The model adopted by the EU to deal with immigration is based on agreements with its countries North Africawhich are “subsidized” to stop the boats, with which hundreds of thousands of people attempt the risky journey to Europe. The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, spearheaded this initiative with the blessings of Ursula von der Leyen and now expresses her satisfaction with the effectiveness of this practice, which is being watched with interest by other European countries.

The Spanish islands are sinking

The one that seems unable to control the problem is Spain. This year 22,000 boat migrants have already arrived in the Canary Islands, twice as many as in the same period last year. Italy has recorded a similar number of arrivals. However, numbers there are down 65% compared to the previous year.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had traveled last February with the president of the Commission to Mauritania, this impoverished West African country from which, along with Senegal, most of the wooden boats that end up in Spain start.

Money is never enough

Sánchez had then promised the Mauritanian government 510 million euros in aid, of which 300 million were EU money and the rest from the Spanish budget. He also promised an increase in Spanish investment in the wider region, which has already begun. But the number of refugees/immigrants is not decreasing. Information says that about 70,000 people are now waiting for the opportunity to take this trip. They choose to take this risk because the route through the territories of Tunisia and Morocco is much better guarded. Of course, the “Atlantic route” alone is not safe. A few days ago a ship with 300 people sank and only half of them were saved.

“Immigration means wealth”

These days Sanchez is making a trip to West Africa again, starting from Mauritania and Gambia and continuing to Senegal. In his suitcases he carries not only money, but also the promise of a controlled and safe immigration plan. He hopes to persuade governments there to start more intensive controls, promising to push for solutions that don’t end immigration, but put it under a safe and legal framework.

“Immigration is not a problem, but a necessity,” Sanchez said in Mauritania, noting that in order to maintain the welfare state, his country depends on immigration. And this is because the contribution of African immigrants to the Spanish economy is fundamental: “Immigration means wealth, development and prosperity for our country.”

Temporary work programs

The Prime Minister of Spain has announced a visa program that will allow Mauritanian nationals to immigrate to Spain legally for a temporary period in order to work there. Sanchez’s idea is about a “circular model”. Young Africans will be able to train in their country, come legally to Spain to work and after a period return back. Of course, such programs cannot be implemented in countries that are essentially in a state of war, such as those in the Sahel zone.

An exemplary program of this type, however, works with women of Moroccan origin working in the agricultural sector in Spain: They are taught simple economic principles alongside their work. The goal is to equip them with the skills they need to be financially independent when they return home. For example, setting up a small business in catering or agriculture. This program called “Wafira” is funded by the EU.

The opposition is on a hard line

Of course, all this does not cause enthusiasm in the conservative opposition of the People’s Party, let alone the far-right Vox. Alberto Feijo’s Christian Democrats accuse Sanchez of having no plan and managing to increase the number of migrants by taking advantage of the problems in the Canary Islands, which are literally overflowing. Migrants usually end up on a small island, El Hierro, which is closer to the African continent and from there they are taken to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. The problem is that the law prohibits their transport inland. Especially for the 6,000 unaccompanied children, who are scattered in various places on the islands, the situation is dramatic.

Feijoo says he is ready to work with the government on changes to the law only if Sanchez declares the country a state of immigration emergency and boosts border patrol forces both at sea and at airports, which have also seen a surge in asylum seekers from Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. The opposition also points to the fact that in 2023 there were only 6,000 repatriations of non-asylum seekers out of an estimated 30,000 in the country.

However, arrivals on the other side, in the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, have also increased. Speedboats with smugglers arrive here from Algeria, which has eased controls in retaliation since the Sanchez government appeared to be siding with Morocco in the two African countries’ dispute over Western Sahara.