The Balearic Government has authorized the distribution of 7.8 million euros from state funds to finance the care of unaccompanied migrant minors, in a context marked by the overcrowding of protection resources and the lack of capacity of the autonomous system. The distribution will be carried out among the four island councils by means of specific agreements subscribed with the autonomic Executive.
The funds come, on the one hand, from an item of 100 million euros transferred by the Ministry of Youth and Children to all the autonomous communities to meet the costs derived from the reception of migrant minors, of which the Balearic Islands receives 4.6 million euros. To this amount are added another 35 million euros destined to the territories which the Ministry itself recognizes as the most affected by the migratory pressure -Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Balearic Islands-, which means an additional contribution of 3.2 million euros for the archipelago.
In total, the Balearic Islands will receive 7.8 million euros, which will be distributed according to the degree of reception and the situation of overcrowding of the insular services for the protection of minors. Thus, the Institute of Social Affairs of Majorca (IMAS) will receive 3.1 million euros; the Council of Formentera, 3.8 million; the Council of Ibiza, 728,000 euros, and the Island Council of Menorca, 88,600 euros.
The spokesman of the Government, Antoni Costa, has reiterated that this state contribution is “totally insufficient” to cover the real costs borne by the island councils, in a scenario of sustained welfare pressure. Currently, the Balearic protection system attends 745 unaccompanied foreign minors, a figure much higher than the ordinary capacity assigned to the autonomous community.
In this sense, the Balearic Executive has again put the focus on the “deficiencies” of the Royal Decree that sets the ordinary capacity of reception by autonomous communities and that assigns to the Balearic Islands a maximum of 406 minors. According to the Lawyer’s Office of the Autonomous Community, this allocation is based on “insufficiently justified” criteria and an “opaque and arbitrary” application that generates territorial imbalances and violates the constitutional principle of inter-territorial solidarity.
The distribution of funds occurs, moreover, in parallel to the decision of the Consell de Govern to authorize the Balearic Lawyer’s Office to file a new contentious-administrative appeal against the relocation of an unaccompanied minor from the Canary Islands. This is the third appeal filed by the Govern against transfers agreed by the Government Delegation, in a context of saturation of care resources in the islands.
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