Feijóo pledges Balearic border plan and Frontex request at Palma rally

Palma rally sets out migration, security and housing

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP candidate for prime minister, spoke at the Pueblo Español in Palma on Monday, 9 November, in a pre-campaign event built around three priorities he listed as order, security and housing. Crowd figures varied by outlet: eldiario.es described hundreds of attendees, El Mundo counted 2,500 and ABC put the number at about 3,000. Balearic PP leader Marga Prohens and José Vicente Marí Bosó, the party's lead candidate for Congress, also took part in the event.

A maritime border plan and a Frontex request

Feijóo said that if he reaches the government he will prioritise a specific plan to protect the Balearic sea border. The plan includes asking the European Union for permanent activation of Frontex, the EU border agency, on the migration route between Algeria and the islands. He also pledged to pursue the mafias and anyone who cooperates with them, reinforce controls, apply the EU Returns Regulation and check the age and background of people who arrive. Feijóo framed the issue as a matter of control, and he said Spain should set its own terms on entry.

“Spain has the right to decide who enters, how they enter and for what purpose.”

On the same day, RTVE reported that the National Police continued removing migrants from the port of Ceuta. Feijóo did not name Morocco, which RTVE described as implicated in the mass entry into Ceuta, or Algeria, the origin of most boats reaching Formentera and the other islands.

Arrival figures and pressure on Formentera

Feijóo said the Balearics received 7,300 irregular migrants last year. El Mundo reported that this year's total had already matched that figure, with December, traditionally one of the busiest months, still to come, while ABC reported it had already been surpassed. Feijóo recalled that in 2018 about twenty boats and roughly 200 people a year reached the islands. According to ABC, he said Formentera, an island of about 12,000 inhabitants, receives around half of those arrivals. He criticised the government's response, saying that managing the flows through reception centres and tents has not solved anything.

“Managing immigration is not about putting up tents. That is making the problem chronic.”

2018200

Previous year7,300

2018

200 people

Previous year

7300 people

Data from the article text

Security and housing pledges

Feijóo said a thousand National Police and Guardia Civil officers are missing in the Balearics, according to RTVE. He promised tougher sentences for repeat offenders and linked this to immigration, saying that offenders who are foreign nationals would be expelled.

“If the offender is Spanish, he will pay. And if he is a foreigner, he will be expelled.”

On housing, eldiario.es reported his pledge to build one million homes. El Mundo reported that he promised to cut VAT by up to 60% for young people buying a first home and to offer income tax rebates in their first working years. He accused the Sánchez government of creating the biggest housing shortage crisis.

What comes next

The PP is due to present its electoral programme on Tuesday, 10 November, according to RTVE and ABC. The rally took place four days before the official start of the campaign, as RTVE framed it. The general election is set for 29 November.