MADRID (Reuters) – The leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party announced late on Thursday he was pulling out of five regional government coalitions with the centre-right People’s Party (PP) due to
disagreements on migration policy.
The PP, which runs five regions including Valencia in partnership with Vox, on Wednesday backed a plan by Spain’s central Socialist-run government to move around 400 under-18 migrants from the Canary Islands to the peninsula.
“The vice-presidents – in the regional governments – will announce their resignation and Vox will go into opposition,” Santiago Abascal told journalists in a televised speech that lasted less than five minutes. He didn’t take questions.
Around 19,000 migrants, mostly from West Africa, arrived on the islands off sub-Saharan Africa in the first six months of 2024, a 167% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to government figures.
Around 6,000 unaccompanied minor migrants are currently on the archipelago and the central government has urged other Spanish regions to take in arrivals as it seeks to ease pressure on infrastructure.
The PP regional leaders affected by the decision – the Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Aragon, Valencia and Murcia – said they will try to govern alone. Without Vox’s support, these regions may not be able to approve a budget for 2025.
Founded in 2013, Vox has become the third-largest party in Spain. However, while far-right parties saw a strong performance in this year’s European Parliament elections, Vox saw its share of the vote in Spain fall compared with the national election in July 2023.
Under-18s who migrate alone to Spain are entitled to government protection and aid under Spanish law.
In 2022, Spain offered more funding to regions that volunteered to host unaccompanied young migrants. But, to date, few conservative-run regions have accepted more than a handful.
The central government says it is now considering making transfers compulsory once the numbers in reception centres in the Canaries reach a certain level.
(Reporting by Belén Carreño, editing by Pietro Lombardi)
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