Vox demands in Murcia to eliminate the educational program for Moroccan students to agree on accounts | Spain

Vox has put a new red line to the PP of Fernando López Miras to support the budgets of the Region of Murcia, once again, linked to his Islamophobic speech. The objective of the training of Santiago Abascal is now that educational centers stop imparting the Moroccan Arab and Culture Program (PLACM), a state project that has been developing 15 years and voluntarily is recorded by students who request it during extracurricular schedule. The regional president recognizes the progress of conversations with Vox and points out that they are « trying to negotiate » to carry out public accounts and has reiterated that their opinion on immigration policies or the European green pact is the same « for months » and « coincides with what Vox has said in recent days. »

The new Vox battle horse appeared for the first time in the plenary last Friday, March 21 and moves the prospects of an immediate agreement to carry out the budgets of the Autonomous Community after the reached by the two matches in the Valencian Communitysince the ultraconservatives want a clear pronouncement in the regional parliament on this issue.

The deputy of Vox Virginia Martínez was in charge of taking the issue to the Palestra with an interpellation to the Minister of Education, Víctor Marín, on the aforementioned program, with a speech full of racist comments and inaccuracies, beginning with the financing of the same, which is in charge of the State, despite the fact that the deputy insisted that it is paid with funds of the autonomous administration. When the counselor clarified that the program exceeds the regional powers and is based on a bilateral agreement between Spain and Morocco, the deputy warned: « The Ministry points out and the Ministry, shoots. » Throughout his speech, he offered an apocalyptic image of the consequences of this project, which he described as « a setback in the integration of young people who come from Morocco » and a way to encourage « rapid erosion and replacement of our Judeo -Christian and Greco -Roman culture, of our identity, our own language and traditions. » « Our tractions are renounced and on top of that, a cultural replacement laboratory is made of schools that we have to finance with own funds, » he insisted during the debate.

In reality, the transcendence of this training project is very limited: of the 700 educational centers in the Region of Murcia, only 10 have requested to give it the next course, all of them, with a high percentage of students of Moroccan origin, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Education. 348 students of a total of 320,000 children and adolescents enrolled in the Autonomous Community, that is, 0.1% of the total students.

All of them, as the counselor insisted during his speech, do so voluntarily and out of school hours, as part of his extracurricular training. The teaching staff imparting the program, however, does carry out a transcendental function during the school time: they act as mediators with families, something that Marín defined as a “crucial need” in some centers and that has helped improve the integration of students of foreign origin, reduce abandonment and school failure, promote the inclusion of these families in Spanish society and “encourage respect between cultures”. « We talk about a program that mainly focuses its actions on educational mediation, which acts as a bridge between families and educators, facilitating communication and creating an environment of mutual trust, » and thanks to which teachers can better address the specific needs of students, promoting equal opportunities, he insisted during his speech. The spokesman of the Popular Group in the Congress of Deputies, Miguel Tellado, said Tuesday that the budgets in Murcia « will not violate the ideological line of the PP », as in the Valencian Community, reports Elsa García de Blas.

Since the Ministry of Education they have put the focus on which the program is developed in most autonomous communities in Spain and, in the case of the Region of Murcia, for 15 years without generating any type of controversy. The program remained between 2021 and 2023, When the Ministry of Education was directed by Vox, which became part of the regional government after the motion of failed censure raised by PSOE and Citizens. In that period, under the orders of the then VOX counselor Mabel Campuzano, the current counselor held the position of General Director of Human Resources, Educational Planning and Evaluation of the Ministry. At no time did any conflict propose with this program. It also remained in force at the beginning of the current legislature, with Vox again in the regional government, that abandoned last summer. In addition, the Autonomous Community currently has other similar programs for students from Romania and Ukraine, and has also had them for students of French and German origin in the past.

However, those of Santiago Abascal do not seem willing to give up in this new crusade: its regional leader, José Ángel Antelo, announced Monday that the party had registered a motion in the Regional Assembly to request the elimination of the program, so that the PP will have the possibility of showing its rejection of it. The skills in education, he said, are from the Autonomous Community and, therefore, may not apply this state agreement. « The PP has to choose, » he settled.

In an act with journalists in Cartagena, López Miras He has reiterated the position of the Ministry of this educational project, and has insisted that the regional government has no competences for its withdrawal, nor does it allocate “a single euro” to its financing. In any case, he has admitted that his team is negotiating with those of Abascal to carry out the accounts: « We are trying to negotiate, we are giving up. We are aware that in a negotiation you have to leave hairs in the cat, » he said, and has insisted that this will to reach agreements must be “by both parties”, so Vox also has to show his disposition to the pact.

Asked if he is willing to change his position on immigration policies or the European green pact to approve the accounts, he has insisted that his opinion is the same « for months » and « coincides with what Vox has said in recent days. » In that sense, he recalled that the Murcian government has been showing months against agreeing a migration policy with Pedro Sánchez, even more after the agreement reached with Junts, and has reiterated that the Region of Murcia is “exceeded” in its Ability to host unaccompanied migrantsso he will not or participate in the proposed distribution.

As for the environmental policies of the European Union, it has reiterated that it is necessary to change many of them so as not to “suffocate” the agricultural sector, and has insisted that its government has demanded on numerous occasions measured as the imposition of clauses I wait for third countries or reduction of bureaucracy. In any case, he has insisted that support for regional budgets should depend on issues that are likely to be modified through them and not « national and partisan issues. »

Vox already put in a dilemma similar to the PP at the beginning of March, when he also led to the regional assembly a motion, which received the support of the popular, for Promote the repatriation of migrants not accompanied to their countries of origin. As in the case of the educational program, it is a matter of difficult real application, since the powers in the field are of the State and not of the Autonomous Community.