Junts makes its support for the Ceuta minors relocation conditional

Junts turns its back on the Government over the relocation of Ceuta minors

"Not a single vote" if Catalonia is excluded from the transfer of unaccompanied minors who arrived in Ceuta. Junts' warning comes at a time when the Government needs its support to keep the legislature afloat. The stated reason is territorial solidarity; the real backdrop is the electoral calendar and a party, Aliança Catalana, that is growing at the expense of its own rhetoric.

The relocation of minors arriving on the mainland from the autonomous cities was, until now, a matter of migration policy. It has become a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. The parties governing Catalonia find themselves caught between social pressure and a drift of votes towards parties that are tougher on immigration.

The economic argument is not long in coming: each minor taken in requires public funding, and Spain's regional governments are demanding resources from the State. But the debate spills over into identity politics. Some point out that these minors will eventually pay into the Social Security system, and warn of the cost of shutting the door on them.

The irony of the story: the party that brandished "volem acollir" ("we want to welcome") as its badge of identity is now calculating the electoral costs of taking migrants in. The paradox has a name: Silvia Orriols, the leader who has made immigration her battle horse. The more she grows, the more Junts moves onto the same ground.

There is no consensus. The coalition propping up the Executive looks the other way, while the EU begins to question free movement. The relocation of minors has become the thermometer of a government that no longer knows what to sell: equality among Spaniards or Catalan privilege.