Pedro Sánchez praises immigration while calling for the entry into force in 2025 of the European Pact which establishes more distributions

In Spain, the head of government Pedro Sánchez is opposing the anti-immigrant wave which is shaking Europe. Despite the migration crisis hitting Spain, the socialist gave a positive speech to Spanish deputies on Wednesday.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez seems to be an exception in Europe. According to him, immigration is an opportunity for the prosperity of the country. Wednesday October 9 in front of the country’s deputies, Pedro Sánchez began his speech by talking about Spain’s moral debt: “We Spaniards are children of immigration. We are not going to be the parents of xenophobia”he told the deputies.

The statesman himself has relatives who had to flee the Franco dictatorship in the last century and who settled in Germany, like many Spaniards. Pedro Sánchez therefore does not want us to demonize migrants who arrive in Spain from now on. To do this, he spoke directly to right-wing and far-right MPs, whom he accused of spreading hate speech: “Vox and the PP tell us that migrants endanger our loved ones, but the truth is that half of the people who work to care for our children, our parents and our grandparents are immigrantshe said. May they take care of them with respect and affection, as if they were their own family.” he added.

“This is the real contribution of migrants to our economy and our society, continued Pedro Sáncheza contribution similar and complementary to that of Spanish citizens. A contribution that should be maintained in the decades to come, if we want to overcome this demographic challenge and guarantee the prosperity and progress of our society.” On this subject, let us remember that the birth rate in Spain is one of the lowest in the European Union, with only 1.2 children per woman.

Pedro Sánchez also announced numerous measures to help migrants settle in Spain. Beyond morality, the president of the government wants to be pragmatic. He therefore presented a whole battery of measures to facilitate the integration of foreigners into the labor market, by limiting, for example, all bureaucratic procedures.

However, Sánchez is well aware that integration problems are straining relationships in some Spanish neighborhoods. He therefore announced a “national plan for integration and intercultural coexistence” throughout Spain, for avoid the mistakes made by other countries.

Furthermore, Pedro Sánchez will demand in Brussels “a policy of co-responsibility and solidarity” in terms of migration, “by demanding that all of Europe become effectively involved in the management of migratory flows received by Mediterranean countries”.

To this end, he announced that Spain will ask the European Commission to bring forward the entry into force of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, so that its provisions, regarding border control and distribution of migrants, be implemented in the summer of 2025 and not in the summer of 2026. The pact provides in particular for processing a portion of asylum requests at the Union’s external borders and introduces a solidarity mechanism between Member States in the event of mass arrivals.