The Balearic Islands will increase the reception capacity for migrant minors to 434 places

PalmaThe ordinary capacity for hosting minor migrants in the Balearic Islands will grow to 434 places. This is evident from the draft royal decree that was to be presented to the autonomous communities this Wednesday during the Sectoral Conference on Childhood, but which was ultimately suspended due to a lack of quorum, as the majority of territories governed by the PP did not attend.

Through this royal decree, as stated in the agenda, the intention is to approve a new ordinary capacity for the protection systems of unaccompanied foreign minors in each territory. This is an update to the decree approved last year, with an identical procedure, and it only needed to be passed by the Sectoral Conference as an informative step.

The regulation, as reported by the Ministry of Families in a statement, contemplates 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 a migratory contingency and, therefore, to transfer minor migrants to other regional protection systems.

The draft royal decree maintains the requirement that, to qualify for this possibility, the number of minor migrants hosted must triple the ordinary capacity. Therefore, with the new number of fixed places, the archipelago --even though child protection is a competence transferred to the island councils-- would be further away than before from an eventual contingency. The Balearic Islands, according to the Ministry, currently host a total of 733 minor migrants. Therefore, they would have to accommodate 1,302 to be able to start transferring them to other autonomous communities, whereas with the previous ordinary capacity the figure was 1,218.

The Government did not attend the Sectoral Conference

The Minister of Families, Social Welfare and Care for Dependency did not attend the sectoral conference on Childhood this Wednesday, stating 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 joined the "boycott" by the PP autonomous communities. According to the Ministry's 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 challenge and annulment request submitted by the Government. Likewise, the challenge 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.