Two missions of MEPs will travel to the Canary Islands this year 2025 to investigate and analyze the problems arising from the migration crisis, which "is aggravated by the absence of management by the central government and its refusal to ask for help from European institutions." Both missions were communicated today in Brussels to the Vice President of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez, who met with members of the Popular Party Delegation in the European Parliament.
The first mission was approved yesterday by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament and will take place in the first half of the year, while the second, of the Committee on Petitions, will be held in the second half of the year.
The LIBE mission will be entitled Mission to assess the situation in the Canary Islands due to the increase in irregular arrivals of migrants and the deterioration of the situation, including details of the current situation and in it the MEPs will meet with local authorities, civil society organizations, agents and local authorities and security forces; as well as EU agencies and international organizations present. It is also expected that they will visit the reception centers.
According to the approved documents, the mission will examine "the challenges faced on the ground, including the impact on resources, the role of traffickers, reception facilities and their potential limitations, effective and pragmatic solutions to support affected regions and defend fundamental rights and the implementation of EU policies in member countries."
The MEP of the Popular Party, Javier Zarzalejos, informed the Canary Islands Vice President of this decision in his capacity as president of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, after a long conversation "extraordinarily useful."
In it, Zarzalejos reiterated the concern, attention and interest with which the situation in the Canary Islands is followed from the European Parliament and from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. "While the vast majority of the Member States of the Union are making a very tangible and clear effort to improve the management of their external borders, and that is being noticed," it is seen how the situation in the Canary Islands is worsening, he explained. "We do not want the Canary Islands to consolidate as the main gateway for irregular immigration into Spain and, therefore, into Europe," he said.
"The Parliamentary Committee on Interior and Justice will be very much on top of this issue so that Spain can be left out of the process of application, in a timely manner, of the Migration and Asylum Pact, which must be fully operational in June of next year," he warned.
In the opinion of the president of LIBE, this may seem like a very long period, but the truth is that, taking into account the need to commit personal and financial resources, as well as the entire process of legislative and administrative adaptation to the Migration and Asylum Pact, "there will be no time to spare."
For his part, the Canary Islands Vice President, Manuel Domínguez, stated that "Spain is carrying out an absolutely opposite migration policy to that of the rest of the member countries of the European Union." "A country that, in short, does not request, does not require or accept the help, the outstretched hand, the proposals offered by the European Union," he lamented.
"Today, the only place of massive entry of irregular immigration in the entire European territory is the Canary Islands. Therefore, we once again claim, request, demand that the central government attend to the outstretched hand of Europe, the request and the solution options proposed by Europe. Among them, the deployment of Frontex, economic aid and the political asylum office," he considered.
In short, he insisted again on the need for the Canary Islands to receive help from those who are currently managing the country. "I insist on the good news of the analysis and investigation by the LIBE Commission, the commission in charge of immigration in the European Union, in order not to continue prolonging the situation we are suffering in our land," Domínguez concluded.
