Deal to delegate immigration powers to Catalonia fails in Congress vote

A proposal from Catalan pro-independence party Junts over delegating powers on immigration to the Catalan government was rejected in a vote by the Spanish Congress on Tuesday.

Left-wing Podemos had already announced they would vote against it, along with the conservative PP and far-right Vox.

Congress rejected the proposal with 177 votes against and 173 in favor.

The Spanish government is willing to re-present the project, and promises to use other governmental mechanisms to promote the devolution of immigration powers even if the bill does not have the status of law.

Bringing this law to Congress is one of the commitments the Socialists made to Junts at the beginning of Pedro Sánchez's first legislature.

Playing into far right's hands

During the Congress debate on Tuesday, the spokesperson for Junts in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, and the Catalan Socialist MP José Zaragoza accused Podemos of playing into the far right's hands by opposing the delegation of immigration powers to the Catalan government.

Nogueras claimed that Podemos are "just as anti-Catalan and centralist" as the far right. "They always side with ultra-Spain," she said.

Blocking the delegation of powers, she warned, means "leaving the door open to collapse, empowering extreme populism, radicalizing society, and dismantling the welfare state in Catalonia."

The Socialist Zaragoza said: "The four Podemos MPs claim to support a plural Spain, yet today they'll vote against a proposal for cooperation between a regional government and the state."

On the other hand, Podemos MP Javier Sánchez Serna defended his party's decision, describing the bill as "racist."

With polls in Catalonia showing increasing support for the far-right pro-independence Aliança Catalana, Sánchez Serna said his party "won't allow racialized people to pay the price of an electoral battle between Junts and Aliança Catalana."

Lack of support

Similarly to the cases of Catalan becoming an official European language or the application of amnesty to former president Carles Puigdemont, the Socialists have encountered external reluctance that, for the time being, has prevented them from implementing the agreement.

The text proposes delegating to Catalonia the execution of state regulations on the initiation, instruction, and resolution of long-term residence permits for foreign nationals, and delegating the setting of the annual forecast of places to be offered.

However, the text does not have enough support to be passed. "We are talking about a law that in its preamble says racist atrocities such as immigration being a problem and a danger," said Podemos spokesman Pablo Fernández.

Fernández said they have not proposed any changes to the proposal because they consider it full of "institutional racism." Asked if he believes that Carles Puigdemont is a "racist" politician, Fernández stated that Junts currently has "openly racist and xenophobic" postulates.

Junts, on the other hand, accuses Podemos of "anti-Catalanism" for opposing the delegation of powers that are now exercised by the Spanish State. "If the debate on this transfer demonstrates anything, it is that Catalanophobia is a universal phenomenon," Junts' general secretary, Jordi Turull, said.

Junts vs Podemos

The leader of the Catalan pro-independence Junts party, Jordi Turull, criticized Podemos for wanting to "implement a new Article 155 in terms of migration," referring to Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which limits the powers of Autonomous Communities in favor of the central government.

Podemos opposes delegating migration competencies to regions, which is why the Junts' leader said that the left-wing party "prefers to leave to the conservative People's Party and far-right Vox rather than the Catalan authorities" managing migrants. He said so as the two parties have more possibilities of leading the Spanish government, based on recent surveys.

"The transfer of powers is not to Junts; it is to the Catalan government," Jordi Turull said during a speech in Barcelona in front of business managers. He said that the Socialist government, led by president Salvador Illa, would handle these competencies.

Meanwhile, Podemos' leader, Ione Belarra, said that Junts' wish to take care of migration policies is just part of the battle against the Catalan far-right Aliança Catalana. Both right-wing parties are competing to have "a racist and hateful agenda."

"To pass racist laws, you will not be able to have Podemos' votes, and I believe everyone knew this for a very long time," Belarra said in an interview with Spanish public radio station RNE.