Marlaska commits to including the Canary Islands in migration coordination meetings
The counselor of the Presidency of the Canary Islands, Nieves Lady Barreto, said this Wednesday that the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, with whom she met in Madrid, "has committed to including the Canary Islands Government in the coordination meetings on immigration».
"It is a commitment that we will begin to work on Monday of next week," the counselor stated in statements to the media after the meeting, which she described as "productive" and from which "with a clear line of work".
For its part, the Ministry of the Interior has indicated in an informative note that both administrations have agreed "on the need to study improvements in information sharing on immigration matters" and have agreed to reactivate the periodic coordination meetings between the Canary Islands Police and the State Security Forces and Bodies in the Autonomous Community, as well as to create a working group to analyze the improvement in shared access to bases of police data.
"The intention of both administrations is that once these initiatives advance, a Security Board will be convened in the Canary Islands," Interior added.
Barreto, who has been accompanied by the General Director of Security, David del Pino, has also stated that the minister "has been receptive to working" to convene a new security board, which has not met since 2019 and which would be the fourth, to advance in «security issues in ordinary day-to-day life but also in immigration issues."
He has also conveyed to Marlaska the proposal of the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, to establish a single command in immigration mattersalthough in this case he has indicated that they have not made progress "because the decision to implement it is that of the President of the Government of Spain", Pedro Sánchez.
He has indicated that he has asked Marlaska to "intercede to be able to do it" and has pointed out that "this single command is essential and also the visit of President Sánchez to the Canary Islands«to know the situation »first hand«, because »having the information here (in Madrid) is not the same as having it there (in the Canary Islands)«.
Regarding the unaccompanied foreign minors who continue to arrive in good numbers to the Canary Islands, he has conveyed the requests of the regional Executive, specifically to make effective the 20 million euros that the Government of Spain has destined for the autonomous communities that host these minors.
«We are in September and those 20 million have not been spent. We have a serious problem with foster care and we have conveyed the request that these funds be transferred to the Government of the Canary Islands and that we can have better centers and better care for unaccompanied minors because right now we are overwhelmed", has declared.
Regarding the financing of the Canarian Police, he has informed the head of the Interior that we must "start working on a new, updated agreement proposal, to put the financing" that is required on the table.
"We are going to do it from this moment that we have opened this line of collaboration," stated the counselor, who in any case has warned that this "does not mean that there is a closed financing commitment" and has admitted that "it will be very complicated because in the end we have to touch the State Treasury", although "we will fight the battle - he has guaranteed -."
