Munar proposes quotas to limit number of immigrants

Maria Antonia Munar, president of the Council of Majorca, yesterday repeated her controversial call for quotas limiting the entry of immigrants to the island. The proposal was immediately slammed by Fernanda Caro, the social welfare minister.Yesterday, Munar proposed setting up quotas to limit the arrival of new immigrants to the island. She said that Majorca could not “solve the needs of Central and South America or Africa,” and so steps were needed to limit numbers. She did not indicate how this would be put into practice, nor did she say if the immigrants' financial resources or country of origin would be taken into account. “The quotas should be determined in keeping with Majorca's capacity to absorb new inhabitants. It is not a question of who wants to live in Majorca but rather that we cannot absorb more people on the island,” she was quoted as saying yesterday. Munar went on to say that all the political parties which signed the Progress Pact (which governs the Balearics) were agreed that Majorca could not “allow itself the luxury” of continuing to grow, “not even in the number of European residents, and even less in people in need, who require more educational, health and social services.”