The president of the Tenerife Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, representing the Canary Coalition, refrained from amending or clarifying her statements on Wednesday, when she claimed that the Italian model (the far-right Giorgia Meloni’s policy in Italy of deporting migrants to non-EU third countries in exchange for funds) was more effective than the situation in the Canary Islands.
The PSOE has urged her to amend her remarks, as the Italian approach, which has been heavily condemned by NGOs supporting migrants, entails relocating individuals to third countries where their rights and proper care might not be assured, further leading to the establishment of detention facilities for migrants. The PSOE also charged Dávila with avoiding correction in order to “not disturb the PP,” with whom she shares governance in the island council.
In retaliation, Dávila has pointed out the “hypocrisy” of the PSOE since “the PSOE voted in favour of that proposal within the European Union, through the migration pact.” “Along with the Popular Party, they endorsed this pact designed to place individuals in those third countries,” Dávila elaborated.
She emphasized that “the Canary Islands, as part of the European Union, have been treated since the very beginning, primarily due to our distance, and most certainly, as a third country: that is why there are 6,000 children awaiting distribution across the entirety of Spain.” It is important to note that the care of migrant minors falls to the autonomous communities, and their allocation, according to existing legislation, is conducted voluntarily if the regions give their consent. This very fact is what the Canarian Government (composed of CC and the PP) intends to change in the Immigration Law, ensuring this distribution is compulsory rather than voluntary. So far, most communities (particularly those governed by the PP) have obstructed the reception process, despite having committed to it, resulting in numbers of transfers that are considerably low compared to the nearly 4,000 who would need to depart the islands to ease the strain on care facilities. Nevertheless, the PP, with whom Dávila co-governs, opposed this amendment in the Congress of Deputies in July and ceased negotiations with the central government for a legislative reform.
Currently, it is the PP, specifically the party’s leader in the islands and vice president of the Canarian Government, Manuel Domínguez, who has initially endorsed the Italian strategy of deporting migrants to third countries. Meanwhile, the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo, from the same party as Dávila, denied this possibility, instead suggesting a new approach: deportation to countries of origin, such as Morocco.
Both positions have faced numerous criticisms considering that relocating individuals to non-EU countries does not guarantee their rights or welfare, particularly concerning minors.
“I believe that the first thing we need to acknowledge is that the Canary Islands represent the deadliest of all routes to Europe, where human beings are striving to escape hunger, conflicts… and they have found a route through the Canary Islands,” the island president remarked.
Furthermore, he reiterated that the islands “are being treated as third countries, where individuals are left in overcrowded conditions” and has called for an end to such circumstances in the Canary Islands, urging that it should no longer be seen as “that area that Europe has identified as a retention centre.” It is essential to remember that the majority of adult immigrants who arrive in the Canary Islands leave the islands a few weeks later, being transferred by the central government to facilities on the mainland. Only minors remain in the Canary Islands, as their care is a regional responsibility. Currently, there are under 6,000 minors distributed across all the islands.
Dávila has reaffirmed that “the Canary Islands are part of Spain and
to the Government of Pedro Sánchez what Albania represents for Meloni and the Italian Government”, without any reference to the PP and its obstruction of the Immigration Law reform.
However, when questioned again regarding her support for the Meloni model on the SER network, the island president stated this Friday that they had dismissed the proposal “from the very outset” because they believed “it was entirely unjust for affluent nations to pay impoverished countries so that they could rid themselves of overcrowded individuals.”
She reminded listeners that “both the Popular Party and the Socialist Party voted within the European Union for this migration agreement intending to place individuals in those third nations”, while “the Canary Islands, as a part of the European Union, have been treated from the very beginning (…) as a third nation.”
“This is why there are 6,000 children here awaiting placement across Spain… In Albania, there are 16 migrants. What distinguishes the Canary Islands, where there are 6,000 children entitled to protection, from the situation in Albania, where there are merely 16 migrants?” Dávila concluded, once more overlooking the fact that this is a regional jurisdiction and that these children remain unallocated because communities are unwilling to accept them, nor does the law mandate them to do so.
Furthermore, it is important to note that the Canary Islands do not receive migrants dispatched by the State, or from any other EU nation, nor are there detention facilities on the Islands for migrants, which is a starkly different circumstance from what the Meloni Government aims to implement in Albania and is in fact not comparable to the scenario in the Islands, where most migrants stay briefly before heading to the continent, particularly to countries like France and Germany.
