Jerez De La Frontera and London — As many European Union international locations demand the bloc to clamp down on migration amid a surge in toughen for sparkling-wing political parties, Spain is bucking the trend and insists Europe’s aging population desires controlled migration to enhance its financial system.
The Spanish authorities said there may per chance be a need for younger workers amid what it known as a ‘demographic winter’ on the continent, and said the EU have to take this into myth because it forges novel migration and asylum principles which aim to alleviate the ongoing pressures on its exterior borders.
Canary Islands
Better than 42,000 irregular migrants occupy arrived in Spain to this point this yr according to authorities figures, a two-thirds increase from 2023. Most advance on Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, which lie higher than 100 kilometers from the African coastline.
It’s one in all the deadliest routes to Europe. Final yr alone, around 6,000 migrants died attempting the crossing, according to human rights groups. For quite plenty of, the hazards are outweighed by the dream of a brand novel existence in Europe.
‘Double effort’
In a tiny lecture room in the Andalusian metropolis of Jerez de la Frontera, a neighborhood of migrants is taking lessons in traditional Spanish. “If you make it here, the only thing you have to do is go to class, to keep learning, to talk to people. You have to be an open person, especially as an immigrant. You have to make a double effort, and that’s what we’re doing now,” said 22-yr-ragged Malian nationwide Macire Konare, who arrived in the Canary Islands earlier this yr sooner than being transferred to the Spanish mainland.
For the migrants, there may per chance be hope of the next existence. The Spanish authorities additionally sees financial doable.
Aging population
Love many Western international locations, Spain’s population is aging like a flash. It desperately desires younger workers to build the financial system and pay the taxes that fund its disclose pensions and healthcare. On the replace hand, the nation’s beginning charge final yr hit its lowest level ever recorded at below 1.2, amongst the bottom in Europe.
Speaking at a European Union leaders’ summit final Thursday, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said immigration is distinguished for the continent.
“Our present and future competitiveness, the economic growth of our country, the sustainability of our welfare model also depend on migration. And our credibility before the rest of the world depends also on how we deal with migration policy,” Sanchez said.
“We must manage migration flows from that perspective, that of the demographic challenge, that of how to respond to the demographic winter that Europe is suffering. And I believe we have valuable tools such as the migration and asylum pact,” he added.
Migration pact
The EU’s novel 10-point migration and asylum pact is due to advance into power in the summer season of 2026 – though Spain is calling for the settlement to be applied earlier.
On the replace hand, the particulars are but to be finalized. Immigration remains one in all essentially the most controversial considerations in European politics.
Genuine-wing, anti-immigration parties occupy gained contemporary European, nationwide or disclose elections in Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, France, Italy, Sweden and Hungary since 2022. There may per chance be growing stress on the EU to finish harder migration controls.
Morocco accusations
Spain’s a long way-sparkling Vox social gathering has additionally made inroads amongst voters frustrated with high immigration. Juan Sergio Redondo is the chief of the Vox social gathering in Ceuta, one in all two Spanish enclaves on the northern African coastline, alongside with Melilla, captured in the 15th and 16th centuries and which now own essentially the most easy suppose land borders between Europe and Africa.
In Might perhaps merely 2021, around 8,000 migrants breached the Ceuta border fence in the condominium of three days. The frontiers continue to advance below daily stress from migrants seeking to enter Spanish and EU territory.
“Morocco uses immigrants with the idea of blackmailing Spain and the European Union,” Redondo informed VOA. “That is to say, Morocco does not comply with the obligations under its agreements with the European Union for controlling migration… if it wants to obtain some economic or political benefit, it opens the doors and looks the other way.”
Morocco denies using migration to blackmail Europe and lays its gain territorial say over Ceuta and Melilla. Nonetheless it be not simplest the a long way sparkling accusing Morocco of exploiting immigration considerations.
“The government of Morocco is using migration as a tool to obtain political goals from Spain and from Europe. And the real problem is that the Moroccan government is achieving their goals through permanent blackmail,” said Jesus Verdu Baeza, an partner professor of public international regulation on the University of Cadiz.
Migration steadiness
On the identical time, Spain recognizes that Europe would not continue to exist without migration, Baeza said.
“We are a country with strong values, and we want this balance between controlling migration and offering asylum-seekers a legal way to enter and to respect their rights. We need them. Here in Spain, without migrants, we have no fruits in the supermarket. Possibly, the economy simply could not function properly,” he informed VOA.
As section of its novel procedure, Spain is drafting a “Strategy for Africa” to teach what it describes because the industrial and social transformation of the continent, “with a focus on young people.”
“Spain is increasingly aware that Africa’s present and future, its prosperity, as well as its security and progress towards truly inclusive and sustainable development, are strategic interests of the highest order for our nation. The desire for a closer partnership with Africa also reflects deep-rooted values among the Spanish people. Therefore, the new strategy cements the African continent as a priority, with a greater focus on West Africa and the Sahel,” according to an August press unencumber from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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EU patrols
While seeking to facilitate trusty migration, Spain is trying to stop irregular migrants arriving on its shores. Madrid desires the EU’s border agency Frontex to recognize permission to patrol African coastlines to intercept the migrant boats.
During a tour toddle to to west Africa in August, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez signed agreements with Mauritania and Gambia to address folks smuggling. “It is also essential that people who have arrived illegally in Spain return to their own countries. Mainly because such a return sends a clear and strong message of deterrence to the mafias and those who put themselves in their hands,” Sanchez said at a press convention in Senegal on August 28.
Migrant warning
Spain is seeking a lengthy-term solution to migration that works for Africa and for Europe – and an discontinue to the deadly journeys across the Atlantic.
Twenty-one-yr-ragged Ahmed Qarrab, who traveled to the Canary Islands from Morocco, offered a message to others considering the identical shuffle.
“I spent three days at sea. The truth is that it was terrible. I want to give some advice to my countrymen and friends: do not come by boat, because it is very dangerous. If you want to come here, you have to find a legal way,” he informed VOA.
Alfonso Beato contributed to this anecdote.
