Isabel Blanco, the number two of the regional government and counselor of Family and Equal Opportunities, explains that the Ministry has avoided submitting to a vote the guidelines for distributing unaccompanied minors that were already previously developed and approved in Congress to benefit the central government’s partners. She describes the urgency of the meeting as a mere excuse to hold it without providing any information to the communities, as the minister had already announced its convening three weeks ago.
May 5, 2025
Castilla y León | Family and Equal Opportunities Department
The Ministry of Youth and Childhood has canceled, during the meeting of the Sectorial Conference on Childhood held today, the vote through which the autonomous communities were going to express their position on the distribution criteria of unaccompanied minors previously approved in Congress by the Government and its partners, precisely without considering the position of the autonomous communities. The Vice President of the Junta of Castilla y León and counselor of Family and Equal Opportunities, Isabel Blanco, who attended the meeting, has criticized the attitude of the central government for avoiding a defeat.
As Isabel Blanco explained, convening the meeting urgently makes no sense, as first, the minister responsible for the Ministry had already announced such convocation almost three weeks ago —which loses that urgency— and also, it is classified as urgent to use it as an excuse and not provide any information: neither the data that all autonomous communities have sent them so that, based on them, the number of unaccompanied minors to be distributed by each territory is established, and therefore, neither the number of minors nor the corresponding funding.
Furthermore, the Vice President recounted that the initial goal of the Spanish Government was for the autonomous communities to attend the meeting to approve distribution criteria that had already been previously approved in the Congress of Deputies without their input. Specifically, through Royal Decree-Law 2/2025, of March 18, which approves urgent measures to guarantee the best interest of children and adolescents in the face of extraordinary migratory contingencies. However, the Minister of Youth and Childhood canceled the vote, thus avoiding a foreseeable defeat of the Government’s and its partners’ position.
The Vice President of the Junta expressed leaving the meeting with a high degree of astonishment. The Government understood that there would not be unanimity and prevented the vote, added Isabel Blanco, who affirmed that the central government made several excuses to avoid rejection. In the end, she concluded, instead of seeking consensus, it will impose its criteria to continue the permanent concession to its partners.
Regarding the Royal Decree-Law itself, the Vice President and counselor recalled that Castilla y León is one of the communities that will file a constitutional appeal against what is considered an invasion of competences.