Vox, the only possible partner of Carlos Mazón’s PP, is beginning to specify its conditions for supporting the party in its solo government adventure. The far right, which has been insisting for weeks that migration policy is a non-negotiable point in a somewhat ambiguous way, is bringing the points of negotiation to the general political debate, with the focus on the attention given by NGOs.
The party led by Santiago Abascal is calling on the PP to promote a “naval blockade” in the State and prevent the work of humanitarian rescue ships in Valencian ports. Specifically, they accuse the entities of collaborating with “illegal human trafficking” and demand that measures be put in place “in order to prevent ships (…) from docking in ports owned by the autonomous region”. It also wants to prohibit migrant minors who enter Spain “irregularly” from accessing public aid, specifically the “plan for the transition to independent life and emancipation” and that “forensic tests” be carried out to determine the age of foreigners who enter the country.
The far right insists on eliminating aid to associations that promote “illegal immigration”, suppressing “all benefits or social assistance to illegal immigrants” or promoting a plan to repatriate unaccompanied minors, as well as “consulting the Spanish people in a referendum on the model of border defence they want for Spain”. It also revives its proposals to deport migrants who commit crimes, repeal migration and integration strategies and tighten border controls.
The ultras are also proud of their position as well as promoting from outside the Executive one of the most questioned measures of recent weeks. Mazón’s Government has been demanding that the migrant rescue organisations pay the port taxes from which they were exempted by the Consell del Botànic (PSPV, Compromís and Podemos). The amount they are being asked to pay for parking in the port is already close to half a million euros. These are the ships Open Arms, Sea Punks, Louise Michel, Sea Watch, Sea Humanity, Mission Lifeline, Resq People, SOS Humanity and Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario, which have saved thousands of people from drowning in the Mediterranean.
This Thursday, the president of the Corts Valencianes and member of Abascal’s Executive, Llanos Massó, assured that “thanks to Vox, in the Valencian Community, the NGO ships that facilitate the work of human trafficking mafias will pay the fees to dock in the ports dependent on the Generalitat, something they did not do thanks to the work and grace of the vice president of the Botánico government, Mónica Oltra.”
In defence of the resolutions of the general policy debate, which will be approved this Friday, the spokesman for the far-right party in parliament, José María Llanos, insisted that “illegal, indiscriminate and irregular immigration is a sine qua non condition for any negotiation”, after showing his outstretched hand to the PP of Carlos Mazón. The popular president promised in his speech that fishermen will not pay port taxes and assured that the central government does charge them to NGOs, something that the Official State Gazette denies.
Llanos defends the exemption of fishermen from port taxes, which was announced by the president of the PP in the debate, and according to him was promoted by José Luis Aguirre, the former Minister of Agriculture with Vox. If true, it would be a gesture from the PP towards its former partners, seeking to maintain the relationship despite suspending cohabitation. The Popular Party has reached out to the ultras to reach agreements on some resolutions, in order to facilitate a rapprochement in the remainder of the course.
The general policy debate serves as a formal reunion between the two parties after their abrupt breakup last July, and as a prelude to the toughest negotiation of the year: the Catalan government’s budget for the coming year.
Source: www.eldiario.es
