The Government of the Canary Islands has received with “concern” the news of the “bilateral agreement” between the Executive of Pedro Sánchez and Junts to transfer powers over immigration to Catalonia. For this reason, they have requested an urgent meeting of the Sectoral Commission of the sector, which is “where it is time to address this issue”, to analyze “the fine print” of the new transfer of the PSOE in exchange for Carles Puigdemont’s party allowing them to validate the Justice decree and the anti-crisis measures.
The controversial session of Congress held on Wednesday in Madrid has also had an internal derivative in the bicolor Administration in charge of the islands. The PP, a minority partner of the Canarian Coalition (CC) – whose only deputy in the Lower House, Cristina Valido, was decisive for both initiatives to go ahead -, considers that the socialist leader “deceived them” because he negotiated and accepted a new demand for the independentistas “outside the agenda and the light and the stenographer.”
In the Canarian nationalist party, on the other hand, they have shied away from participating in the “climate of tension” and have reaffirmed that the measures they have helped to approve serve, among other things, to extend free transportation in the archipelago and the bonus of 60% of personal income tax to those affected by the La Palma volcano. “We have a clear roadmap and key issues for the Canary Islands. They were clear yesterday and they are clear today,” they conclude, offering an “outstretched hand, dialogue and consensus” to La Moncloa as long as “progress” continues to be made for the citizens of their region.
What has caused discomfort in the regional government chaired by Fernando Clavijo is the announcement of the transfer of immigration powers to Catalonia. “In an autonomous community in which this issue is more important than anywhere else in Spanish territory and, probably, in European territory, it is essential that we know what type of agreements are being adopted,” its spokesperson, Alfonso Cabello, claimed this Thursday. .
The Canary Islands Executive remembers that in 2023 almost 40,000 immigrants arrived on its shores, with the “chilling figure” of 6,007 of them dying on the journey, an average of 16 deaths per day. Also that six out of every 10 people who entered Spanish territory did so through their region.
“It cannot be that bilaterally with specific agreements the distribution is altered not only of the minors [unaccompanied foreigners], but also how a migrant will be cared for depending on the autonomous community to which they arrive,” Cabello warned. . “The response must continue to be united by the Spanish Government and also by the European Union as a whole (…). We hope that it will be addressed with responsibility and not with à la carte solidarity,” he added.
For his part, the vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez (PP), asked himself this Thursday if Catalonia will be able to “refuse” to the referral of immigrants who have not turned 18 years old, on whose legislative modification he is working. precisely the central executive. Likewise, he has indicated that he does not understand how in the PSOE “they are more busy satisfying” Junts than in seeing what happens to the Canarians, Europa Press reports.