While the wounds of the Catalan quota are still latent among the government partners, Pedro Sánchez’s statement that irregular immigrants should be expelled from Spain has sown confusion between internal and foreigners. On the one hand, the PP applauds his “change of opinion” in the run-up to his speech; On the other hand, Sumar accuses him of following “the same recipes as the right.”
Sumar’s second vice president and coordinator in the government, Yolanda Diazwas the first to point out the “failure and error” of Sánchez’s recipe. During his African tour in Dakar (Senegal), the president said that the return of those who arrived irregularly in Spain was “indispensable”, completely distancing himself from the postulates of his partners in the Executive.
“What does not make sense is to create a discourse with one part of progressivism, another of human rights and to end up defending the arguments of xenophobes“, Sumar’s sources told EL ESPAÑOL as soon as they learned of the PSOE’s change of position. “Following the right is a mistake,” they summarize.
Following the same migration recipes as those of the right is a failure and a mistake.
Our policies must be one of welcome and solidarity, not mass expulsions. We are talking about human rights.
– Yolanda Diaz (@Yolanda_Diaz_) August 29, 2024
The minority partner of the Executive has always criticized the actions of the Ministry of the Interior towards undocumented migrants, especially regarding Melilla and the hot returns. In the previous legislature, when they shared the Council of Ministers with CanThe events surrounding the fence almost destroyed the unity of the government.
Moreover, Sumar is against the Pact on Migration and Asylum that the socialists supported in Europe last April. This, combined with Sánchez’s change of position on expulsions, has made immigration policy the great battlefield of the coalition. Both in forms and in recipes.
“Evictions do not solve citizens’ problems, this speech is a trap to confront us“, Sumar’s sources say. “And what does he mean? ‘What do we have to defend ourselves against them?'” they ask.
On the other hand, Sumar recalls that Congress froze a popular legislative initiative (ILP) aimed at regularizing half a million people who have been working in Spain for some time but do not have their papers in order. However, the bill has already eight extensions and parliamentary sources assume that this Wednesday the ninth will suffer.
This proposal, which was accepted for processing by all parties except Vox, reached the lower house with the signature 700,000 peopleBut the polarization over immigration policy in recent months has ultimately left it stranded at the gates of summer. In the PP, especially, the position began to decline the Catalan and European elections, which earned him serious accusations from the PSOE.
“We expect an apology from those who questioned our moral high ground, from those who called us xenophobic and those who said that the extreme right was in the lead,” they stressed this week from Genoa, once Sánchez’s change of heart regarding expulsions was known.
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.
They admit, however, that “there is still much to improve in this regard,” says a close friend of the president. Over the past two years in particular, the government has found it increasingly difficult to get transit and origin countries to accept returns.
