“Not so long ago, Spain was also a country of migrants, and many fellow Spaniards sought a better life elsewhere, a destiny that was impossible for them in their own country,” said Pedro Sánchez during a visit to Mauritania on August 27. The Spanish government’s socialist president wants to make a dissonant voice heard, with an empathetic and positive view of migration, in a Europe where it is most often approached only through the prism of security.
In Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, where he was looking for solutions to the migration crisis in the Canary Islands – the number of migrants landing there has doubled since the start of the year, with 27,000 arrivals – Sánchez extolled the benefits of immigration, provided it is legal. “The contribution of migrant workers to our economy, our social system and the sustainability of our pensions is fundamental. For Spain, migration is synonymous with wealth, development and prosperity,” he said in Nouakchott. “Contrary to the rhetoric which, unfortunately, is starting to gain ground in Europe, migration is not a problem,” Sánchez continued. It’s a necessity, which implies certain problems. That’s why we need to manage the phenomenon of migration in a humane, safe and orderly way, for the benefit of our respective societies.”
Remonstrances from the opposition
This speech, at a time when immigration has become the main concern of Spaniards according to the Centre for Sociological Research, earned him a rebuke from the leader of the opposition, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo (People’s Party, right), who considered it “irresponsible” to “encourage a call effect during the worst crisis of irregular immigration.”
Sánchez wants to offer a new perspective to would-be migrants and a message of tolerance to Spaniards. In the three African countries, in addition to the usual cooperation programs, the head of government has signed agreements aimed at developing circular migration. The idea of hiring workers in their country of origin to cover seasonal needs in certain sectors is not new. Since 2000, there have been circular migration programs between Spain and several countries, most notably Morocco, which sends several thousand women to work in the strawberry and soft fruit plantations of Andalusia every year. Participants in these programs can work in Spain for up to nine months a year for four consecutive years, after which they can apply for a two-year residence permit.
In 2022, the government tried to incorporate more sectors of activity and countries into these programs to make it easier for employers to regulate the situation afterward. By 2023, 17,200 people had entered circular migration programs. Since the beginning of 2024, this figure has exceeded 20,000, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
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Publish date : 2024-09-28 15:36:00
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