SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Representatives of the autonomous governments of the Canary Islands and Euskadi have shown their “common concern” about the lack of an effective response from the Government of Spain to the situation of migratory flows heading towards Europe and the refusal of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations to seek a formula for collaboration with the different territories of the State to manage all the challenges generated by the arrival of migrants at national borders.
The working meeting between the Basque and Canarian administrations also analyzed the situation in the countries of origin of the migrants and the risk, already warned by migration experts and specialized NGOs, of an increase in the number and pace of arrivals of migrants to the border areas of the European Union.
Among the issues discussed by the general director of Relations with Africa, Luis Padilla, and the general director of Organic Coordination of the Government of the Canary Islands, Octavio Caraballo, during the working meeting with Xabier Legarreta, director of Migration and Asylum of the Basque Country, were the exchange of information on migratory flows to the Canary Islands and the search for measures to articulate coordination that responds to potential flows to the Basque Country.
The lack of response from the State Government, especially the Ministry responsible for Migration, and the absence of channels for effective dialogue between autonomous communities were also addressed. “Because the Ministry, despite the requests made by different territories, refuses to promote a meeting space between the administrations that have to manage, in some of its aspects, the complex phenomenon of migration,” explained sources from the Government of Canary Islands attending the meeting.
In this scenario, those responsible for the governments of the Canary Islands and the Basque Country referred to the “lack of institutional coordination in the face of a structural and transversal problem that needs coordination and leadership”, a role that both administrations remember corresponds to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations. Hence the concern of both autonomous communities about the growing arrival of migrants to the Canary Islands as a consequence of the political instability in Senegal, “a country that is key to peace and stability in the area” after the coups d’état that occurred in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, or the recent natural disasters due to the earthquake in southern Morocco or the floods in Libya.
For this reason, the Canary Islands and Euskadi warn that “most likely” these circumstances will represent a complication in the sub-Saharan migratory route through North Africa, which would lead many aspiring emigrants to use the route to the Canary Islands.
According to the figures analyzed at the work meeting between the Canary Islands and the Basque Country, until September 21, 14,554 migrants had managed to reach the Canary coast, 3,554 of them being Senegalese nationals. A group by national origin of migrants that in the entire year 2022 reached 3,000 Senegalese.
For this reason, and given the forecasts of experts and NGOs, the governments of the Canary Islands and the Basque Country warn of the need to increase cooperation with Senegal and the region at all levels. “We must prioritize vocational training linked to job creation, focused on young people and women,” explain sources from the Government of the Canary Islands, because “Europe must have a stronger and clearer immigration policy, offering attractive quotas, as well in adequate numbers (thousands and not hundreds) for regular and circular immigration, and strong opposition to irregular immigration, repatriation of irregulars, more fluid, linking cooperation with the co-responsible countries.”
