The Canary Islands concentrated 70% of irregular migrant arrivals in 2023, a figure that broke the record of the cayucos crisis of 2006 and exceeded the figures of the previous year by 155%.
In January 2024, arrivals even registered another strong rebound (7,270 people, 12 times more than in January 2023).
This incessant movement has left some 5,700 unaccompanied minors on the islands, whose guardianship corresponds to a Canary Islands Executive that does not stop asking for help from the central Government and the European Union.
“Solidarity has failed,” says the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo Batlle (San Cristóbal de La Laguna, 52 years old), who demands speed in its transfer to the peninsula, for which he has even prepared a proposal for legislative modification , which is counting on it to move forward thanks to the investiture pacts.
“We are not going to admit non-compliance,” he warns.
The general secretary of the Canarian Coalition defends these agreements, both with the PSOE and the PP, in a context marked by polarization.
Ask.
What is the current state of the migration phenomenon in the Canary Islands?
Answer.
The situation is very complex.
In January we had the worst month in history.
Several circumstances have arisen, such as the fact that Senegal is currently experiencing significant political conflict, with the elections postponed again.
And the pressure in Mauritania is brutal.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said that there were around 300,000 people waiting to make the jump to the Canary Islands.
Most of the adults who arrive are identified and referred [to the peninsula], because the Canary Islands only have a capacity of about 7,000 places.
The big problem is with the minors, who are currently around 5,500.
Solidarity has failed.
This attempt to have communities self-regulate with a distribution of these boys and girls has failed.
Of the 347 that had to leave in October of last year [from the Canary Islands] not one has done so.
Only four communities have signed the agreement: Galicia, Madrid, Cantabria and Aragón.
Q.
What scenario could be the perfect storm this year in immigration matters?
A.
If the Government, before March 31 as promised, does not have a clear proposal for legislative modification with a roadmap that must be completed in the first half of this year for the distribution of unaccompanied minors [in the peninsula], the situation could be catastrophic in the Canary Islands.
Q.
And as for the number of arrivals?
A.
To be honest, the number of arrivals will not depend on the Government.
With the European elections, between now and June 9, Europe is not going to make any decisive decisions.
We will have to wait for the European Parliament to be formed, for the bodies to be elected... In the year 2024, beyond what Ursula von der Leyen has done, little more will the European Union do.
The Government does not have the capacity, among other things, because in order for you to deploy Frontex in Morocco, Mauritania or Senegal, the countries have to accept and sign it.
Something that they are not working on at the moment.
Then what you have to do is administer and manage arrivals more or less diligently, try to ensure that fewer leave and divert them.
Q.
Have you felt abandoned by Spain and the EU?
A.
We ended 2023 with almost 40,000 [irregular migrants] and if the January trend continues we could end 2024 with 70,000.
We perceived that this situation could occur.
It began with a refusal on the part of some ministries, without being aware of the barrage that could come upon us, without having a single command, something that we finally have with Minister [Ángel Víctor] Torres [of Territorial Policy].
I have had many differences with the minister [José Luis] Escrivá [responsible for Migration in the previous legislature], but he provided us with resources and improved the centers.
Other ministries did not do so.
The gap remains with unaccompanied minors.
We are not being able to guarantee the rights of these boys and girls.
You have to teach them the language, educate them, give them a life project.
Q.
How many unaccompanied minors can the Canary Islands care for?
A.
We cannot set a percentage.
The United States has 11,700 unaccompanied minors in its care with a population of 300 million inhabitants.
The Canary Islands, with 2.2 million inhabitants, have 5,500.
We have to accept what belongs to us.
And I never like to talk about money because the extreme right is given space there for demagoguery, but the resources that the Government of Spain is providing for unaccompanied minors do not reach 20% of their cost.
The Canarian population is giving an example of solidarity, commitment and resistance.
But everything has a limit.
Q.
Do you miss solidarity on the part of the autonomous communities?
A.
I believe that this has to be ordered by the Government of Spain and Europe, which provides resources for it.
Q.
And set some percentages for that solidarity?
A.
There must be objective criteria in which the rights of the minor prevail.
The resources are provided by citizens from their taxes, paid by the Government of Spain, paid by the autonomous communities.
We will agree, but let us first guarantee the rights of the children.
Fernando Clavijo, during the interview at the EL PAÍS headquarters, on the 13th in Madrid.
Alex Onciu
Q.
Are you not worried about the obstacles of the PP and Vox coalition governments?
A.
I do not share that way of thinking of those who want to use this as a political weapon or who do not give a damn about the rights of children.
We are providing the necessary resources and we have even made the legislative modifications for Congress to carry out.
The Government has to do its job and those who later want to have other speeches, those who want to vote against, object, then accept it with their conscience.
Q.
How much does this issue weigh on the Canary Islands agenda?
A.
It weighs a lot.
It is one of the vital issues for us.
We are not going to admit non-compliance.
And I know that the Government of Spain wants to comply with it, because this is what different ministers who have visited us have expressed.
I ask you to be, at least, as agile with its processing as with the amnesty.
The same.
Q.
83% of the more than 7,000 people who reached the Canary Islands in January left Mauritania.
Pedro Sánchez and Ursula von der Leyen visited Nouakchott last week and promised more than 500 million to develop the country and stop the cayucos to the Canary Islands.
Do you see it feasible to stop migration with this type of agreement?
A.
Anything that does not promote economic development in Africa will perpetuate that situation.
The difference in wealth between the border between Europe and Africa is 10 to 1. In other words, the average GDP per capita in Africa is ten times lower than that of Europe.
I don't know the terms of the agreement, but it has to be linked to economic development policies.
If not, what we are doing is putting a patch.
We are in favor of Frontex being deployed on the African coast and that this deployment entails development policies.
Europe has to be aware that it has a responsibility towards the African continent.
If not, in the end there will be no wall capable of containing those who only have death and misery behind them.
P.
Canarian Coalition voted in favor of the investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
A.
We have put the general interest of the Canary Islands first.
The investitures matter little to us, what matters to us is the legislature and setting a Canarian agenda.
Whoever commits to the Canary Islands has our support.
We are not on one side or the other, nor do we want to be.
Q.
Spanish politics is bloc-based, no other party has done the same.
A.
In the Canary Islands there has never been an absolute majority, we have always been used to all the political forces speaking.
I respect all my political opponents.
That our position is not the usual one?
That must change, the Canarian exceptionality would have to be taken more into account in Madrid.
Because it doesn't make sense for us to continue in this dynamic.
That is only bad for the citizens.
Q.
You govern with the PP, has the fact that they supported Sánchez's investiture or voted in favor of his decrees affected your relationship with your partner?
A.
We signed an agreement to govern the Canary Islands with an electoral program.
We told both the PP and the PSOE that whoever committed to the Canarian agenda had our vote.
We have gone ahead, we have been transparent and coherent.
There may be those who would have liked us to act differently.
But we are not here to please one or the other.
Q.
Do you understand the double language of the PP, open to studying a conditional pardon for Puigdemont in a reconciliation plan for Catalonia?
A.
I neither understand it nor can I understand it.
I also don't know the context of what I have read in the media, and it happens that, like everything, in the end there are never grays or chiaroscuros, but everything is black and white.
I am very respectful of the strategies set by each political party, I never evaluate the performances.
Q.
The PP recognizes that it analyzed the amnesty for 24 hours and that it would even be difficult to accuse Puigdemont of a crime of terrorism.
A.
If that's what they think... What we say in private we keep in public.
There is nothing we can say in
petit committee
that cannot be published.
We understand that the amnesty is not applicable.
It does not obey a general interest but a particular interest to obtain support to be invested or have a stable government.
A particular interest cannot subordinate everything and mix the powers of the State.
It's nonsense.
Q.
What did you think when you heard Feijóo defend the ruling of the list with the most votes?
The PSOE won the elections in the Canary Islands on March 28.
R.
The one who articulates the supports governs.
We have won the elections in the Canary Islands in many institutions and we have gone to the opposition and we have lost them on other occasions, such as these [the last regional ones], and we have been able to govern because we have articulated a majority.
If we want to change the rules, we change them, but you don't want to change them in the middle of the game because it more or less suits you.
Q.
You have said that the Canarian Coalition will be the key to the legislature.
They voted in favor of the budget stability and public debt objectives in the Senate. Do you understand the PP's vote against the spending ceiling?
A.
I can understand it in a strategic sense, each one makes the opposition as they consider it, but from a rational point of view I do not understand it.
Each opposition has its style, there is the worse the better and there is the opposition of being tough and demanding, but in which I will not be able to vote against something that is good for the Canary Islands.
In the end it will have an impact on all the autonomous communities, also those governed by the PP.
Q.
The Government warns that, if the Senate knocks down the spending ceiling again, budgetary conditions will be worse for the autonomous communities.
A.
Maybe the Government has to sit down with the opposition leader and negotiate.
Let it be the fault of one or the other... It is the fault of both, perhaps the two major parties would have to sit down to negotiate the General State Budgets.
Fernando Clavijo, on Tuesday, February 13 in the editorial office of EL PAÍS Alex Onciu
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