Junts per Catalunya intends to obstruct the deployment of the decree for the extraordinary regularization of migrants because it sees gaps in the procedure that should make it possible for about 500,000 immigrants who are in Spain irregularly to join the system, contribute, pay taxes, and have rights and obligations. “Catalan is excluded as a requirement when acquiring residency,” Junts criticizes to argue its outright rejection of the initiative, and also warns that the regularization process is causing, suddenly and abruptly, “a serious collapse of municipal services in Catalonia.”
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The initiative for half a million people who are in an irregular situation to have papers is “one of the great milestones of this legislature,” according to the Government. “Neither the renewal procedures nor the website of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations are available in Catalan,” protests Junts, positioning itself in the critical bloc with PP and Vox while announcing it will launch a “political and institutional offensive” against the Royal Decree.
Junts considers “the marginalization of a language as a criterion of integration” unacceptable and has explained that it is preparing legal actions to appeal the rule. The offensive opens the door to judicializing the matter in the “European sphere,” according to a statement.
The party led by Carles Puigdemont claims that the Government has modified the decree to “exclude” Catalan as a requirement when acquiring residency, so that it “only appears in an optional integration report in specific cases.” The pro-independence party has tasked its legal department with preparing a complaint before European institutions for “violation of various directives and the marginalization of a co-official language as a criterion of integration.”
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The way the process is approached is also a reason for rejection by Junts: “a decree law that could not be corrected or voted on in Congress and externalizes all problems to the municipalities.” In statements to Catalunya Ràdio, Junts’ spokesperson in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, explained that her party will try to “stop” the decree because this process “cannot be done without control, rigor, and resources.” Nogueras lamented the lack of “reaction” from the Salvador Illa Government: “An honest president of Catalonia would have already stood up against this outrage because without control and resources our country cannot take on this operation.”
The Government defends that the regularization process “has a triple legitimacy: social, political, and economic,” as well as having “all legal guarantees and the endorsement of important organizations and studies.” The employers’ association Foment del Treball, chaired by former CiU deputy Josep Sánchez Llibre, has made public a study according to which 140,000 immigrants will be missing each year over the next decade for employment not to suffer. “Without immigration, we cannot produce and we are not competitive. Public authorities have to listen to us,” insisted its president, Josep Sánchez Llibre.
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