The immigration pact is entrenched: the conference of presidents does not unblock the agreement either | Spain

The Conference of Presidents concluded as it began: without a hint of agreement to address the immigration issue, specifically the situation of unaccompanied foreign minors who remain overcrowded in the Canary Islands and Ceuta. Neither between the autonomous communities, nor with the Government. “It has been a missed opportunity,” said the Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo. “I don’t want to say that we have wasted time, because I think we have to talk about these issues, but it is frustrating,” said Murcia leader Fernando López Miras. The leaders’ complaints about the transfers of immigrants to their territories and the lack of information were recurrent.

Clavijo, desperate to advance a solution that would free up his reception centers, arrived at the meeting with an agreement he has reached with the Basque Country in which they demand a Strategic Migration Plan from the Government. The pact also proposes an extraordinary distribution of unaccompanied foreign minors while the reform that seeks to impose it by law continues to be negotiated. This is already the third pact that Clavijo has signed in less than a year if we take into account the one he sealed with the Government to reform the immigration law and the agreement he later signed with the PP to “face the migration crisis.” None has yet resulted in a relief in the situation of the 5,200 minors hosted on the islands. Nor from that of Ceuta, which, saturated, also participates in the negotiations. Given the paralysis of the negotiations with the popular parties, the Government has included the support of Junts in its negotiation on the transfer of powers in immigration matters.

The proposal for the distribution of the Canary Islands and the Basque Country goes back a little to its origins and proposes that in three months “the appropriate legal figure” be proposed to carry out an extraordinary distribution of minors based on five indicators: total population; average number of minors taken in per 100,000 inhabitants in the last six months, GDP per capita, unemployment and solidarity, that is, the total number of minors taken in in the last five years. Neither the document nor the communities themselves specify what number of children we are talking about.

The bilateral initiative has caught some regional leaders on the wrong foot. López Miras from Murcia has complained about not having seen “not a single piece of paper”, in reference to the proposal between the Canary Islands and the Basque Country. “We don’t know her. The Canary Islands president has told us that he talked about a proposal with Catalonia and the Basque Country… Surprising… right? “If we are talking about a State issue, the logical thing is that we talk to everyone, right?” he stated. López Miras has defended that he is willing to reach agreements based on “solidarity”, but this is no longer enough, according to Basque Government sources. “We are tired of the speeches of solidarity that we hear from some autonomous communities and that is what we come to say with this agreement: it is enough to talk about solidarity and let’s start talking more about co-responsibility among all because if not, there will be no solution,” these sources maintain.

The Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno Bonilla, for his part, has maintained his criticism of the Government’s lack of transparency regarding the distribution of immigrants and has stressed its limitations. “We have an absorption capacity problem. In Andalusia, between 200 and 300 migrants arrive weekly,” said the president, who assures that its capacity to receive minors exceeds 100%. “Migration is necessary for the economic development of our country,” Moreno added, “but we have asked that migration policies be of the State,” to then demand more presence of Frontex, more returns or the recognition of Andalusia as the southern border of Europe. While Isabel Díaz Ayuso referred to the “huge volume” of immigrants who live in her community and that “the Government is unaware of”, the one from Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano García Page, has demanded a State pact on immigration “because if it has to Playing the games at the national level is going to be impossible due to the decibel level.” Page has spoken of “restlessness” because, he said, “it is not known when the migratory pressure will stop.”