel Victor Torres“When an autonomous government exceeds 150% of its resources,” explain the popular sources consulted, “the national government must assume the additional cost.”

That is, housing, teachers, medical care, psychosocial care, guardianship… “There are many things that a minor needs and has his rights,” the Aragonese Executive emphasizes. “And we have to look for these teachers, nurses, psychologists and doctors, we have to hire them, it is not just about giving the child a roof and a few meals every day.”

“If the Government wants the support of the LACC, Meet us and explain your policy“We will agree very easily,” Rueda concluded, “but we cannot sit back and then simply distribute the effects of the problem that you have not solved.”

An Ayuso spokesperson puts it bluntly: “Our ability to take care of menas “It has been more than overtaken for a long time,” while the PSOE mayors, he adds, refuse to give up space to open up further.

“But the facilities in Barajas are also saturated every day. And the centers for the elderly that depend on the central government,” he adds. “In Alcalá de Henares, the center on which Sánchez depends, has thousands of elderly people abandoned in plastic tents without any attention“.

In the same way, the Junta de Castilla y León demanded this Wednesday from the Spanish government a “state” immigration policy, which involves all agents […] and that there is dialogue and discussions with the communities.” “Let’s stop with ideas and go to reality,” says the number two of the Regional Executive and Minister of Family and Equal Opportunities, Isabel Blanco.

“The presidents of the autonomous communities have demanded a conference of presidentsPrecisely, to talk about these issues and provide solutions such as measures at the origin, helping precisely these countries to develop, controlling the borders, as is done in other countries. Involve the European Union. We are the southern border of Europe, the entry border,” he warned.