The presidential candidate of The Republicans (LR), Bruno Retailleau, has hardened his speech against Spanish immigration policy and has opened the door to a possible reestablishment of border controls between France and Spain, in response to the announcement of the regularization of nearly 500,000 irregular migrants promoted by the government of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
According to statements by the conservative leader collected by L’Independent, Retailleau went so far as to state that Spain should be “ostracized by European nations”, alluding to what he considers a migratory policy contrary to the line that other countries on the continent are adopting.
Diplomatic tension over Spanish immigration policy
The announcement by the Spanish Executive, which foresees a massive regularization of undocumented migrants with the aim of responding to the needs of the labor market, has generated criticism in French political sectors. Retailleau has warned of the risk of what she describes as a “pull effect” towards France, should the beneficiaries of this measure subsequently move across the border.
“We cannot support massive regularization as Mr. Sánchez is doing it,” declared the LR leader, who described the Spanish decision as “contrary to the European spirit.”
In this context, the conservative presidential candidate has defended the possibility of re-establishing national border controls, a measure that, as he has pointed out, would be covered in crisis situations within the European framework. The objective, in his words, would be to prevent secondary movements of regularized migrants from Spain to France.
Retailleau maintains that these types of measures would be justified by what he considers a mismatch between the migratory policies of different member states of the European Union.
A European debate on migration
The statements come in a context of general tightening of immigration policies in several European countries, while Spain has opted for a strategy of extraordinary regularization of irregular immigrants.
The proposal has reopened the debate on the coordination of migratory policies in the Schengen area and the balance between free movement and internal border control, a topic that is once again at the center of the European political agenda.
Marlaska denies that inmates convicted with criminal records will be regularized
This Tuesday, and facing criticism from PP and Vox, and reticence from the employers' association CEOE, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, stated at the press conference following the Council of Ministers that convicted prisoners with criminal records will not have the option to regularize their status, as "the royal decree itself requires it". "There are also - he clarified - people at liberty who continue to have criminal records and who also do not have the option to regularize. There will be prisoners in provisional detention - he continued in his explanations - who already have prior records and will also not have the option to regularize".
"The rest - the head of the Interior Ministry has maintained - will be subjected to an assessment to see if each one of them poses a risk of public danger." Those individuals who pose a danger to public safety and order, according to the assessment by the authorities, will also be excluded from regularization, the minister has clarified. According to Fernando Grande Marlaska, "we are facing a guarantor process for the applicant for regularization, but also for society."