Sánchez Yields to Junts and ERC and Excludes Catalonia from the Distribution of Unjoined Minors for Their Votes

The central Government and that of the Canary Islands are finalizing a legislative mechanism to distribute more than 4,500 unjoined minors among the autonomous communities. Currently, the Canary Islands host more than 6,000 minors. Catalonia has been excluded from this distribution due to a political decision.

The need for the votes of Junts and ERC, who oppose taking in more minors, has led the Government to yield to their demands. The Government and the Canary Islands set a ten-day deadline in January to finalize a text for the distribution of the minors.

In a meeting between the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, this deadline was established. That meeting was preceded by an exchange of documents since December 17.

Torres received a draft proposal for the distribution of unjoined minors. A few days later, on January 3, Moncloa informed the Canary Islands that it saw it feasible to move forward with this extraordinary proposal.

However, there are issues to be refined from a legal standpoint. From there, they began working with specific deadlines to have a text agreed upon between the minister's team and the Government of the Canary Islands.

This final document excludes Catalonia from the distribution, while the rest of the autonomous communities are included forcibly. The central Government offers the PP a state pact to approve the mandatory distribution of unjoined foreign minors that overwhelm the reception services of the Canary Islands.

The issue will be debated in a sectoral conference prior to the processing in Congress of a bill proposal. Junts requests that Catalonia be excluded from the process, a point that is not acceptable, according to the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres.

The central Government asks the PP and the rest of the parties for a state pact to provide a fair and necessary reply. When a royal decree has been used in the past, it hasn't worked.

Torres has reiterated that the exclusion requested by Junts is not acceptable and has acknowledged that without the PP there wouldn't be enough support to pass the law in Congress. In that case, there is no plan B, the minister warned.

Catalonia excluded

Catalonia is the only autonomous community that hasn't accepted the agreement for the voluntary distribution of migrant minors. It is an annual quota approved since 2022 and endowed with 20 million euros.

To determine the distribution among autonomous communities, a weighting of five parameters is carried out: population, per capita income, unemployment rate, effort in caring for foreign minors, and population dispersion in the territory.

According to the Generalitat, the average number of minors attended in the last six months, necessary to weigh the care effort, is calculated using the Interior figure, an incomplete record.

Catalonia has abstained from the agreement reached in the Sectoral Conference on Childhood and Adolescence. The rest of the autonomous communities have agreed to the solidarity reception of 400 unjoined foreign minors. 300 of them are hosted in the Canary Islands and the rest in Ceuta.