The Popular Party has opened the parliamentary session period in the Senate tightening the siege on the Government over the migratory crisis affecting Ceuta. Eight ministers avoided the confrontation, but the siege had to be answered by Carlos Cuerpo, Félix Bolaños, Óscar Puente,Arcadi España, Mónica García and Elma Saiz. Puente, the most aggressive, attacked the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, whom he accused of “permanent disloyalty” for “putting obstacles” in the Government’s way and opposing the establishment of a reception camp for a thousand immigrants in the port of the autonomous city.
“You are disloyal and you have no word, here and in Ceuta,” launched the Minister of Transport, cheered by the applause of his parliamentary group. Puente thus broke the more moderate, although defensive, tone used by his colleagues: Cuerpo, Bolaños and España. “Ceuta needs solutions, but you put obstacles so that we do not achieve it. What do you want? What you want is for this situation to perpetuate because you know that Feijóo is not capable of winning an election in a normal situation,” Puente stated.
The Minister of Transport accused the Popular Party of making life impossible for Pedro Sánchez “for being a left-wing president” and in this regard, he rejected that he wants to be his successor because “what awaits” whoever it is “is not a pleasant dish”.
Before him, the first vice president demanded the PP “institutional responsibility” to ensure that Ceuta “returns to normality as soon as possible”. Pedro Sánchez’s number two, a man far from political quarrels, insisted on the “need to find a meeting point” with the opposition so that the autonomous city recovers the situation prior to the massive entry of immigrants on July 30 and 31. Cuerpo, however, could not avoid pointing out the Popular Party reproaching them for “selling impossible or illegal solutions, putting obstacles, inciting and not supporting the Government” in its effort to achieve the goal of redirecting the situation experienced by the people of Ceuta.
The first vice president expressed himself in these terms in the Senate in the first government control session of the new session period, from which, by the way, eight ministers were absent: from the Council of the Judiciary and the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia.
Nine alerts
The spokesperson of the Popular Party in the Upper Chamber, Alicia García, opened the session with the Ceuta crisis recalling that since July 27, three days before the avalanche, “up to nine alerts were issued” to which “the Nero of Tik-tok” responded “by going on vacation”. “Do you maintain that there was no evidence against Morocco?” launched the senator of the Popular Party.
Cuerpo insisted that “the first truth is that the citizens of Ceuta are shocked, fearful and uncertain” and that, he added, “means that every day that passes is a day that is late to return to normality” and that, in his opinion, is something the Government has understood, which is why “it makes all necessary resources available to Ceuta”. At this point, the vice president recalled the 309 million approved by the Council of Ministers for Ceuta last week and that, he said, “will be disbursed from October 6”.
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García replied that the people of Ceuta “feel abandoned” by a “failed” Government. “They have stolen the lives of the people of Ceuta,” she launched before asking: “Are you able to set a date for the return of all the invaders?” and answering herself: “You cannot. You said the crisis was resolved and six weeks later children have to be escorted to school.”
“Morocco planned it and the Government covered it up. You are alone against everyone. You point to the CNI and the National Court judge. You point to everyone except Morocco. Why are you docile with the invaders? You are the Government of lies. Call elections. The Spanish will send you all on permanent vacation,” concluded the Popular Party spokesperson.
Then, the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, emphasized that his ministry responded within “minutes” to the requests for reinforcement of judges made from the Council of the Judiciary and the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia to attend to the situation in Ceuta.
The PP took advantage of the session to demand a tax deferral for Ceuta companies reminding the Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, that “if entrepreneurs do not pay, the Government does not collect”. The minister responded by urging the Popular Party to “defend Ceuta, not use it”.
Saiz and the “dead children”
Elma Saiz, Minister of Migrations and also Government spokesperson, was also questioned by Popular senators who reproached her for activating thousands of officials to regularize immigrants and only six to register those who entered Ceuta illegally. Saiz accused them of “instrumentalizing” the crisis, encouraging “conspiracy theories” and “mocking dead children at sea” and took for granted that all the people of Ceuta know that the Government has been by their side from the first moment. The minister assured she has been up to the task to respond to the crisis “from humanity and legality”.
The PP urged the minister to give the names and surnames of those she accuses of mocking the death of minors. Saiz did not want to retract her accusation so the president of the Chamber, Pedro Rollán, chose to remove the Government spokesperson’s statement from the session minutes. Later the minister stated that she was referring to a “gesture” by deputy Rafael Hernando when the PSOE spokesperson in Congress, Patxi López, showed a photo of the Syrian boy Aylan, drowned on the coasts of Turkey.
