“An act of normalization”: Spain launches a vast plan to regularize undocumented immigrants

It’s a shocking decision. Against the tightening of migration observed in a large part of Europe, Spain is launching this Tuesday a vast plan for the regularization of undocumented immigrants which could benefit “nearly half a million people” and support the economy, announced socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

“The Council of Ministers will approve today a royal decree which launches the process of extraordinary regularization of people in an irregular situation in our country,” he indicated in a letter to the Spanish, published on the social network X, confirming this initiative which was announced at the end of January and should primarily concern Latin American migrants.

“This regularization is, above all, an act of standardization. One that consists of recognizing the reality of almost half a million people who are already part of our daily lives,” continued Pedro Sánchez.

The spokesperson for his left-wing government, Elma Saiz, specified on Cadena Ser radio that the procedure would “start this week”, from Thursday 16 online, then in person on Monday 20, and “will end (it) on June 30”.

“A necessity” for Pedro Sánchez

In his letter to the Spaniards, Pedro Sánchez justified this vast regularization plan by citing “a necessity” in the face of the aging of the Spanish population and to support the national economy, the fourth in the euro zone and today one of the most dynamic in Europe.

“We are aware that migration poses challenges. It would be irresponsible to deny it,” he also acknowledged, believing for his part that “migration is a reality that must be managed with responsibility, integrated with justice and transformed into shared prosperity.”

“It is a process of regularization as we have already known throughout the more than 40 years of democracy in our country, including under governments of the People’s Party,” he also declared during a press conference from Beijing, where he is on an official visit, targeting the main right-wing opposition party, opposed to this measure, such as the far right of Vox.

An exception in the EU

Favorable to a welcoming policy, its left-wing Spanish government is an exception on the migration issue within the European Union, in contrast to the hardening carried out by many countries in the bloc.

To facilitate the implementation of its plan, the government of Pedro Sánchez will adopt a “royal decree”, a regulation provided for in the Constitution which must then be published in the Official Gazette, without having to go through a vote in Parliament, where the executive does not have a majority.

This regulatory reform is presented following a popular initiative signed by more than 600,000 people and supported by some 900 associations, which demanded the exceptional regularization of all immigrants in an irregular situation in Spain.

Spain is one of the three main gateways for immigration to Europe, with Italy and Greece, mainly via its Canary Islands archipelago, in northwest Africa.