Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez unveiled plans for promoting immigration to the country to help its growth and to fill in job positions.
The PM was speaking in the Spanish parliament on Wednesday when he exposed his new policy, a sharp contrast with most European leaders in a time when most countries are looking for ways to curb immigration after surges in far-right support. Sanchez presented Spain’s choice as binary: “Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed-off, poor country.” He also recalled recent Spanish history, by mentioning the “more than two million Spaniards” that left the country during the regime of Francisco Franco. “We Spaniards are children of emigration, we are not going to be the parents of xenophobia,” he said, mentioning a “moral debt” the country owes to older generations.
The choice to welcome immigration with more resources for integration and less red tape for residency applications has also pragmatic aspects.
“We have elderly people who need a caregiver and can’t find one. Companies that are looking for programmers, technicians, bricklayers and cannot find them. Rural schools that need children so that they don’t have to close their doors,” Sánchez said, adding also that migrants tend to work more and have less access to social services. According to the OECD, Spain’s high level of migration is helping the country with filling job vacancies in the labour market.
Sánchez’s migrant’s stance will surely stir local far-right party Vox and a conservative People’s Party that it is getting an increasingly hard stance on migrants. However, Sánchez seemed ready for the confrontation and urged Spaniards to not fall for stereotypes and prejudices about migrants.
“I want citizens to understand that this is not a battle between Spaniards and foreigners, or Christians and Muslims or saints and criminals. It is a battle between truth and lies, between tales and data, between what is in the interests of our society and the interests of a few who see fear and hatred of foreigners as their only path to power.”
