(European Council on Foreign Relations, 2019-09-03) Fine, Shoshana; Torreblanca Payá, José Ignacio
Spain, and Europe, need a new story about migration – there is some recognition of this in Spain but it remains to be seen how the country will put this into practice.
Spaniards are relatively open towards migration, but the policy challenge for their government should be to allay, and not provoke, fears of migrant invasion.
The Spanish government has called for reform of the EU asylum system, favouring solidarity and shared responsibility as opposed to simply stopping ‘secondary movements’.
Spain’s migration diplomacy aspires to work with origin and transit countries rather than acting in a coercive way towards them.
The Spanish experience should inform EU member st ates’ efforts to seek to answers to the populist challenge: they should enact comprehensive, planned, and proactive policies that see migration as normal and necessary.
