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Spain: Hardening of the government's policy on immigration

01 August 2008

Details, released in advance on behalf of the new Spanish employment and immigration minister, Celestino Corbacho, signal a clear hardening of migration policies that is reflected in his claim: "In this country, all the immigrants who are needed - and not one more"

The most recent measure to be proposed is aimed at restricting the right to family reunion, limiting it to the spouse and children who are still minors. This measure complements plans to promote returns to countries of origin through incentives for migrants who are unemployed, offering them the opportunity to receive unemployment benefits in exchange for returning to their countries, giving up their residence rights and employment permits and committing not to return to Spain for a minimum of three years. The toughening of measures concerning Centros de Internamiento (CIEs, detention centres) accompanies the Directive approved in the European Parliament on 18 June. The maximum detention period, which cannot currently exceed 40 days, will be extended to at least 60 days.

Overall, these developments go hand-in-hand with efforts to reach an agreement to lay the foundations of a European immigration policy. The Spanish are working particularly closely with the French government, and they are united in their desire to close off access routes to the EU for those people who are not wanted, according to the interests of European economies and to expel those who are residing there irregularly. This linking of the French and Spanish governments' immigration policies was revealed on 27 June during the bilateral summit in Zaragoza, at which they sought to reach conclusions that will be presented to the rest of their European partners.