The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, went to the Congress of Deputies yesterday to give an account of the general lines that his department will follow during this legislature. As usual, the parliamentary groups took the opportunity to bring together all the open fronts that their department has: from the approach of ETA prisoners to the increase in sexual crimes, through the equalization of police salaries or the “dirty war” against independence.
However, the focus was on the recent ruling of the Supreme Court which declared illegal the expulsion of minors from Ceuta to Morocco in the summer of 2021. The minister, before arriving at the commission, said that he “respected” the decision, but immediately assured that the expulsions were done “in the interest” of the Moroccan teenagers who entered en masse in May of that year, in the midst of a diplomatic crisis with Rabat.
Ministerial sources already warned early in the morning that the head of the Interior portfolio would not resign due to this setback nor did he intend to assume any political responsibility. And so it was. In front of the media, he pointed out that he is “convinced that the competent authorities in the matter [by the Government of Ceuta] acted at all times with the full conviction that they conformed to the legal system and always under the principle of the best interest of the minor”. The Government of Ceuta was – and is – led by Juan Jesús Vivas, hence the lukewarmness with which those of Alberto Núñez Feijóo are asking the minister for more responsibilities.
Who did demand them was Sumar. “He must give explanations and, above all, it is necessary to repair what happened so that it does not happen again because we are facing a moral catastrophe, in addition to an illegality”, defended Gerardo Pisarello. For its part, Podemos aimed higher, understanding that the one who must be held accountable is Pedro Sánchez, as “responsible for the migration policy of the Spanish Government”.
During the nearly five hours that extended the session in the commission, the minister tried to draw the master lines that will mark his coming years with the Interior portfolio. He warned that the jihadist threat will remain “on the hook” in the near future, defended the migration pact reached in Europe, advanced that the fight against cybercrime will require great efforts and encouraged the parliamentary partners to find common ground to resume the reform of the gag law, after the failed attempt of the last legislature.
