The Balearic Islands are launching a “unanimous appeal for help” to the government of Pedro Sánchez and asking it not to “sit still” and to assume its powers in terms of immigration in the face of the constant arrival of boats with foreign minors on board for the coasts of the Balearic Islands. In 2024, all records of boats with 2,500 boats and 200 minors on board were exceeded, who remain on the islands to be taken care of.
“These figures have never occurred in this community,” warned the president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens (PP), warning that the months of greatest activity are still to come. The islanders have called an emergency meeting of the Conference of Regional Presidents this Thursday to exclusively address the serious migratory wave and demand that the Spanish Government who assumes its responsibility and provides them with more spatial, human and economic resources.
“The central government says that it is the responsibility of the Consells – the reception of minors – but this transcends and enters into the management of the migration crisis, which is the exclusive responsibility of the Spanish government,” said the president of the Balearic Islands.
Prohens criticized the fact that, on his route through Africa, Sánchez “forgot” to visit Algeria, a country from which a migratory route was consolidated to the Balearic Islands from the port of Dellys, barely 200 miles from Formentera.
Furthermore, he blamed to President Sanchez due to the rupture of friendship treaties with Algeria and the ever-increasing wave of boats arriving in the Balearic Islands as a “consequence of its foreign policy” and its pro-Moroccan turn.
In the Balearic Islands The Island Councils, a kind of council present on each island, are the ones who have the power to welcome unaccompanied minors. That is why all the presidents have thanked the leadership of the Prohens government and have asked the executive branch of Sánchez to stop “turning its back” on the archipelago.
As explained, the Government Delegation of the Balearic Islands and the Minister of Children, Sira Rego, have still not set a date for the emergency meeting that the Consell of Mallorca requested by letter last July due to the avalanche of boats.
Since the beginning of the year, the Balearic Islands have already received 200 unaccompanied foreign minors, to which another 400 have been added. Currently, 55% of the minors under guardianship are foreigners and there are. 800% overcrowding of the archipelago’s resources. Furthermore, 75% of people in the process of emancipation are foreign minors who have reached the age of majority on the islands, which also saturates this service.
“We welcome eightfold “more than what our reception system offers,” stressed Prohens, who in the face of this situation has announced that he will not be able to welcome the ten migrant minors from the Canary Islands that he had accepted with the Sánchez government last July, even though at that time he asked for a moment to do so. Now he says they are already at the limit.
The Balearic president maintains that the Balearic Islands are “islands of solidarity” but assures that at present this is no longer possible. “It is not a question of solidarity, it is not a debate about who is more or less in solidarity, but about the capacity of our human resourcesprofessionals and space.
The popular leader acknowledged that the resources allocated to unaccompanied immigrant minors arriving in the archipelago “affect” the care of other vulnerable groups such as dependent minors or the elderly.
“The inaction of the Spanish government is having an impact on public services in the Balearic Islands, not only is it putting a strain on all services for vulnerable minors, but it is also affecting care resources for dependents and the elderly,” he said. Formentera is send minors to other islands For months, Ibiza has been urgently creating new temporary centres and Mallorca has had to turn to the bishopric. “There are no spaces or professionals to take care of new spaces in conditions of dignity. “We can no longer continue to take care of these children in decent conditions.”
“In the coming days, irregular boats will continue to arrive on our coasts, some minors who will then pass through the emancipation system which is also reaching its limits. From one day to the next, a new wave of unaccompanied minors will arrive and we have nowhere to place them and this worries us,” insisted Prohens, who severely criticized the government delegate to the Islands, the socialist Alfonso Rodríguez Badal: “He rolled over onto his back. “He showed no sign of concern and displayed an insensitivity that we have not seen in any other delegate.”
The Balearic president demanded, among other measures, “a change of strategy to strengthen border surveillance against mafias”, for which she asked for “more resources” for the police and the Civil Guard. Likewise, he requested the installation of new radars to act “before the situation resembles that of the Canary Islands” – “We are moving dangerously”, warns Prohens.
For his part, the presidents of the Councils The islanders agreed to highlight the extreme seriousness of the migratory situation in the Balearic Islands. The highest leader of the Consell de Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, spoke of a “humanitarian crisis” and called for more spaces to accommodate migrants, more technical assistance due to the lack of professionals and more funding. “The planned allocation of two million for assistance to minors has been very insufficient and we have increased it to 14 million,” explained Galmés, who requested a study that would allow an emergency situation to be declared in order to speed up procedures such as the purchase of beds or sheets.
On the other hand, the president of the Ibiza City Council, Vicent Marí, highlighted the complexity of the situation, “which requires institutional collaboration”. “We are putting at the disposal of the central government to help, but the competition is clear because we all know how these migrants arrive: it is organized and we know that there are mafias that traffic in human beings, which is a question of foreign policy,” he explained. Marí was keen to criticize Sánchez for having made “a tour of Africa” and left Algeria, “which is the one that should be slowing down in the first place.”
Finally, the President of the Council of Formentera, Llorenç Córdoba, recalled that his island is “the border of Europe” because it is closer to Algeria than to Barcelona. “We receive a very strong migratory pressure“This year, three times more boats have arrived than last year and there are still the worst months,” said Cordoba, who thanked the rest of the municipalities for their help, since Formentera receives “half” of the migrants who arrive by sea to the Islands.
Last July, the island government of the Consell de Mallorca requested help from the delegate of the government of the Balearic Islands. Its president, Llorenç Galmés, sent a letter to Alfonso Rodriguez without the socialist having set a date for the urgent meeting requested by Galmés.
There is also no date in sight for the visit of the Minister of Children and Youth. Sira Rego has cancelled her visit to the Balearic Islands last week for health reasons, upon returning from his trip to Africa with President Pedro Sánchez. He was due to meet with the Balearic Government and the Consell de Mallorca to discuss the issue of immigration and the help needed to protect these unaccompanied foreign minors. The meeting remains postponed.
For his part, the Minister of Social Affairs had already warned during the last Sectoral Conference on Children and Adolescence that Majorca has no capacity to accept other distribution agreementssince the customer service departments are currently saturated, 500% above their capacity. “It has never been as well received as last year.” So far this year, 200 minors without a reference adult have arrived in Mallorca, while between January and July 2023, 60 have arrived.
