Mallorca demands answers on Sánchez migration report

The Balearic Government in Palma is demanding clarity on 11 September over a migration report mentioned by Pedro Sánchez in parliament. It wants to know whether papers released this week about the Ceuta crisis are the same documents Sánchez said concerned sea arrivals on mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. Spokesman Antoni Costa said no member of Spain’s government had confirmed that they were.

The issue surfaced after Sánchez addressed the Congress of Deputies last week. He rejected claims that the National Police had warned of a “high risk” in Ceuta a week earlier, but confirmed a report existed. He said it dealt exclusively with sea arrivals on the peninsula and in the Balearics.

Balearic president Marga Prohens then asked for all reports from Spain’s security forces. She had taken the information as a warning of a possible “mass arrival” of migrants on the islands’ coasts.

The documents released on Wednesday contain only one reference to the Balearics: a tally of migrants arriving by patera, or small boat. The islands also receive a brief mention in a paper examining different migration flows into Spain.

Costa said the regional government still did not know whether further papers had yet to be released, or whether the published documents were those Sánchez had referred to. He said Sánchez had triggered concern about a report affecting the Balearics and criticised Spain’s government over border control.

Topics: Police · Migration · Politics · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com