CCAA denounce the lack of a "clear" state policy on immigration and demand more funding

MADRID, 24 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The autonomous communities have denounced this Wednesday the lack of a "clear" state policy on immigration and more financing after the meeting with the Government in the Commission on Children and Adolescence, where the distribution of 400 unaccompanied migrant minors has been proposed ( 300 from the Canary Islands and 100 from Ceuta) to the Peninsula.

According to regional sources from La Rioja to Europa Press, the meeting ended "without agreements and what is worse, confirming a worrying lack of coordination between ministries and the lack of a clear state policy on immigration, the responsibility of the Sánchez Government." .

In addition, the community has complained about misinformation about the Government's proposal for a bill to distribute 2,500 migrant minors, about which it has said that "nothing" has been confirmed to them. In any case, he has indicated that they are still "pending" the pertinent clarifications from the ministry.

For its part, the Balearic Government has indicated that the meeting has ended without agreement between the autonomous communities and that they have been called to the Sectoral Conference that is expected to be held in May.

The Valencian Community has accused the Government of Spain of having "left out" the autonomous communities of the agreement for the distribution of the 400 unaccompanied migrant minors, which it has said it sees as "unaffordable."

In this sense, it has urged the Government of Spain to allocate resources and financing "proportional to the receptions we provide" and, above all, to "work in the countries of origin and at the borders so that these minors have the possibility of having a better future and stay with their families.

Specifically, the Executive has proposed to the autonomous communities the distribution of 400 unaccompanied migrant minors (about 300 from the Canary Islands and another 100 from Ceuta) to the Peninsula, without having yet carried out the transfers of the previous 396 that they agreed to last month of October.

Last October, the Canarian Government reported that there had been no transfer of the contingent agreed upon in October between the Government and the autonomous communities at the Sectoral Conference, when Ione Belarra was still the Minister of Social Rights. Thus, he pointed out that of the 347 minors who were agreed to be transferred from the Canary Islands - along with several more from Ceuta - no transfer had been carried out and they continued to arrive.

Now, the Secretary of State for Youth and Children, Rubén Pérez, has predicted "consensus" in the transfer of this new group, in statements after the meeting of the Sectoral Commission for Children and Adolescents, a technical body prior to the celebration. of the Sectoral Conference on Childhood and Adolescence, where the advisors of the sector must debate and approve or not this proposal. Sources from Youth and Children clarify to Europa Press that this is a different group than the one agreed upon in October.

The Sectoral Conference where this proposal should be approved will be held in the first half of May, according to Pérez. "Now we are going to have a dialogue to refine those issues that have been raised to us, but we understand that there will be a certain consensus, obviously until it is approved at the Sectoral Conference we want to be cautious," he noted.

According to Pérez, it is expected that the CCAA will not receive more than 50 migrant minors alone in the distribution. "I don't think any autonomous community will receive more than 50 minors. We are talking about numbers that we understand fall within what is acceptable for the communities' child protection systems," he assured.

Regarding the deadline for these minors to be distributed, Pérez explained that they are going to try with the communities to make the process "quick enough" to serve "immediately" the Canary Islands and Ceuta, which is where he said they are located. "the bottlenecks." In any case, he stressed that the objective is for the transfers to be completed "by the end of the year."

Regarding the criteria they have followed to carry out the distribution, he specified that they establish a population criterion, the unemployment rate, with also economic levels and territorial dispersion.

Finally, Pérez has assured that, in his opinion, "there is an interesting will" and that all the autonomous communities "are aware that above the political color of the parties that govern in each community is the interest of the children."

Pérez has also pointed out that the representatives of the CCAA have asked at the meeting about the parameters in which the modification of article 35 of the Immigration Law is moving, but that they have limited themselves to what is right now "above the table".

"It is legitimate and we understand that the communities want to know it, but of course we have limited ourselves to what is right now what we have on the table, which is this transfer through an item in the general budgets of the year 23, extended in the 24th", he stated, adding that it is a proposal "still very incipient, which has a process".

For his part, the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, regarding the reform of article 35, has shown this Wednesday his confidence that the PP will support the final text to make the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors mandatory, online with the position of the Canarian PP and in the different initiatives that have been presented in the Cortes.

In statements to journalists, he has asked, however, for "prudence" until the agreement is closed in the coming weeks and understands that the latest statements by the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, putting pressure on the regional presidents of the PP, "do not help."