Podemos is now open to unblocking the delegation of immigration powers in Catalonia

Barcelona / MadridPodemos had been until now a wall to the agreement between the PSOE and Junts for the delegation of immigration powers in Catalonia. "It won't be done with Podemos' votes," the purple party asserted, very belligerent about the "racist" motives it attributed to the pact. This outright opposition was the main obstacle to fulfilling one of Carles Puigdemont's party's demands for parliamentary support for the Socialists. The failure to meet this point was, in fact, one of the main reasons cited by the Catalan branch of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) for breaking with Pedro Sánchez's party. At one of the most delicate moments of the legislature, with the Spanish government on the ropes due to the railway crisis, the PSOE has pressed the button that Podemos had already indicated could be the key to this deadlock. Ione Belarra's party had simultaneously left the door open to a change of position if Sánchez's government agreed to approve a extraordinary regularization of migrantsAnd that moment has arrived. On the day the Spanish government approves—after reaching an agreement with the left-wing party—the regularization of half a million foreigners already in Spain, MEP Irene Montero confirmed that her party is now open to negotiating the delegation of powers to the Catalan government. In statements to SER radio, she confirmed their willingness to talk in order to "modify" the text that they had previously blocked. so that it "has no racist content"Neither in the preamble nor in the articles. "We are open to negotiation as long as our contributions are considered," the Podemos leader confirmed at a press conference in Congress.

The law delegating powers in immigration remains in the drawer of measures agreed upon between the Socialists and the regional government that are still pending implementation, since Congress rejected this initiative on September 23, with votes against from the PP, Vox, Podemos, UPN, one deputy from Compromís, and another from the Chroma. Montero now admits that that vote against Podemos It is not immovable: "We have always been willing to sit down and negotiate a modified text, so that it does not have any racist content," she said, despite the outright opposition shown so far.

What has changed is the agreement announced this Monday for the extraordinary regularization process. The measure will affect half a million migrants (of whom more than 150,000 reside in Catalonia), according to estimates from the left-wing party, who will have to prove five months of residency in Spain prior to December 31, 2025. "Before discussing powers, we had to guarantee rights," Montero said to justify the change. Regularization, she added, was "one of the fundamental elements to ensure that the delegation of powers does not reinforce racism against migrants."

Opposition from the right and support from the Church

As the People's Party (PP) and Vox already stated yesterday, the PP spokesperson in the Lower House, Ester Muñoz, rejected the agreement between the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Podemos and criticized the change in the latter's position. "What was once racist is no longer so," she quipped in statements in the halls of Congress. According to Muñoz, the initiative is a "frivolous" move by the PSOE seeking to divert attention from the railway crisis. The PP also opposes it on a fundamental point. They maintain that regularizations cannot be mass regularizations but must be carried out "person by person." The far-right party went further than the PP and announced that it will appeal the initiative before the Supreme Court. Its spokesperson in Congress, Pepa Millán, denounced it as "madness" and "outrageous." This stance contrasts with that of the Spanish Church. In a statement, the migration department of the Spanish Episcopal Conference celebrated the regularization announcement. The Spanish bishops consider this a measure "of social justice and recognition for the many migrants who have long contributed to the development of our country through their work."