Crisis prompts ‘fear of foreigners'

Estarellas said that it is important the public at large reject the views of racists who want to blame all the country's economic ills on immigrants. “We have all got to reject extremism and face this kind of behaviour head on,” she claimed. “People feel threatened at their place of work or in school at a time of crisis, which clearly they don't when the country is enjoying a bonanza,” said Estarellas.

Furthermore, said the Director, there is no factual evidence which points to immigrants as the undisputed cause of the crisis. She said that the foreign community in the Balearics was a staunch supporter of government and that people originally from overseas were approaching local authorities - particularly the Cooperation department - to see how they could help in “these difficult times.” Estarellas said that although she didn't have up-to-the-minute data, it was common knowledge that foreign residents in the Balearics were starting to go back to their country of origin because of the economic situation and that the Islands no longer plays host to the volume of foreign residents that it once did. “There are many Argentinians,” Estarellas pointed out “who have taken Spanish nationality and even they are returning to Latin America. “Spain is losing its own national population,” she said. Estarellas explained that demographic shifts in population are frequently sparked by the growth of industry and the demand for labour, so the Balearics, she claimed, needs to be ready for “when these people return after economic recovery.” Estarellas was speaking yesterday on the occasion of Africa Day at a conference being held at Parliamentary offices in Palma entitled “Current problems of African people in the Balearic Islands”. The conference was attended by the President of the Balearic Parliament Pere Rotger and Aderrahim Oudrassi who is the President of the Federation of African Peoples in the Balearics.

Estarellas reminded those attending that there was a food crisis in the Horn of Africa and that representatives of African Associations had approached the Balearic government to do what it could to bring relief.

She highlighted the fact that unemployment and redundancy are facing all parts of society in the Balearics and appealed to the public at large to remember that the situation is even more unsettling for foreign communities, particularly those with low incomes such as many people from the African continent.

Pere Rotger said it was the responsibility of Parliament to ensure there was full integration in the Balearics at social, economic and educational levels.