Spain’s PP suggests deploying army to curb irregular migration

4 months ago 22

The Spanish government should curb the massive influx of illegal migrants with all the means at its disposal, including the deployment of the military and navy to better control its borders, Miguel Tellado, parliamentary spokesman for the main opposition force, the right-wing Partido Popular (PP/EPP) has said.

According to Tellado, the progressive coalition government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE and the left-wing Sumar platform has many means to better control the borders and prevent the influx of irregular migration but does not use them.

“We ask the Spanish government to do its job and put a stop once and for all to this massive arrival of immigrants at our borders illegally and through mafias that are endangering the lives of these people”, Tellado told private television station Antena 3 in an interview aired Thursday.

Meanwhile, Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles (PSOE/S&D) rejected Tellado’s proposal as, according to the country’s Constitution (of 1978), it is not the army’s task to control illegal migration flows, she said while asking the PP to stop “imitating or competing with (the far-right VOX)” party on the subject.

“Statements like Tellado’s make me blush for many reasons, because they are absolutely contrary to immigration, because they reproduce the behaviour and statements of VOX and because they imply ignorance of our Constitution and, at the same time, a lack of respect for the Armed Forces”, Robles added.

PSOE parliamentary spokesman Patxi López expressed dismay at the proposal and wondered whether the right-wing party would be prepared to go much further in its “iron fist” approach to immigration.

“The next thing (that the PP will ask for) will be to bomb cayucos (precarious boats),” said López.

Spain has several “hot spots” where migratory pressure is highest, including the waters off the Canary Islands, where boats arrive from West Africa, and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa.

To better “seal” the borders, Tellado said, the government should also use the armed forces to “deploy a series of ships” to prevent the departure of precarious boats from the countries of origin.

Canary Islands under high pressure

Tellado’s tough tone echoes that of PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who on Wednesday stressed the need for the European Union to play a greater role in protecting Europe’s southern borders, which he described as a “sieve” for illegal immigration.

According to Núñez Feijóo, Sánchez and his government have shown their “manifest incompetence” in dealing with the migratory crisis that affects the Canary Islands in particular every summer, and the subsequent logistical difficulties in accommodating them and managing possible asylum requests.

In this sense, Tellado urged the progressive executive on Thursday to try to reach an agreement between all the Autonomous Communities (Spain’s 17 regions) to “alleviate the situation in the Canary Islands and treat the minors (many of whom are travelling alone) as they deserve: humanely and with sensitivity,” EFE reported.

One of the most heated political debates in Spain this week has focused on how the 17 autonomous communities can fairly distribute unaccompanied migrant minors. The government’s aim is to create a “solidarity mechanism” between all of them.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)