Emiliano García-Page has harshly criticized the Government’s management of the migration crisis in Ceuta and particularly the fact that it took almost a month to formally assume coordination between administrations. “We have had the misfortune, and this hurts especially, that the security incident occurred at the beginning of the holidays. Maybe that single command would have been in place much earlier if it had not been at the end of the holidays. And it is sad to come to this conclusion,” said the president of Castilla-La Mancha in statements to the media this Wednesday.
Furthermore, the only socialist baron with an absolute majority has assured that like Pedro Sánchez he also considers that “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” has occurred and therefore has demanded that the central government “keep the word it has given” and “return all those who have entered illegally” so that “they lose hope even of crossing to the Peninsula.” To which he added: “The opposite would be tantamount to provoking new invasions. There is no turning back.”
Regarding the divergence between the explanations of the Minister of Defense – who maintains that the CNI warned of the massive arrival of immigrants on July 30 – and the Interior official – who denies being informed – Page pointed out that he, “like the rest of Spaniards,” has “not the slightest idea” of what has happened. “And perhaps this is the most serious of all: if to what we have already seen, the impotence in border control, discrepancies and contradictions in the different versions are added, well honestly, the only thing to expect is much unease, restlessness, and uncertainty,” he lamented.
Additionally, the Castilian-Manchego leader pointed out that the situation in Ceuta “is clearly a national security problem that must be responded to with the full force of the State.” Therefore, he reiterated that he finds it “completely serious” that a “regulation typical of the separatist blackmail in Catalonia” continues to be processed, referring to Junts’ claim for the Mossos to have control of the borders and be able to “make decisions based on criteria of personal and cultural identity,” which he considers “pure racism” and “cannot be supported by any progressive force.”
State Pact
Page also expressed that if the situation in the autonomous city, where 27 days later there are still no official figures on how many people in irregular status remain there, were a migration issue in itself, he would be urgently demanding that negotiations be opened between the Government and the main opposition party “to reach a genuine State pact” regarding this matter. The result, he added, “should not end up pleasing any of the radicals on either extreme,” but “should provide a reasonable, legal, constitutional, and humane solution.”
“In the current political atmosphere of tension, confrontation, there are so many walls that it is impossible to reach an agreement, but it is really necessary to remove from confrontation and cheap populism how to treat humanely and legally the people who want to come from outside out of necessity, but knowing that everything must have a limit and everything must have a perimeter,” added the regional president.
And regarding the statement repeated in chorus by all ministers – except the Defense Minister – that Morocco remains “a reliable partner,” Page said he knows “the keys” to the relations and that it is a matter in which “one must be serious,” but he did ask that “they stop messing around” with the figure of the Monarch and his intention to visit Ceuta: “When it is a national security problem, the King must comply with the Government’s directives and, therefore, no one should play with values that are far above.
Read more Robles exposes Marlaska by detailing the CNI alert one day before the mass entry in Ceuta
