Alberto Núñez Feijóo avoids supporting the refugee deportation centers outside the EU territory that Ursula von der Leyen has raised and that the European People’s Party has endorsed in a meeting in which the head of the opposition participated. The leader of the Spanish PP has endorsed the toughening measures proposed by Germany, which has introduced border controls in the Schengen area, or the Polish Donald Tusk, who intends to suspend the right to asylum; but she did not want to support the proposal made by the president of the European Commission, copying the model of the Italian far-right Giorgia Meloni.
“There are no magic formulas,” Feijóo said at a press conference in Brussels after meeting with leaders of the popular political family before the European Council meeting. “At this moment, it must be a priority for the EU leaders to seek solutions,” he said about that meeting in which migration is going to be one of the main issues on the table of the leaders of the 27 and in which a majority of countries are committed to tightening immigration policiesincluding the creation of refugee centers outside the EU, as Meloni has done with Albania, and which Spain rejects.
Although Feijóo has avoided supporting this proposal, the European People’s Party has done so in a statement after the leaders’ meeting. “The EU, as such, should use the influence of all other policies, including visa conditioning. We should also be prepared to draw lessons as we enter the implementation phase of the agreement between Italy and Albania. In the same spirit, we should explore options for return transit centers that relieve the pressure on our reception and asylum systems,” says that text in line with what Von der Leyen has defended.
Feijóo has argued that irregular migration “is not the same” in some countries as in others and has recognized that Spain has “other peculiarities.” The leader of the PP has taken the opportunity to attack Pedro Sánchez for the “lack of immigration policy.” Among the issues that he has criticized is Spain’s “inability to reach agreements with third countries.” However, there are several collaboration agreements with countries of origin or transit, such as Morocco. In fact, Sánchez signed three agreements with Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this August.
“While countries and their leaders seek points of agreement on irregular migration policy, Sánchez is left alone in this debate,” criticized Feijóo, who accused the president of not being “working with the rigor” of his European counterparts. . A majority of EU countries have defended the creation of these centers that the Government of Spain considers to be ineffective in combating irregular immigration and that do not fit into the current legal framework. The insistence of the Sánchez Executive is that work continue with countries of origin and transit, as Feijóo himself has said, and that the application of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact be accelerated, the entry into force of which is scheduled for the summer of 2026.
France and Germany have also defended italthough they differ in the points that should be prioritized: while Spain wants it to be applied comprehensively, some capitals choose to accelerate issues related to border control and leave the files related to “solidarity” for later, such as the distribution of refugee quotas.
The leader of the PP has accused Sánchez for the investigation of the State Attorney General and has demanded that the Government dismiss him. “It is an anomaly to have a prime minister with a judicial and personal situation like that of the Spanish prime minister. It is an anomaly to have a prime minister who has his wife and brother accused of corruption, half of the government accused by the Civil Guard and the Government party investigated in the different jurisdictional headquarters,” said the leader of the PP, who has shown “respect” towards the decision of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to reject his party’s complaint against the PSOE.
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