Santa Cruz de Tenerife 17 Mar. (Europa Press) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, remarked on Monday that the remarks made by his counterpart in the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, reaffirm “once again” that solidarity “has failed” in terms of immigration. He expressed a preference for a Spanish government that “exercised the powers granted to it by the Constitution,” stating that “it could have resolved this issue over the past year and a half.”
Clavijo made these comments in a conversation with reporters, after being asked about Mazón’s statements regarding the community’s decision not to accept any more immigrants, which he deemed as “inadequate” and “not right at all,” especially coming from an autonomous community that has requested solidarity from all of Spain in the wake of the floods they have experienced.
“An autonomous community that is demanding solidarity from the rest of the territory due to unfortunate events like floods, demonstrated by the situation in the Canary Islands, which is also facing an emergency, cannot behave in such an unsupportive manner. I don’t believe it is appropriate, nor correct at all, and this reaffirms what I stated over a year ago: that solidarity has failed.
In this context, he highlighted that a constitutional assessment is necessary to “demonstrate that the State, if it wishes, does not need to amend any law but can instead redistribute minors across the national territory.”
Furthermore, he added that this scenario underscores the necessity for extraordinary distribution through a decree law and an amendment to article 35 of the Foreigner Law, while lamenting that “it is clear that there are individuals seeking to exploit the suffering and misfortune of those fleeing for a better future to gain a few votes.”
Clavijo emphasised that migration is a matter that “concerns greatly” and should be viewed as a “humanitarian crisis, not merely a political or territorial issue, but as a genuine humanitarian tragedy.”
When asked if he believes that the Valencian Community’s decision could be mirrored by others, he expressed uncertainty and added that the PP “will need to ascertain if it desires to be a party aiming to govern Spain, envisioning a national project and providing a civilised and dignified response to this humanitarian crisis, or if it prefers to pursue alternative paths.”
He clarified that this decision lies in the hands of the PP president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, pointing out that “anyone who has listened to the president of the Valencian Community from elsewhere in Spain, who has interacted with an emergency territory such as that of the Canary Islands in the way he has, frankly, does not believe that it represents a cohesive national project.”
