Spain’s far right quits five regional governments over migration spat

The Vox Party will pull out of five power-sharing deals across Spain in protest of national migration policy

Vox Party leader Santiago Abascal (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The Spanish far-right Vox party has said it is pulling out of five power-sharing deals across Spain in protest at national migration policy.

The Vox Party, which runs Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Aragon and Murcia, in partnership with the centre-right People’s Party (PP), said it would resign and go into opposition.

The PP on Wednesday backed a plan by Spain's central Socialist-run government to move around 400 under-18 migrants from the Canary Islands to the peninsula.

“The vice-presidents - in the regional governments - will announce their resignation and Vox will go into opposition,” Vox Party leader Santiago Abascal said.

Without Vox’s support, these regions may not be able to approve a budget for 2025. Founded in 2013, Vox has become the third-largest party in Spain.

The Spanish far-right will pull out of power-sharing deals across the country in protest of national migration policy. Pictured: Vox Party supporters in May (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Around 19,000 migrants, mostly from West Africa, arrived on the islands off sub-Saharan Africa in the first six months of 2024, a 167 per cent increase from the same period a year earlier, according to government figures.

Around 6,000 unaccompanied minor migrants are currently on the archipelago and the central government has urged other Spanish regions to take in arrivals as it seeks to ease pressure on infrastructure.

The PP regional leaders affected by the decision said they would try to govern alone. While far-right parties saw a strong performance in this year’s European Parliament elections, Vox saw its share of the vote in Spain fall compared with the national election in July 2023.

Under-18s who migrate alone to Spain are entitled to government protection and aid under Spanish law. In 2022, Spain offered more funding to regions that volunteered to host unaccompanied young migrants.

Vox Party leader Santiago Abascal with Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni last year (LaPresse)

But, to date, few conservative-run regions have accepted more than a handful. The central government says it is now considering making transfers compulsory once the numbers in reception centres in the Canaries reach a certain level.

PP spokesman Borja Sémper rejected VOX’s position on Thursday mornin and accusedthe far-right party of “looking for excuses” to “break” the bilateral agreements that have been in force since the local and regional elections on 28 May.

The PP’s support for the measure promoted by the government was “an exercise in solidarity with the Canary Islands, which is also Spain”, Mr Semper added.

Spanish minister for Integration, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz called on Vox to stop “instrumentalising” migrants.

Reuters contributed to this report