Government, Canary Islands and PP resume the negotiation of the immigration law two months later with record numbers of migrant arrivals | Spain

This Thursday, two months after the last and fruitless meeting, representatives of the Government of Spain will sit at the table with those of the Canarian Executive, that of Ceuta and the Popular Party to try to close an agreement on the reform of the law of Immigration, which must allow the mandatory referral of these minors throughout the State. The meeting takes place in a context of increasing migrant arrivals. According to the latest balance sheet from the Ministry of the Interior, as of November 30, 41,425 people arrived on the islands, 3.7% more than in 2023.

This Monday, the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo, was in charge of announcing the date of the meeting. In statements to journalists reported by Europa Press, he said he felt “optimistic” to close a proposal to defend before the Conference of Presidents on December 13. The negotiations for the reform of the immigration law have been paralyzed for two months, after the PP decided last October to suspend the talks with the excuse that the central government had rejected or had not asked for enough help from the European Union on immigration matters. . A little more than two months earlier, on July 23, the popular people had voted in Congress against taking into consideration the reform of article 35 of the Immigration Law, a text that the central government and the Canary Islands (of which it is a part the PP itself), they had been negotiating for months. However, the popular parties have lowered expectations, stating that they are far from reaching an agreement in this regard.

The Canary Islands have surpassed their record for arrivals of migrants from Africa for the second consecutive year, according to the latest balance sheet from the Ministry of the Interior up to November 30, the date until which 41,425 people arrived on the islands, 3.7% more than 39,910 in the same period of 2023 and 18.9% more than in the same time in 2022. In third place is the year 2006, the year of the so-called cayucos crisis, when 31,678 people arrived. So far this year, 610 vessels have made landfall, 15% more than at the same time a year ago.

November was a particularly active month and became the month with the most arrivals of the entire year, with 7,338 people. Thus, the Canary Islands account for 72% of irregular arrivals throughout Spain, according to Interior. In total, so far 54,216 migrants have arrived in an irregular administrative situation in Spain, by any means, 15.8% more than in the same period in 2023, and 51,849 have arrived by sea in 1,539 precarious boats, 6,197 people more than in 2023.

The number of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving on the islands amounts to 5,699, 13.7% of the total arrivals, according to data made public yesterday at a press conference by the regional government spokesperson, Alfonso Cabello. In this regard.

Negotiations between Government and parties

On October 29, after the IV Interministerial Commission on Immigration was held, the Government announced that it would send a letter to the European Union to ask for help in immigration management so that the PP would not have “any excuse” to sit down to negotiate again. This letter was sent on November 12. In it, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, explained to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Government’s intention to reform article 35 of the Immigration Law to make the distribution of migrant minors mandatory. in accordance with the Canary Islands and Ceuta, and requests European collaboration. “We must continue collaborating and exploring joint actions from the European Union and the Government of Spain, for which we request the help that is necessary and thus continue responding to this complex reality from the most European values ​​such as humanitarian care and special attention to the most vulnerable, especially unaccompanied foreign minors.”