The PSOE has given Junts a commitment to delegate immigration powers to the Generalitat through a law to carry out the first crucial vote of the legislative period, but the request is complex and unclear. Junts assures that the Generalitat should be able to expel returning immigrants, control migration flows or manage residence permits. But the government, without categorically denying these extremes in order to avoid conflict with an important partner, is lowering public and private expectations of this possibility.
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The only thing that PSOE and Junts have agreed on at the moment is the adoption of an organic law that must be agreed with all majority factions to reach 176 votes and will require months of negotiations in which the ” “full delegation of immigration powers and -resources” through the route opened up by Article 150.2 of the Constitution. 149 states that immigration is the exclusive competence of the central administration, but 150.2 allows the delegation of almost all competences by law.
The agreement only states that, according to socialist sources, there was no talk of expulsion, borders or residence permits during the negotiations, but that everything was left to the subsequent discussion about the law. When one of the negotiators, First Vice President María Jesús Montero, was asked directly in La Sexta whether they would allow Catalonia to expel immigrants, she avoided a clear no but reduced expectations: “It is risky to raise an issue. “Because we still have many months of discussion ahead of us, not only with the Junts but also with the other groups,” he explained. When asked live whether other communities might ask for the same, the vice president replied: “No one has asked.”
From Montero's words and from conversations with government sources, it can be deduced that today the only thing that is certain is that a new law will be drafted without anyone being clear about its content. When asked, the Interior and Migration Ministries, which concentrate most immigration powers, referred to Bolaños and Montero's words. “The announcement surprised many,” claims a ministerial source.
While the PSOE pushed for containment, Junts representatives dedicated Thursday morning to laying out their immigration ambitions in statements that cast even more doubts about their feasibility. The party's general secretary, Jordi Turull, said it wanted the Generalitat, now governed by the ERC, to be given the power to expel immigrants who have repeated multiple crimes. They also want to influence migration flows. Junts spokesperson in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, also added that the agreement must include the management of residence permits.
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After the Balearic Islands, Catalonia is the second largest autonomous community with the highest proportion of foreigners. There are more than 1.4 million people, making up 18% of the total population (in Spain, the foreign population accounts for 13%). The Moroccan community is the largest, followed by the Romanian and the Italian.
Competition in immigration occurs at the state level, although the different statutes of autonomy have opened up opportunities through which municipalities can participate to a greater or lesser extent in immigration policy. Most autonomies have taken measures for the social and professional integration of immigrants within their powers, although some, such as Catalonia and Andalusia, have gone further. Both take care of the processing of initial work permits for foreigners whose employment takes place in their territory. This does not mean that they apply their own criteria for issuing permits, but rather that they take care of their processing. Catalonia also takes over the initial reception of foreigners. It does not offer resources for living, a state competence, but it does offer advice, training or language courses, a fairly simple task.
Esperanza Aguirre, then president of the Community of Madrid, appealed to the Supreme Court in 2009 against the powers over work permits in Catalonia and Andalusia. But two years later, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. The judgment of the Constitutional Court, which analyzed the reform of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy, also confirmed this attribution, considering that it was limited to the labor market and did not condition the State's competence in matters of entry and residence of foreigners.
The pact with Junts speaks of a “comprehensive delegation of powers and resources on immigration,” but the field that opens is unknown, even for those who must now work to flesh out the agreement on paper. If Bolaños and Montero provide clarity on this issue, it is not because they do not want to answer, but because, according to government sources, there are many doubts about how the agreement can be concluded. “We are studying what kind of powers can be delegated. It’s not clear,” they explain.
Junt's effort to deport immigrants who repeat multiple crimes falls under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry, which, moreover, is only implemented on the basis of court decisions. It does not seem feasible for the Generalitat to take over its own expulsion policy or decide on the detention centers for foreigners (CIE). Ferran Camas, director of the Department of Immigration at the University of Girona, doubts whether Junt's claims are constitutional. “The power of expulsion lies with the state, in the orders issued by the sub-delegations of the government and the police and in judicial decisions. “The Autonomous Communities cannot decide on an issue that is typical of the principle of state sovereignty and that can also affect people’s fundamental freedoms,” he explains.
Camas also does not see it as clear that the Generalitat can take over the administration of residence permits, as it already does with work permits. “Unlike a first work permit, which is limited to a specific territory, a residence permit gives the foreigner the freedom to stay not only in Catalonia but throughout the territory, with the same rights and obligations. Are residence permits issued by Catalonia only valid in Catalonia? I would say that permits cannot be issued for a single autonomous community.” Administration sources suggest that there may be talk of giving Catalonia “executive powers” over the renewal of work and residence permits, one Function that is now the responsibility of the immigration authorities, but no one dares to say that this is possible.
Nogueras has pointed out that the agreement aims to “manage migration flows”, although it is not clear how this can be achieved when freedom of movement through Spanish territory is also guaranteed for immigrants in an irregular situation. In the case of asylum seekers this may be more practical. The examination and approval of applications for international protection remains a national competence, but the reception of those seeking refuge in Spain is also in the hands of the state and offers more room for negotiation. The case of the Basque Country can illustrate this. To support the inauguration of Pedro Sánchez, the PNV agreed with the PSOE on a small concession on immigration issues. Specifically, he would like to see the transfer of authority and the corresponding financing of the final phase of refugee admission. In this phase, the so-called autonomy phase, asylum seekers are already recognized as refugees and live more or less independently in accommodation and not in reception centers; They work and prepare for complete autonomy. “It makes perfect sense for us to take over the entire management of one Phase accompanied by an integration process in the place where the refugees settle and in which the Autonomous Community already takes part,” explains the Director of Migration and Asylum of the Basque Government, Xabier Legarreta. Although a small transfer, it is one of the priority transfers that PNV claims in its agreement and is still being negotiated. Precisely this Thursday, the Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu called on the government to “express” this commitment now. However, Junts has not made it clear what it wants and why.
Carles Puigdemont's party has been toughening its tone on immigration issues for months. Last December, Junts highlighted some clashes and coexistence conflicts registered in some Catalan municipalities, in order to fuel the discourse on citizens' insecurity. It is their political strategy to wear down the ERC government and compete for the votes of the right, like Vox and Aliança Catalana in Ripoll, who have normalized Islamophobic discourses.
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