The President of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Víctor Torres, stated this Tuesday that in immigration matters the central Executive "must do better" and announced the visit to the Canary Islands of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, although without a defined date yet.
This announcement is the result of a recent telephone conversation between the Canarian president and Sánchez, in which, according to Torres, both agreed on the concern about the boat crisis.
"Things have to be done better and must be done better. It is the responsibility of the Government of Spain. It is also everyone's responsibility, but it is one of the situations that is most worrying along with the pandemic," said the Canarian president.
Torres said that it is a "situation of a phenomenon similar to that of 2006" and that the Spanish institutions must "give the appropriate response" to avoid any risk of increased xenophobia, racism and "the worst of the human condition."
Within that context, Torres explained that Sánchez "will come to the Canary Islands" and that "his arrival is planned", although without a date yet. He also said that one of the main differences with the 2006 crisis is that many air spaces are closed to repatriation due to the coronavirus, although he acknowledged that not all the people who arrived on irregular boats are still on the islands.
"Impossible" to respond to immigration with current means
Torres stressed the importance of the Canary Islands for the Government not only in that future visit of the president but also in the visit of the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, this Tuesday and Wednesday, or that of "another minister next week."
He commented that he speaks "often" with Sánchez and that he is "undoubtedly" concerned about the matter: "He is, I am, we all are," because it is a "volume of arrivals to which it is impossible to respond with the means we have."
Therefore, he called for "international collaboration" in Europe and with "the countries of origin," and that the proposed community regulation on asylum that the European Union is preparing does not go along the lines of what the "far-right forces defend, that immigration must stay where it arrives," which would "condemn the Canary Islands to be a prison." "It is worrying that this is the path, but there is still time. Europe has to get involved because this is as much Europe as Brussels," he asserted.
