The central government, the PP, and the executives of the Canary Islands and Ceuta are meeting this Thursday after almost two months of suspended negotiations to try to find a response to the reception of migrant minors.
With the reception resources of the Canary Islands and Ceuta saturated for months, the distribution of these minors among autonomous communities remains on the table after the failure of the legal initiative to reform the immigration law and make the participation of the autonomous regions obligatory due to the vote against by the PP and Junts.
The Government insists on legal reform
The Minister of Territorial Policy and head of the inter-ministerial commission on Immigration, Ángel Víctor Torres, is attending the meeting convinced that "the only possible response" to the current blockage is the change of article 35 of the immigration law so that the reception in the autonomous communities becomes obligatory.
The Government maintains that it has fulfilled all the conditions set by the PP for this legal reform to be debated in Congress and that it has the support of the Canary Islands and Ceuta, despite which it was not possible last summer due to the rejection of the Popular Party and Junts, so it hopes that the response will now be positive.
"The decision is as follows and it is very simple. Does the Popular Party want the minors who arrive in certain territories to be distributed in a supportive and obligatory manner, and also fairly, among the entire country, that is, the 17 autonomous communities and the two autonomous cities? Yes or no?" the minister stated this Wednesday.
The PP bets on its agreement with Clavijo
The Popular Party arrives at this meeting without moving from its initial position, contained in the agreement signed between the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo, and the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
And, according to the sources consulted, this position is not moved by the ultimatum launched by Vox to suspend negotiations for the autonomous budgets until the PP distances itself from a possible migratory agreement.
The Popular Party maintains, as they have done during the two months in which the dialogue was suspended, that it is the Government that must move, although they doubt that the Executive really wants to reach an agreement and are sitting at the table as a sign of respect for the Canary Islands or Ceuta.
The demands of the PP, which also represent the autonomous communities where this formation governs, include distributing unaccompanied migrant minors among the community countries or deploying Frontex on the island of El Hierro, in addition to an increase in resources for reception.
Canary Islands, discretion to bring positions closer
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has suspended the two-day trip he had planned this week to Senegal to focus on the preparations for this meeting, as he remains willing to facilitate an agreement that can be taken within a week to the Conference of Presidents for the other autonomous communities to discuss and validate.
In recent hours, in the Canarian Government, they have preferred not to make any comment so as not to interfere in the negotiations, to which the PP returns, among other reasons, at their request.
They have only reiterated that, if the agreement is not possible, Clavijo will transfer his own proposal to the Conference of Presidents of Santander, with the criteria that in the Canary Islands are supported by all parliamentary political parties, with the sole exception of Vox.
The Canary Islands currently oversee more than 5,400 minors in 86 centers, a figure that exceeds its capacity by 300%. The community estimates at 160 million euros the expense it has faced so far this year in the reception of all these children and adolescents, counting not only their maintenance and accommodation, but also education, health and legal assistance
Ceuta appeals to interterritorial solidarity
The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, considers it necessary to reform article 35 of the immigration law so that the territories receiving this child immigration can refer minors to other autonomous regions and that a fair and equitable distribution is made, appealing to interterritorial solidarity
Vivas explains that he is confident that an agreement will be reached and a consensus will be achieved for the modification of article 35 of the law, to which his party is currently opposed.
In Ceuta there are currently 428 minors welcomed, an occupation of 386 percent of the total capacity of the resources of the autonomous city.
