Alberto Núñez Feijóo, after that criticize Vox's break with the PP In the autonomous areas where they governed in coalition, they have focused on the increase in the number of migrants arriving in Spain, with the aim of attacking the policies of the central government, once again raising the tone of their anti-migration discourse. “I would like to address the group of Spaniards who are probably experiencing one of the worst migration crises that Spain is suffering or has suffered,” said the popular president. To do this, Feijóo has distorted the data on irregular arrivals, without citing the sources and conveying an alarming picture that does not correspond to reality.
“Let us ask ourselves why Greece and Italy have managed to reduce the influx of European immigrants by 71% and 58% respectively this year, while Spain has increased it by more than 300% in the first months of this year. The answer is simple because those countries are doing their job well and Mr Sánchez is not,” said the PP leader. “That is why it is he who must bear the consequences of not adequately exercising his exclusive powers in the area of migration and in the face of the migratory challenge,” he stated, referring to the central executive’s request for greater responsibility from the autonomous communities in the reception of unaccompanied foreign minors. The PP has not clearly reported where it gets these figures from, despite questions from elDiario.es, as reported Aitor Riveiro.
300% increase?
According to the latest data from the Ministry of the Interior, irregular immigration to Spain has increased, but so far this year it has not yet increased by 300%. In the last period for which official information is available, from January 1 to June 30, 2024, 24,894 people arrived in Spain, compared to the 12,704 who entered irregularly in the same period in 2023. This is 96% more arrivals than last year, and not 300% as Feijoo says, according to the irregular immigration balance sheet published every two weeks by the Ministry of the Interior.
But to which “first months of the year” is Feijóo referring? The PP leader seems to have taken as a reference the data on migrant arrivals registered in Spain between January and February, rather than the most recent ones. In those first two months of the year there was a large increase in irregular arrivals to the Canary Islands, which had been occurring since October of the previous year. It was the season of good seas, when usually more canoes arrive in the Archipelago, a time of peak arrivals that in this case extended to the first months of 2024.
If we look only at the increase in migration flows observed in the first two months of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, there was an increase of more than 300 percent that Feijóo seems to mention. It is also included in a Frontex report that covers the first four months of 2024. The popular president has therefore opted for outdated data, focusing on the months of the year in which the pace of irregular arrivals accelerated.
Arrivals in Greece have increased, not decreased
Furthermore, Núñez Feijóo refers to a decrease that has been registered recently in Italy and Greece, but he also presents the data in a complicated way, without specifying the source and without comparing the migration reality that is not always comparable at certain times of the year. A PP source assures elDiario.es that Feijóo's speech was based on data published by Frontex on routes to Europe. However, the figures from this study do not correspond to those mentioned by the leader of the Popular Party.
The PP says arrivals to Greece have fallen, but in reality they have increased. This is what the EU border agency states that transit via the Eastern Mediterranean route, the route by which migrants reach the Greek coasts by sea, far from decreasing, has increased by 105%. What has decreased, according to this report, is migration via the Western Balkans, which according to these data has decreased by 69%. But this route does not have Greece as its final destination, but passes through the Greek land to cross the Balkan countries with Northern Europe as its final destination.
According to data released by the Greek government in late Junethe number of migrants who arrived in Greece in the first four months of 2024 has almost tripled compared to the previous year, with a total of 11,835 arrivals. According to these data, they represent the largest migratory flow in that period since 2019 in the country. These data indicate an increase of 154% compared to the first four months of 2023, when 4,660 arrivals were registered, according to data published by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
Frontex does indicate that the route to Italy (Central Mediterranean) has decreased by 62% (a figure close to Feijóo’s 58%). During the first months of the year, there are usually fewer migration crossings in Italy due to poorer weather conditions.
Beyond the concrete data, each of these routes has a different dynamic. Sometimes, the application of a series of measures in certain countries has the effect of temporarily reducing arrivals via that route, and it fluctuates from one to the other. As they say: when one door closes, another opens. However, these processes undergo changes over time.
According to the latest data from UNHCRItaly is the country that has received the most irregular migrants so far this year, with 26,407 migrants. Spain follows as the second gateway to Europe after having received 25,780 people, mainly through the Canary Islands. The third, although with very similar figures, is Greece, where 22,004 entries have been detected. The migratory flow to Europe is currently distributed in a balanced way through the three historical routes of irregular entry to the continent. According to immigration experts, it is not the policy of a single country that marks the increase or decrease in the number of migrants crossing, but rather it is a complex phenomenon, the causes of which lie in the countries of origin, the countries of transit.