Spanish socialists should not follow far-right’s discourse on migration, left-wing Sumar says
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) should not “fall into the temptation” of echoing the discourse of the far-right as a possible electoral hook, a minister from left-wing coalition partner Sumar on Tuesday (3 September).
Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE that the PSOE should resist the anti-migrant rhetoric put forward by VOX and the new far-right party Se Acabó la Fiesta (SALF/The Party is Over), of the controversial agitator Alvise Pérez.
Urtasun’s comments come as VOX and SALF, as well as the right-wing Partido Popular (PP) have called for increased expulsions of irregular migrants from Spain.
Record arrivals over the summer in the Canary Islands and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa have sparked fears of a humanitarian crisis in the face of overcrowded detention centres in both regions.
The gravity of the situation prompted Italian undersecretary of the interior, Nicola Moteni, to tell Italian outfit La Stampa that the major migratory emergency in Europe has moved from Lampedusa (in southern Italy) to the Canary Islands, EFE reported.
Urtasun, a former MEP, warned Sanchez and his party against “placing expulsions as the solution to the problem, because (this harsh tone) is neither the recipe nor the discourse” that is needed to combat irregular migration flows, rebuking the views of both VOX and SALF.
VOX is currently the third largest force in the Spanish parliament, with 33 MPs. SALF was surprised many pollsters in the European elections on 9 June, returning 3 MEPs, including Pérez.
Multiple reports from Brussels suggest that Pérez has asked for his party to join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, currently the fourth largest in the European Parliament.
Safe routes of entry for migrants to Europe
Urtasun, like his former ideological ally Podemos, which dramatically split from the progressive platform in December 2023, advocates a humanitarian approach to the problem.
This runs counter to the hardline discourse of the far-right in Spain and in other EU partners such as France and Germany.
According to Urtasun, the PSOE and Sumar coalition is advocating for “a solidarity-based reception system,” while criticising the “obstructionism” of the PP on migration policy, EFE reported.
Urtasun also pointed to the need to regularise the status of migrants already living illegally in the country; to facilitate all “legal channels of entry to Europe” for migrants; and to strengthen collaboration with EU partners.
In his view, “the great failure of European migration policy… is that we do not have safe entry routes for people who want to come: we need them to prevent these people from falling into the hands of mafias and risking their lives to reach Europe.”
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