The Balearic Islands will increase the reception capacity for migrant minors to 434 places
The Government does not attend the sectoral conference to denounce irregularities in the call and questions the distribution of minors without consensus or sufficient resources
PalmThe ordinary reception capacity for migrant minors in the Balearic Islands will grow to 434 places. This is according to the draft of the royal decree that was to be transferred to the autonomous communities this Wednesday during the sectoral conference on Childhood, but which was ultimately suspended due to a lack of quorum, as most of the territories governed by the PP did not attend.
Through this royal decree, as stated in the agenda, it is intended to approve a new ordinary capacity for the protection systems of unaccompanied foreign minors in each territory. This is an update to the decree that was approved last year, with an identical procedure and which only needed to go through the sectoral conference, as an informative step.
The regulation, as reported by the Conselleria de Famílies in a statement, foresees an increase in the ordinary capacity of the Balearic Islands, which would go from 406 to 434 places. As confirmed by sources from the department headed by the minister, Sandra Fernández, what does not change is the mechanism for a community to enter into a migratory contingency and, therefore, to refer migrant minors to other regional protection systems.
The draft of the royal decree maintains the requirement that, to avail oneself of this possibility, the number of migrant minors accommodated must triple the ordinary capacity. Therefore, with the new number of places set, the Archipelago –although the protection of minors is a competence transferred to the island councils– would be further away than before from an eventual contingency. The Balearic Islands, according to the Conselleria, currently accommodate a total of 733 migrant minors. Therefore, they would have to attend to 1,302 to be able to start referring them to other autonomous communities, while with the previous ordinary capacity the figure was 1,218.
The Government has not attended the sectoral conference
The Minister of Families, Social Welfare and Dependency Care did not attend this Wednesday's sectoral conference on Childhood and assured that there had been "irregularities" in the call.
The Executive had requested the annulment of the meeting's agenda, considering it "contrary to law" and, therefore, has joined the "boycott" of the PP's autonomous communities. As the Ministry indicated in a statement, the agenda was not previously approved within the sectoral commission, as required by regulations, and, despite this, the Ministry of Youth and Childhood has maintained its content in the call.
Furthermore, it has reported that, to date, no response has been received to the objection and annulment request sent by the Government. Likewise, the objection focuses on one of the points included in the agenda, relating to information on the royal decree that sets the ordinary capacity of protection systems for the care of unaccompanied minors.
