Pedro Sánchez’s trip to Africa this week took place in a very particular context: in the midst of a significant increase in migratory pressure on the coasts of Ceuta and the Canary Islands and in the midst of an offensive by the right, the extreme and the other, in its anti-immigration discourse. Hoping that in the coming months the flow of arrivals at the southern border will increase, the President of the Government has scheduled his tour of Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal with the aim of sending a message of cooperation with some of the main countries of origin. . and confronting the position of the opposition, which directly accuses the Executive of contributing to the “migratory emergency” with policies that imply a “call effect”.
During his tour of Africa, Pedro Sánchez reached bilateral agreements with the authorities of the three countries to promote circular migration programs with Spain. The president himself announced this upon his arrival on African soil, Tuesday in the Mauritanian capital.
“For us, the migratory phenomenon is a question of moral principles, solidarity and dignity. But also of rationality. The contribution of migrant workers to our economy is fundamental for social security, pensions… For Spain, migration is wealth, development and prosperity,” said the Spanish president.
His announcement, based on the search for legal migratory flows that the Spanish president wants to promote as a formula to reduce irregular arrivals on the Spanish coasts, and which is already being carried out with other countries such as Morocco or Ecuador, was immediately criticized by the Popular Party. “It is irresponsible to encourage a call effect in the worst crisis of irregular migration. Instead of going to Africa to fight the mafias, Sánchez promotes Spain as a destination. Unlike the rest of the EU. Whoever comes, contract of origin and letter of compliance with our laws,” said the opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, on his social networks.
In reality, what Feijóo demanded was exactly what Pedro Sánchez had proposed during his trip to Africa and exactly the same program, that of circular migration, implemented in our country for decades and also applied by the PP governments with sectors such as the Moroccan seasonal strawberry workers. But that did not stop the popular from continuing their offensive.
“While Germany and Italy talk about mass expulsions and going to the countries of origin to stop the departures of these irregular immigrants, Sánchez talks about mass regularizations and goes to the countries of origin to encourage departures, which is of course the opposite of what should be done at that time,” said PP parliamentary spokesman Miguel Tellado in an interview on EsRadio.
Once again, the political debate on the management of immigration has become the umpteenth head-on clash between the government and the PP, which in recent weeks has brought its position closer to the postulates defended by the extreme right and has even come to expressly support the xenophobic statements by the mayor of Badalona, Xavier García-Albiol. And it did not take long for the Executive to criticize the angry reaction of the opposition.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, directly criticized the PP’s “lack of humanity” in matters of migration. And he accused Feijóo of following in the footsteps of Vox’s “xenophobic and alarmist discourse.” “Feijóo adheres to the most xenophobic theses of the extreme right, the PP presents itself behind Vox in a xenophobic and alarmist discourse and above all that seeks to divide Spanish society,” the minister denounced.
In the same vein, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, highlighted the follow-up of the main opposition party with the extreme right regarding the rights of migrants. “The only appeal effect is that of Vox on the PP. Vox sows hatred and the PP feeds it. We must leave the extreme right aside,” said Bolaños, who also called on Feijóo to “responsibility and humanity.” “This is what we ask of the PP. Be more responsible and humane in the face of a problem like this and do not get carried away,” he concluded.
And in the midst of this shock, there has been a change in the discourse of the President of the Government. After leaving behind his visits to Mauritania and Gambia, he landed in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, to toughen his message on the situation of migrants who arrive in Spain in an irregular situation. “The return is essential because it transmits a dissuasive, clear, clear and strong message to the mafias and those who put themselves in their hands, but essentially because European and Spanish legislation requires it,” said Sánchez during an event at the Cervantes Institute in Dakar where the “Africa Advances Alliance” initiative was launched to encourage investment in Senegal.
It was in this speech that he publicly raised for the first time during his tour the need for the return of people who arrived illegally in Spain. Pedro Sánchez assured that security is an absolute priority and that is why he will continue to support Senegal in this area in general and in particular in matters of migration. He also regretted that criminal networks of human trafficking “continue to grow and play with the lives of thousands of people” and have come to associate it with other crimes such as “illicit trafficking and terrorism”. “To combat this threat”, said Sánchez, “the return of those who arrive irregularly in Spain is essential”.
Senegal, one of the main countries of origin
Sánchez toughened his speech after arriving in Senegal, a country that, although it accepts the repatriations of its citizens, does not guarantee them at the frequency desired by the Spanish government. In fact, Senegal has kept the repatriation flights suspended between 2018 and 2023, with some more punctual returns in the meantime. The president took advantage of his visit to the country, the first after the inauguration of his new counterpart, Basiirou Diomaye Faye, to highlight the interest of the Spanish executive in accelerating the expulsions.
Police sources admit that the materialization of expulsions is complicated due to the obstacles that have arisen with the countries of origin. Some of them are related to bureaucratic obstacles, difficulties in verifying nationality and identity, or problems related to the damage that the forced acceptance of a large number of emigrants can have on public opinion – with the consequence of a decrease in remittances that arrive in the country. country.
“The execution of returns often depends on these countries and with some, like Mauritania, it works well and with others, reasonably, like with Senegal,” sources say. Among the three countries visited, Gambia is the one that presents the most complications in accepting the repatriation of its nationals.
According to the latest Eurostat data, Spain is the fifth EU country to have carried out the highest number of expulsions of non-EU migrants in the first quarter of 2024, having returned 2,500 people. Across the European Union, Member States returned 30,570 non-EU migrants, 11.4% more than in the same period of the previous year. In any case, the low rate of expulsions compared to irregular entries received is a situation shared in a good part of European countries, due to the difficulties that have arisen with the countries of origin.
The government’s plan outlined at the beginning of the trip was to focus the agenda on the need to promote regular migration routes and cooperation, avoiding issues more related to security. In fact, no member of the Ministry of the Interior, in charge of border control and repatriations, was part of the group. It was only in his third speech of the tour, in his first appearance on Senegalese soil, that Sánchez decided to introduce elements related to the field of security and crime into his speech, with an emphasis on returns. His words helped the PP rush to demand an apology from the PSOE leaders who accused the PP of lacking humanity and criminalizing immigration.
The rest of Sánchez’s speeches were marked by a more friendly tone, focused on the need for regular migration and the search for ways to promote it. In this sense, the only concrete measure announced to promote it is the signing of circular migration agreements with each of the countries visited. This is a formula, of limited scope at the moment, by which Spain allows the hiring in their country of origin of a certain number of citizens to work for a few months in sectors such as agriculture or construction, on the condition that they return home once they finish their professional activity.
