Balearics demand answers: Sánchez migration report unclear

In Palma, the Balearic Government is demanding to know whether documents released this week over the Ceuta crisis include the migration report Pedro Sánchez referred to in Congress. The dispute centres on whether that report covered sea arrivals in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. Government spokesman Antoni Costa says nobody in the central government has confirmed that the released papers are the same report.

Sánchez told Congress last week that a National Police report existed, but said it dealt exclusively with maritime arrivals to mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. He rejected claims that police had warned of a “high” risk in Ceuta a week before the crisis.

Balearic president Marga Prohens then called for all reports held by Spain’s security forces. She said they pointed to what she understood as a possible “mass arrival” of migrants on the islands’ coast.

The papers released on Wednesday contain only a summary of migrant arrivals by boat in the Balearic Islands, alongside a brief mention of the islands in a document examining migration flows to Spain. Costa said it remains unclear whether further material has yet to be handed over, whether the papers referred to mass arrivals, or whether they are the documents Sánchez mentioned in Congress.

Topics: Police · Migration · Politics · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com