The leader of the Socialist Party in the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has warned that if the People’s Party (PP) wins the upcoming general elections on November 29, unaccompanied minors arriving by boat will not be relocated to other communities on the mainland. Instead, they will remain in the Canaries.
Torres made this statement before attending a meeting of the PSOE committee, which will ratify electoral lists ahead of the elections. His comments followed revelations by PP spokesperson Borja Semper during his recent visits to Gran Canaria and Tenerife, where he stated that under a PP government, migrants arriving by boat would be returned to their countries rather than relocated, as currently permitted under the Foreigners Act.
During a recent migration crisis in Ceuta, Torres highlighted that 3,000 unaccompanied minors who arrived there could not be returned to Morocco, unlike over 12,000 adults. He warned that if the PP repeals the reforms to the Foreigners Act, these minors would “stay in the Canaries” or in whichever Spanish territories they arrive in.
Furthermore, Torres pointed out that a PP electoral victory would result in the Canary Islands losing an additional €1.3 billion each year, which was agreed upon by the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy as part of the new framework for regional financing.
He asserted that the PSOE is the only party that guarantees decentralisation for vulnerable areas like the Canaries, Spain’s only outermost region. Torres also expressed optimism about a coalition agreement with the groups in the so-called Frente Amplio for the Senate elections, predicting it would lead to a victory in the Canaries, allowing for one senator to be elected from each island and two from the larger islands. He believes this coalition will ensure that no vote “goes unrepresented.”
