The President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (Canarian Coalition), met this Thursday with Pedro Sánchez in La Moncloa as part of the series of regional contacts and, as expected, the issue of immigration was on the table. Clavijo, at the end of the meeting, expressed confusion over what happened the day before in the Lower House. And for the first time he openly criticized the position of the PP, his government partner in the Islands, which not only voted against taking into account the reform of the immigration law, but also abandoned negotiations with the central government on this issue. and dedicated this Wednesday’s plenary session to talking about ETA.
“We don’t understand what happened yesterday in Congress. We do not understand the position of the PP”, declared Clavijo before adding: “We are very disappointed”, also by the statements of the spokesperson of the PSOE, Patxi López, in which, according to Clavijo, “in a frivolous way” he compared migrants with tourists.
Regarding the failure of the negotiations, Clavijo stressed: “Not only do we not share, but we do not understand and certainly do not justify in any way that you get up from a negotiating table, especially on an issue as important as the the one we are talking about.” , criticized the PP. “Problems are resolved by being around the table, problems are resolved through dialogue, by talking,” he added.
Clavijo confirmed that he has transmitted this unease to the national PP and that his desire is to contact the party again: “We must continue to negotiate.”
Since last July, when the PP (with Vox and Junts) canceled the examination of the reform of the immigration law, Clavijo’s party, far from reproaching its partner for having thwarted a possible solution to the collapse of shelters for minors in the Islands, dedicated his attacks to the central government, taking up the argument of the Popular Party according to which there was no “political will” within the Executive because there was no had not had negotiations with the People’s Party. However, when the proposal reached Congress and was voted on, the text had been negotiated for months, conversations in which the Canary Islands PP had actively participated, which also voted in favor of the document in the regional Parliament (all groups supported it). argued ), less Vox).
During the summer, in addition, contacts took place between the central government, the Canarian government and the PP, but Clavijo has stated on several occasions that he has not had any news from the executive for “for months”, which was denied by the PSOE, which then made public at least two meetings.
When they sat down again to negotiate, the PP got up from the table and broke off the dialogue by assuring that Spain had rejected EU help to transfer migrants to member states. This statement is based on a letter from Ursula Von der Leyen in which she states that “we could do more”, which was interpreted by the PP as a refusal by Spain of greater intervention. However, this was categorically denied by the government and the PSOE. Concretely, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, who participated at the negotiating table, challenged the PP to say how many places, where and when they were offered by the EU to Spain. “The answer is zero,” he said, calling this PP statement a hoax and a lie. Canarian PSOE MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar also assured that it was not true that Spain had rejected European aid in this matter.
Feijóo blows up plenary session
This Wednesday, MEPs went to Congress to address the immigration situation, in particular the collapse of reception centers for unaccompanied minors in the Canary Islands, and to talk about regional funding. In his speech, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, reprimanded those who use immigration to spread hoaxes and hate messages and recalled that Spain, with specific mention of the Canary Islands, is also a land of migrants. After describing the difficult conditions in which the islanders left for Venezuela in the 1940s, Sánchez announced that he would ask the European Union to bring forward the entry into force of the Migration and Asylum Pact so that its tools for border control and migrant distribution begin to be used in the summer of 2025 and not in 2026 as planned. He also presented other measures, such as next month he will present to the Council of Ministers the new immigration regulations and other immigration actions, such as the implementation of 6,000 immigration places. additional reception, a national plan for intercultural integration and coexistence and a new labor migration program.
In his response, the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, spoke about ETA and he devoted only three minutes to the issue of immigration. Indeed, the President of the Chamber, Francina Armengol, had to remind him of the rules according to which he must stick to the theme of the day, in this case immigration.
Differentiated treatment
At the Moncloa meeting, Clavijo asked the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, that the autonomous community receives unique treatment from the State regarding the treatment of migrant minors.
When immigrants arrive in the Canary Islands, “they arrive in Europe and they arrive in Spain”, they arrive in the islands “because maritime rescue brings them to us” and therefore “an agreement with the country” is necessary and so that the The State assumes its responsibilities. , he declared.
The president of the Canaries announced that Sánchez had committed to paying before the end of the month 50 million euros included in the budget to compensate for regional expenses linked to the reception of migrant minors, even if the Canaries are demanding 160 million.
Sánchez recognized that it was necessary to provide more resources and summoned Clavijo to an upcoming meeting with the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to discuss additional funding to offset the Canary Islands’ expenses for hosting some 5,500 unaccompanied foreign minors.
