The minister informs the president of the Canary Islands of the measures he is adopting to increase and make the reception capacity on several islands more flexible.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, today informed the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, of the measures that his department is adopting to reinforce the migrant assistance operation and thus address the current migratory surge and which is expected in the coming months.
During the meeting held in Madrid, the representative of the Government of Spain assumed that the arrival of canoes and boats is experiencing an increase, an increase that will foreseeably increase due to the better navigation conditions and due to the political instability experienced in Senegal and in the Sahel.
Given this situation, Escrivá's minister explained to the president of the Canary Islands that his department is already carrying out efforts and works to increase the capacity to receive migrants on several islands. Specifically, as the president of the Canary Islands explained at the end of the meeting, the Ministry is preparing the opening of a new assistance center in El Hierro, while a new space is also being sought in Lanzarote to take pressure off the La Santa Shelter.
In parallel and to have a flexible reception system, the person in charge of Migration has reported that modules are being expanded in centers already operational in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, a measure that will multiply the reception capacity.
The president of the Canary Islands welcomed the fact that “for the first time” a member of the Spanish Government “begins to be aware of the true dimension of the problem”, something that not even the Foreign Minister had done in the contacts prior to the meeting with Escrivá. José Manuel Albares, nor the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
In this sense, Fernando Clavijo described the meeting with Migrations as “fruitful”, since he considers planning key to be able to address with guarantees the foreseeable increase in the migratory flow that the Canary Islands will have to assume in the coming months.
In the month of August alone, almost 3.000 migrants have arrived in the archipelago, triple the number in the same month last year. The rebound in cayucos and pateras registered in the last two has intensified in the first days of September with the arrival of another 850 migrants.
The president will complete this round of ministerial meetings focused on the migratory rebound with a meeting with the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and another with the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra. He also met last week with the NGOs that serve migrants on the islands on the front lines.
Minimum Income
In the meeting with the Minister of Social Inclusion, Fernando Clavijo was accompanied by the Minister of Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, who conveyed to Escrivá other matters that the regional government has pending with her department.
In relation to migrant minors, Delgado has announced that an agreement has been reached to sign as soon as possible the agreement through which the State finances with 50 million euros the assistance to unaccompanied children and young people who arrive in canoes and boats. The regional government currently hosts 2.300 migrant minors.
Furthermore, the counselor requests the State to move forward in the application of the Minimum Living Income in the Canary Islands, so that the Canarian Citizenship Income can provide the anticipated complementary nature. Currently, this resource of the Autonomous Community is responsible for paying the beneficiaries the total amount.
Finally, Candelaria Delgada has presented a proposal to the Ministry so that the sea houses currently assigned to Social Security pass into the hands of the Government of the Canary Islands. This transfer of ownership will allow these properties to be rehabilitated and improve their public use.
