Basque Nationalist Party rejects migrant child relocation, citing family unity
The PNV invokes family unity to reject relocating unaccompanied migrant children, but the €4,500 monthly cost per child and electoral calculations weigh more.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
PNV stands firm against child relocation: family or finances?
Nerea Melgosa, the Basque Government's Minister for Welfare, Youth and Demographic Challenge, has set out the Basque Government's position amid the Ceuta crisis: "the State's first obligation is not to distribute" unaccompanied foreign minors among Spain's regions, but to exhaust administrative channels so they can return to their families in Segarro. Moving a boy a thousand kilometres from his environment does not seem reasonable, they insist at Lakua (the Basque government headquarters).
A double standard on family reunification
It is touching to see the PNV such a staunch defender of family unity. But everyday practice in children's centres tells another story: the boys are given a mobile phone on arrival, keep up video calls with their parents, and families even visit Spain. In other words, contact exists. What does not seem to exist is the same urgency to find the families of those already inside the system. Consistency is conspicuously absent.
The cost nobody wants to mention
And at the heart of the debate appears the figure that changes everything: €4,500 per month per ward. In that context, the case for repatriation sounds more like a spending cut than humanitarian concern. Some also read it as the "Orriols effect": the nationalists would have found an electoral goldmine in criticising immigration without getting their hands dirty with classic right-wing rhetoric. On these grounds, the relocation plan is suspended. The State will have to find another destination. Again.
Nerea Melgosa, the Basque Government's Minister for Welfare, Youth and Demographic Challenge, has set out the Basque Government's position amid the Ceuta crisis: "the State's first obligation is not to distribute" unaccompanied foreign minors among Spain's regions, but to exhaust administrative channels so they can return to their families in Segarro. Moving a boy a thousand kilometres from his environment does not seem reasonable, they insist at Lakua (the Basque government headquarters).
A double standard on family reunification
It is touching to see the PNV such a staunch defender of family unity. But everyday practice in children's centres tells another story: the boys are given a mobile phone on arrival, keep up video calls with their parents, and families even visit Spain. In other words, contact exists. What does not seem to exist is the same urgency to find the families of those already inside the system. Consistency is conspicuously absent.
The cost nobody wants to mention
And at the heart of the debate appears the figure that changes everything: €4,500 per month per ward. In that context, the case for repatriation sounds more like a spending cut than humanitarian concern. Some also read it as the "Orriols effect": the nationalists would have found an electoral goldmine in criticising immigration without getting their hands dirty with classic right-wing rhetoric. On these grounds, the relocation plan is suspended. The State will have to find another destination. Again.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (22 replies).
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