The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has denounced this Wednesday that the regularization of "more than a million irregular migrants" is "inhumane", "unjust", "insecure" and "unsustainable", and has stressed that it clashes with the migratory policy of the European Union and with the opinion of the "majority of Spaniards". Furthermore, he has promised to "use all instruments" at his disposal "to mitigate" the "absurdities" that, in his opinion, the Government of Pedro Sánchez is promoting.
"People don't want more little letters, they want more aid," Feijóo has emphasized before deputies and senators of the PP, after the head of the Executive has disseminated a letter to the citizenry defending the regularization of migrant people approved by the Council of Ministers.
In that letter, Sánchez has defended that said regularization is an act of "justice" with the history of Spain and of "necessity" before a society that "ages", and has expressed his "pride in being Spanish". "Because today we demonstrate, once again, that Spain advances when its society gets involved," he concluded.
Criticisms of massive regularization and the role of institutions
Before the plenary session of the Popular Group in Congress, Feijóo has stressed that his party is "absolutely against the massive and irresponsible regularization of one million irregular immigrants," whose arrival in Spain, he said, occurs "without any type of guarantees" and "without demands."
"Spain cannot become the country where breaking the rules is more profitable than following them," he warned, underlining that the debate on this measure should be held in Congress and not be resolved in a Council of Ministers with the president traveling in China.
As he/she has pointed out, this decision violates the criterion of the Cortes Generales, given that it was voted on in Parliament and "they lost" that vote; it ignores "the autonomous communities and the city councils, whom no one has asked"; and "it goes against Europe, because it goes against the migration and asylum pact defended by the majority of the European Parliament".
"And worst of all, it goes against the majority of Spaniards," Feijóo has proclaimed, insisting that citizens have "the right to control who enters" and "under what conditions one lives" in the country.
The leader of the PP has reiterated that his party advocates for "firmly that Spain has a legal, orderly, and compatible migratory policy with European legislation that protects those who have arrived in Spain and, of course, that protects Spaniards".
Feijóo's Reasons: inhumane, unjust, insecure, and unsustainable
Feijóo has announced that the PP will not limit itself to expressing its rejection, but will detail its reasons, convinced that "citizens will suffer it in their own flesh sooner rather than later."
"We do not share this regularization of more than one million irregular immigrants for four reasons: because it is inhumane, because it is unjust, because it is insecure and because it is unsustainable," he/she has enumerated.
He has argued that it is not a humanitarian measure because "it encourages the mafias" and sends the message that Spain "is a bargain", in addition to "harming" immigrants who arrived regularly and who comply with the rules.
He/She has also stressed that it is "insecure" by not establishing clear conditions or requirements and due to the lack of precise data on its scope. "Officially, at 500,000. In private, they already raise it to 800,000 and the police, who really know, raise it above a million people," he/she indicated.
Impact on the Welfare State and response of the PP
Likewise, he has called the decision "unsustainable" because "it is being done without economic memory, without any type of cost forecast." In his opinion, this process "overloads" the Welfare State "irresponsibly" "without measuring the consequences."
"Healthcare, education, social services, housing, employment policies, all this is going to suffer a strong additional demand, without any type of planning and without funding, and without anyone having explained who is in charge," he/she added.
For this reason, the leader of the opposition has reiterated his commitment to "use all instruments" available "to mitigate from the opposition all the follies that are being made" by the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.
Furthermore, he has insisted that his objective is "to change it from the Government" when the PP reaches Moncloa, because, he has said, "Sánchez's legacy is a legacy of corruption, of inflation and of saturation of public services."
Criticisms of the aid and of Sánchez's letter
In his speech, Feijóo has attacked Sánchez's new letter, this time defending regularization, and has stressed that it comes a few days after the start of the income tax campaign "most expensive in history" and coinciding with the publication of inflation data, 3.4%, "the highest level since June 2024".
In this context, he recalled that the PP had already warned that the Government's aid for the conflict in Iran "was going to fall short." "Fifteen days have passed. They have fallen short. And what is the Government going to do now? Another letter," he reproached, insisting that "people don't want more little letters, people want more aid."
Feijóo has defended that, given the loss of effectiveness of the VAT reduction on fuels, it is time to "lower the VAT on food, lower the personal income tax (IRPF) once and for all, and relieve and support families so that they do not live suffocated".