The government of Pedro Sanchez distanced himself from the interior ministers of the European Union, who approved on Monday a regulation aimed at simplifying and accelerating the expulsions of irregular immigrants.
Spain isolated itself by voting against one of the new measures introduced: the creation of deportation centers in third countries, considered “safe”.
The argument put forward by Fernando Grande Marlaska is that although Spain “is absolutely involved in the fight against irregular immigration”, it must defend the fundamental values of the EU and human rights.
It is legitimate to question the blind spots of the controversial subject via Meloni which ended up being imposed in the EU.
It is not for nothing that many have expressed reasonable doubts about whether some of the countries designated to process asylum applications actually guarantee the safety of deportees. The possibility that return centers could lead to indefinite detentions that could undermine immigrants’ rights was also raised.
But this debate has already taken place within the EU over the past eight months. And once it’s settled, Spain should now worry about reaching agreement on a common position with the rest of the EU.
Especially when Spain has been classified by the European Commission as a State subject to “disproportionate migratory pressure”, due to the high volume of irregular arrivals, particularly along the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.
The Government must address the concern that its status as a gateway for immigration to the continent arouses among its partners, avoiding becoming a drain that threatens the safety of the community.
And that requires a clear immigration policy, something Sánchez lacks. This government has limited itself to rhetorically proclaiming cooperation with countries of origin, while perpetuating an economic model dependent on immigration which favors the attraction effect that the EU is now trying to reverse.
It is worth remembering that since Sánchez has been president, migratory flows have become uncontrolled, with more than four million legal entries and 348,000 irregular entries.
The fact that Spain continues to avoid the tightening of immigration policy that is underway throughout Europe indicates that The government is not fixing its deficient border controls.
With its non-existent management of migratory flows, the government which defends human rights before its peers ironically contributes to generating serious humanitarian problems for immigrants.
Without going any further, the crisis of minors kept missing in the Canary Islands. Young people who, after reaching the age of majority, fall into a legal limbo. They have no papers, no possibility of integration, no access to work or housing, which constitutes fertile ground for their fall into marginality.
And it’s not even a question of ideology. The only country governed by social democrats besides Spain – Denmark – took charge of defending in the Council the need for put an end to the “perverse incentives” of the current immigration model.
As in other recent debates – the Gaza crisis, the amendments to the green transition or the question of defense spending – Spain once again presents itself as the discordant voice in a situation of geopolitical threats which advises against weakening the collective voice of the community bloc.
And it is a symptom that our country plays an increasingly secondary role in European governance and on the world stage, as This is also proven by the exclusion of Sánchez from the main high-level meetings between European leaders to discuss peace in Ukraine.
The abnormal Sánchez continues to break the consensus, but it is Spain – and the rest of the EU – that is paying the price for his capricious attitude.
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