Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo on Thursday urged Spain’s Socialist government and the main opposition Spanish People’s Party to reach an urgent agreement on the severe migration crisis affecting the remote region off West Africa.
On Thursday, the leader of the Canary Islands government urged Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) and centre-right Partido Popular (EPP) leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to put aside their bitter political dispute over the migration crisis and seek an agreement.
“We never get up from the table, we sit down, we work, we dialogue, we argue, we get angry, we reconcile… but, of course, we never get up because we understand that it is our obligation to seek a solution to the problems that the citizens have”’ said Clavijo, of the centre-right regional party Coalición Canaria.
“It can be said louder but not clearer. It is not a partisan issue, it is a humanitarian drama”, Clavijo told a press conference on Thursday.
The government of the Canary Islands is made up of Coalición Canaria, the PP and other smaller regional formations.
Clavijo met with Sanchez at the government headquarters in Madrid on Thursday. The two discussed almost exclusively the migration crisis, according to official sources quoted by the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.
His complaints referred to the decision announced on Saturday by the PP’s parliamentary spokesman, Miguel Tellado, to suspend negotiations with the PSOE over the crisis in the region.
The Canary Islands and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa have come under heavy migratory pressure, especially since last summer.
In the case of the Canary Islands, migrants arrive in precarious boats from West African countries via the dangerous Atlantic route.
The main stumbling block to an agreement between the government and the opposition is the proposal by the coalition government of the PSOE and the left-wing platform Sumar to reform the current Foreigners’ Law.
The progressive government wants to ensure Spain’s 17 autonomous communities are obliged to accept a certain quota of unaccompanied migrant minors. The measure is currently voluntary.
However, the head of the Canary Islands government urged the PP and PSOE to work together to reach a “national agreement” that would allow for a more effective management of the migratory crisis in the region.
“Problems are solved by being at the table; problems are solved through dialogue, by talking”, Clavijo stressed.
Sánchez’s government has promised to pay €50 million by the end of this month to compensate the Canary Islands for the cost of caring for migrant minors, although the regional government is demanding €160 million.
In this sense, the head of the Canary Islands government on Thursday expressed his disappointment, accusing the government of “looking the other way” and “turning a blind eye” to the management of the reception of unaccompanied immigrant minors.
On Wednesday, Sanchez told lawmakers in parliament that he would soon ask the EU to bring forward the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum by one year, from 2026 to 2025.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
Source: euractiv.com
