Barcelona city council has said more state aid will be needed to help settle refugees and migrants as the Catalan capital prepares to take in 100 people from the rescue ship Aquarius.
Ignasi Calbó, the co-ordinator of the Barcelona City of Refugees programme, said that Pedro Sánchez’s new Socialist government needed to back up its humanitarian gesture with money and policies.
“If it’s committed on the issue of refugees, the Sánchez government has no option but to provide resources,” he said. “There could be 300 more Aquarius this year so there needs to be a consistent policy.”
The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, also called earlier this week for the central government to fulfil its obligations. “Cities can’t do it all themselves. We need policies and resources that allow us to plan for this,” she said.
Since the Barcelona City of Refugees plan was launched in 2015, the city council has spent €6m (£5.2m) attending to 11,600 refugees and illegal immigrants. Colau has asked the new Madrid government to re-establish the €200m refugee reception fund that was abolished in 2011.
“The government’s gesture has to be accompanied by resources,” Calbó said. “We’ve had 10 years of the People’s party who have done nothing to deal with refugees and immigration and have done nothing for the cities that are in the frontline when it comes to migration.”
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