Spain's far right breaks government deals in five regions on migration dispute
12/7/2024 17:36
The leader of Spain's far-right Vox party announced late on Thursday he was pulling out of five regional government coalitions with the centre-right People's Party (PP) due to disagreements on migration policy. The PP, which runs five regions including Valencia in partnership with Vox, on Wednesday backed a plan by Spain's central Socialist-run government to move around 400 under-18 migrants from the Canary Islands to the peninsula. "The vice-presidents - in the regional governments - will announce their resignation and Vox will go into opposition," Santiago Abascal told journalists in a televised speech that lasted less than five minutes. He didn't take questions. Around 19,000 migrants, mostly from West Africa, arrived on the islands off sub-Saharan Africa in the first six months of 2024, a 167% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to government figures. Around 6,000 unaccompanied minor migrants are currently on the archipelago and the central government has urged other Spanish regions to take in arrivals as it seeks to ease pressure on infrastructure.
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