Sumar has urged the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to give an immediate response to the migration crisis in Ceuta and to initiate the transfer of migrants to the Peninsula, in order to alleviate the pressure on the autonomous city, despite the "pressures" from the European Commission for "no one" to leave the area.
At the same time, the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has distanced himself from Sánchez's words and has emphasized that Morocco has responsibility "by action and omission" in the massive arrival of migrants recorded at the end of July. "The responsibility is clear," he has emphasized.
In a joint appearance this Monday with the general coordinator of Movimiento Sumar, Rosa Martínez, representing the parties that make up the minority partner of the Government, Urtasun has defended that the transfer of migrants to the Peninsula is an essential measure and that there are "capacity" and "sufficient places" in the set of autonomous communities to accommodate them.
Likewise, he has accused the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of "hypocrisy," considering that he limits himself to "giving lessons on what to do in Ceuta" while the regional presidents of his party "block" the mechanisms of distribution and solidarity throughout the country. In his opinion, this is a behavior "that is not worthy of someone who aspires to preside" over Spain.
The precedent of Italy and Meloni's management
Urtasun has recalled that in 2023 a similar situation occurred in Italy, when 114,000 migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa and the government of Giorgia Meloni decided to transfer about 64,000 of them to the Italian mainland.
"At that moment I did not hear any official from the European Commission say that those people should not move from Lampedusa, nor did I hear any other European government, in an act of absolutely unacceptable lack of solidarity, say that those people had to stay in Lampedusa," the minister reproached.
Moreover, he has described the attitude of some leaders of the European Union in the face of this crisis as "shameful" and has warned that Ceuta cannot be treated as the "backyard" of Europe, but must receive the solidarity support of all European countries.
Urtasun has insisted that it is the "moment for solutions" for Ceuta and has trusted that Sánchez will adopt this line in his appearance on Thursday in Congress, as, in his opinion, the ministers of Sumar, Mónica García and Sira Rego, have already done during the crisis in the health and child care sectors.
In his view, one of the key decisions must be the relocation of migrants to the Peninsula, given that the best way to guarantee their care is from centers distributed across the different autonomous communities. He added that only in this way can Ceuta be returned to "normality" and that the Ministry of the Interior is fully aware of this position.
The relocation of migrants, "essential" for Sumar
"What we expect from the appearance is to continue providing solutions and this seems to us to be essential," Urtasun reiterated, also pointing out that, according to the information he has, among the people who arrived there are nationals from Sudan, who will likely have to be granted asylum as they are a group that usually receives international protection.
Regarding the role of Morocco, the minister has limited himself to emphasizing that the neighboring country has a share of responsibility, avoiding direct criticism of Sánchez, who in an interview on Cadena Ser detached Rabat from the massive entry of migrants. Urtasun also recalled that Sumar maintains its support for the right to self-determination of Western Sahara.
Within the parliamentary group, the Compromís deputy integrated into Sumar in Congress, Alberto Ibáñez, has condemned that Sánchez "is not at all credible" by dismissing Morocco's involvement in what happened in Ceuta and has urged him to overcome his "Stockholm syndrome" with the Moroccan king, Mohamed VI.
In the same vein, the co-general coordinator of Movimiento Sumar and spokesperson in Congress, Verónica Martínez Barbero, has reproached the head of the Executive for not having expressed criticism of Morocco after the migratory crisis in the autonomous city and has detected a "lack of empathy" towards the Ceuta population and towards migrants.
In the minority partner of the Government, they believe that the socialist wing avoids confrontation with the Moroccan Executive due to its importance in controlling the border with Ceuta and Melilla.
Sumar wants changes in asylum and immigration reform
On the other hand, Urtasun has advanced that Sumar disagrees with the reform projects of the immigration and asylum law approved by the Council of Ministers in the first round, understanding that in certain points they go even beyond the European migration and asylum pact, which their space already opposes.
For this reason, he has defended that it is essential to protect "with nails and teeth" the Spanish legal framework to guarantee the right of asylum to those who need it and has announced that they will initiate a dialogue with the Ministry of the Interior to introduce changes to these texts when they return to the Council of Ministers in the second round.
During the appearance, the Minister of Culture has maintained that the massive entry of people in Ceuta has clearly been an "attempt at destabilization" of the progressive Government and that there is a political motivation behind it, in light of the "reaction" of the "reactionary international," "from the Government of Israel to the President of the United States, Donald Trump."
He has also reiterated that what happened at the Ceuta border evidences the "failure" of the European Union's border externalization policy.