2024-10-23 10:07:00
But there is more than meets the eye and the country’s relationship with the hot topic is complex, analysts told AFP.
Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s plan to send asylum seekers to camps in non-EU Albania while their claims are processed made headlines at last week’s EU summit.
The meeting ended with a call for more and quicker returns of migrants and the exploration of “new ways” to combat illegal immigration, in a potential allusion to the Italian plan.
Poland has proposed partially suspending asylum rights for irregular migrants, and far-right parties with anti-immigration platforms influence politics in France, Hungary, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
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Swimming against the tide in Brussels was the left-wing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who said that projects such as the Italy-Albania agreement create more problems than they solve.
“Safe and orderly” immigration is part of the answer to challenges such as Europe’s aging population, workforce shortages and growing pressure on welfare states, he said.
“Ultimately, the Europe we want to be is at stake… we must address migration thinking about future generations and not about the next elections,” Sánchez said.
“Unique case”
According to Blanca Garcés, senior researcher at the Center for International Affairs in Barcelona, Spain is “a unique case in the European context”.
It stands out for its ongoing program of legalizing migrants’ status after three years of residency, and successive left-wing governments since 2018 have further eased the procedure, he noted.
Unlike other European countries, immigration has not fueled political polarization in Spain, where the far-right Vox party initially gained popularity for other reasons, notably a separatist crisis in the northeastern region of Catalonia, Garcés said .
Spain’s relatively young democracy, with an emphasis on rights, its long history of emigration and the needs of its informal economy – where migrants play an essential role – also contribute, he added.
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Spain has also adopted a more welcoming tone despite being at the forefront of illegal immigration.
Thousands of migrants crammed into often ramshackle boats from West Africa are reaching the Canary Islands in ever-increasing numbers, overwhelming local authorities in the Atlantic archipelago.
During an August visit to Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia, key countries of origin of potential irregular migrants, Sánchez called for “circular migration”.
This would allow people to work in Spain for a limited period to meet workforce needs before returning home, reducing the temptation to dangerous illegal routes.
Sánchez’s position is “a pragmatic vision” both politically and economically, said Gemma Pinyol-Jiménez, head of migration and diversity at Instrategies.
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Instead of embracing far-right discourse on immigration, Sánchez offers a different narrative, partly with the election results in mind.
“If you believe the far-right discourse, people will end up voting for the original,” Pinyol-Jiménez said. Sánchez’s latest comments in Brussels “are good signs, but they are not enough”.
“Ambiguous” policy.
A more “ambiguous” reality brings Spain closer to its neighbors on immigration, said Lorenzo Gabrielli, a senior researcher at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
Even if Sánchez rejects migrant centers in non-EU countries, Spain aligns itself with cooperation with Morocco and the externalization of borders, Gabrielli said.
The imposing fences of the Spanish North African exclaves of Melilla and Ceuta, on the border with Morocco, exude the image of “fortress Europe”.
Spain’s migration policy is “not necessarily very innovative or open” but appears as an alternative as European neighbors move further to the right, Gabrielli said.
There has been a “turning point” in the narrative, but it remains to be seen how to transform this into more flexible policies, Gabrielli added.
The newspaper El Pais reported this week that an immigration reform, tabled next month, could regularize tens of thousands of migrants and reduce waiting times for residence and work permits.
Amnesty International Spain welcomed Sánchez’s opposition to the Italy-Albania agreement, but highlighted the country’s inability to deal with the crisis in the Canary Islands, where migrant reception centers are saturated.
The failure to agree between different parties on a national redistribution of unaccompanied minors is a “dereliction of duty” attributable to an “unacceptable lack of political will”, spokesman Carlos de las Heras told AFP.
And while immigration remains “rather depoliticized” compared to other European countries, that could change as Vox and the ultranationalist Catalan party Alianca Catalana focus on the issue, Garces said.
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