PSOE voices against the immigration pact in Catalonia: "The approach is absolutely racist"

MadridThe pact between the PSOE and Junts has lost, for the moment, six of the votes essential for it to be approved in Congress (those of Podemos and Compromís, who, however, are open to negotiation), and the first critical voices have already been heard within the Socialist Party itself. They are not surprising, because they are those of the usual critics of Pedro Sánchez. The first, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García Page, who in a forum organized by the newspaper The Spanish Page has shown his profound rejection of the delegation of immigration powers to the Generalitat. "I find it serious that anyone in the progressive sphere, including Sumar and Podemos, can think that Puigdemont's absolutely racist approach is acceptable," he said. Although the pact bears the signature of his party, Page hopes that the law registered in Congress does not go ahead and that, if it does, the government that comes after the current one "can reverse it." "Don't come to me with stories of walls against Trumpism and the extreme right, when you are making a pact with the worst," he insisted.

And if Page is against it, another of the usual critics of the PSOE leadership, the former Spanish president Felipe González, is also against it. In the same forum, González has expressed that he is "completely in agreement" with Page. The opinion of Page and González was probably taken for granted by the socialist executive, which, however, sees how the difficulties in passing the law agreed with Junts are accumulating.

To the four Podemos deputies, who have already made it clear that, As it stands, they will not support the law., the Compromís party has joined this Thursday, which has two parliamentarians integrated within the Sumar group in the Lower House. Sources from the Compromís leadership affirm to ARA that today they are in the No to the bill registered by the socialists and the junteros. Although they think it is a good idea to delegate the powers in immigration to the Generalitat, the Valencian party rejects the framework established by Carles Puigdemont's party. In an interview this Thursday on Cadena SER, its spokesperson in Congress, Àgueda Micó, The Spanish government has warned that progressive parties "cannot fall into the trap of buying into the narrative and the discourse of criminalizing migrants." If the PSOE wants its two votes, they warn, it will have to negotiate with them on issues such as the closure of foreign detention centers (CIE). The majority of the Spanish government is so precarious that the votes of Podemos (4) and Compromís (2) are essential to approve the law.

"It is a no, but it is not non-negotiable," say the same sources. Compromís affirms that it will have no problem in distancing itself from Sumar if the rest of the parliamentary group opts for yes. The second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, defended the pact as soon as it was made public by the socialists and the junteros. However, as the hours have passed, the voices against the agreement within Sumar have been proliferating. Even the party's communications secretary, Elizabeth Duval, from Díaz's core group, said on Wednesday that the explanatory statement, publicly defended by the socialist part of the coalition, is problematic because it "buys", albeit partially, the "nativist" framework of Aliança Catalana. However, Duval did not oppose the delegation of powers as such. The meaning of Sumar's vote, she said in an interview on La Sexta, will be seen when the debate is addressed in the plenary session of Congress. Sumar sources maintain that, however, there is a fairly clear majority in favour.

However, another formation in the parliamentary group has avoided guaranteeing its yes: Más Madrid, which has two deputies in Congress. In statements over the last two days, the party's spokesperson in the Madrid Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, was critical of the agreement. On Tuesday she considered it a "bad idea" and a "bad precedent". "It may lead to a competition between the autonomous communities to see who applies the most xenophobic policies," he warned. Bergerot insisted yesterday outside the lower house that he saw a pact with Junts as "worrying," a party that, he said, "mobilizes the vote by generating an anti-immigration sentiment." Along the same lines as Podemos, he said that the urgent thing is to approve the ILP for the regularization of undocumented foreigners living in Spain.

The Catalan requirement

Meanwhile, Junts has insisted on proposing that Catalan be a requirement to obtain documentation, despite the fact that the law says that the Generalitat must apply state legislation, in which this condition does not exist. "Language is not a requirement to deny a permit, expel a person or prohibit entry into our country," said the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration on Thursday. The secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, replied to Saiz that "in everything that depends on Junts" knowing Catalan will be necessary to obtain the different permits. The secretary general of the formation has added that Minister Saiz "has not been in all the meetings." "I excuse her," he said. The Comuns, which on Tuesday encouraged the rest of the partners of the plurinational majority to support the delegation of powers, warned yesterday that Carles Puigdemont is "overstepping" with his "self-interested interpretation" of the agreement.

"This delegation is not addressed to Junts, but to the Parliament and the Generalitat," warned Aina Vidal, deputy spokesperson for Sumar and leader of the commons. Despite maintaining that it is a "positive" agreement, Vidal affirmed that the fine print must be carefully looked at in case modifications are necessary if the junteros ever govern. The leader of Izquierda Unida, Antonio Maíllo, warned this Thursday to PSOE and Junts that the agreement does not bind them and that if they want the support of their five deputies, from the Sumar group, they will have to agree to introduce changes through amendments. Maíllo expressed "technical, legal and ideological" doubts, although he was in favor of decentralizing, and criticized the "delirious story" that Junts has made about the text in a "classist, right-wing and reactionary" key when it speaks of border control or language.