Spain’s mass migrant regularisation has caused fierce debate within the country, but media reports suggest the measure has now caught the attention of powers beyond the bloc.
Spain’s mass regularisation of migrants is raising eyebrows in Washington and Brussels, reports suggest.
The recent proposal by Spain’s leftist government to regularise over 500,000 undocumented migrants has caused controversy not only within the country, but now increasingly beyond its borders with Washington and the EU reacting to the move.
For the Europeans, the worry is that the mass regularisation could conflict with European common migration policy and have implications for the Schengen area more widely.
READ ALSO: Spain to offer legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants
The European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, warned recently that “a residence permit is not a blank cheque” and that Spain must “ensure” that its decision to regularise more than half a million people does not have “negative consequences” on the rest of the bloc.
“Migration is a challenge shared between the Member States and the European Union (…). Some matters remain the responsibility of the Member States and, at the same time, that responsibility means that each Member State must ensure that its decisions do not have negative consequences in other parts of the European Union. This is a general principle of our Union,” Brunner stated during a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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As The Local has outlined in previous coverage, the one-year residency permit that will be granted to undocumented migrants currently living in Spain does not, and will not, give them residency or employment rights in other EU member states.
In his comments, however, Brunner did acknowledge that mass regularisations of immigrants is the responsibility of individual countries.
In fact, similar mass regularisations are not uncommon in the EU. Over forty have already been carried out by a dozen countries in recent years.
Spain itself has had nine mass regularisations. Some of these were approved by Spain’s People’s Party (PP), which is part of the European People’s Party (EPP), which Brunner belongs to in the European Parliament.
Nonetheless, Sánchez’s immigration amnesty is raising eyebrows and the controversy has now reportedly crossed the Atlantic.
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According to Spanish newspaper El Español, the US administration has requested written explanations from the European Commission about the Spanish plan on the basis that the measure could have an impact beyond the national sphere.
A senior official in the Trump administration contacted a senior European counterpart to convey his “concern” about the measure.
Spain has consistently bucked the trend on migration issues in recent months. The Sánchez government has been one of the few pro-immigration voices on the continent, highlighting the humanitarian argument while reiterating that migration brings economic benefits at a time when Spain, like many countries in the EU, is in demographic decline.
This comes as countries as diverse as Denmark to Italy and Switzerland have pursued migration crackdowns in recent years, whether practically or rhetorically.
The EU’s own tougher migration stance was made clear on Tuesday in Strasbourg when MEPs approved by a comfortable majority the creation of a list of safe countries of origin, something that will make it easier to reject asylum applications from applicants from those countries.
They also approved changes to the concept of “safe third country,” a move that opens the door to the creation of deportation centres outside European borders, a proposal that Spain has strongly rejected in the past.
Figures from within the EU have made clear Spain’s countervailing positions on migration, stating that the mass regularisation goes directly against the anti-migration sentiment across the area.
Speaking to Euronews, one EU official stated simply: “It is not in line with the European Union’s spirit on migration”.
READ ALSO: The myths surrounding Spain’s mass regularisation of migrants
