“People who want to be part of the EU project must sign a commitment to live and respect the fundamental values of Europe, such as equality between men and women.” This is how the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, unveiled one of his proposals on immigration issues for the European elections on June 9, during a meeting in the Canary Islands. “It is a commitment that we ask from all people who come to work in Europe,” he concluded.
“I don't want to turn my back on the problems of the Spanish people,” he said at a campaign event in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. “The Europe of the institutions cannot be afraid to engage in the debates taking place in the streets, cities and villages,” he added, agreeing that “migration pressure and irregular immigration are major European challenges.”
Feijóo thus has one of the electoral flags of the far right across the continent: that Europe has a migration problem. And he has directly accused Pedro Sánchez of making it worse. “In 2023, Spain was the second country where irregular immigration increased the most: 82% more,” he noted. “In the Canary Islands the data is clear,” he continued. “The increase in illegal immigration is alarming,” he said. “In the first five months 375%,” he stated.
“It is clear that Sánchez has aggravated the problem,” he snapped, leaving a message to Vox. “Others simply continue to join the protest,” he said, without naming those from Santiago Abascal. “We have a president who brings these numbers and others just continue to join the protest,” he reaffirmed.
The PP leader has taken the opportunity to attack Vox for voting against Seville's budget. “Today Vox and the PSOE have joined forces to destroy the budget of the Seville City Council,” he complained. “The Vox campaign seems to have been designed by Sánchez,” he said.
“Spain and Europe have a serious problem with illegal immigration,” he stressed, announcing some measures of the PP program for 9J. A program that is hidden for the time being.
Feijóo has called for “an increased presence of the European Guard at borders and coasts with high migratory pressure,” and to “step up the fight against human trafficking with Europol.” The PP leader has therefore proposed “accelerating the deportation of those sentenced to prison terms” and “concluding agreements with third countries on the migration flow and the return of irregular migrants.”
The PP leader has defended the EU-approved migration pact but asked for it to go “further”. “The borders of the union are not just geographical,” he said. “Within the EU there are other spaces, of democratic models, of life models and of the welfare state,” he emphasized. “Europe is the largest area of prosperity in the world” and “to keep it that way we have to work on it,” he insisted, proposing some more measures.
The most important is that “people who want to be part of the EU project must sign a commitment to live and respect the fundamental values of Europe, such as equality between men and women.” “It is a commitment that we ask from all people who come to work in Europe,” he added.
Feijóo added: “People who choose Europe to live, work and integrate will be welcome and have equal rights. But those who choose Europe to commit crimes and violate our values have no place in the EU. You come to work here and accept equal rights and obligations. Not to commit a crime or reoffend,” he concluded.
The PP leader is thus repeating the strategy he already led in the recent Catalan elections, when he directly linked immigration and crime. Before the 2023 elections, Feijóo proposed sort of migrant points carda model based on selecting foreigners by qualifying them based on their education, experience or knowledge of the language.