Friday

29th Mar 2024

Spain offers immigration amnesty

  • Spain is planning to ask the EU for more funds to strengthen border controls. (Photo: EUobserver)

Spain's socialist government is offering an amnesty to illegal immigrants in the country in an attempt to regularise their situation.

Illegal immigrants who can prove they have a valid work contract will be eligible for the amnesty, according to remarks made by Consuelo Rumi, the state secretary for immigration, published in El Pais.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"It is about easing the social integration of foreigners but also about combating the black market in immigrant labour", said Ms Rumi.

"This does not mean we are going to give papers to all foreigners. Let that be very clear", she emphasized.

Under new plans, which are to be unveiled next month, the government will also issue residence papers for immigrants who blow the whistle on employers who employ immigrants without a work contract, reported El Pais.

Legal immigration will be promoted by offering 3-month visas to immigrants so they have time to look for a job before applying for a residence permit.

The minister also said that Spain is planning to ask the EU for more funds to strengthen border controls.

In contrast to Italy

The Spanish government's stance contrasts strongly with that of Italy - another country that has large immigration flows due to its long sea borders.

There, Europe minister Rocco Buttiglione, who will be the EU's justice and home affairs commissioner from November, has said that people seeking asylum for economic reasons is a 'time-bomb'.

Mr Buttiglione has also revived the controversial idea of camps in countries outside the EU where prospective immigrants can be processed.

Illegal immigration is also the top theme of a visit by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to Libya tomorrow (25 August).

He is to ask Colonel Gaddafi to try and do something to counter the flow of would-be immigrants setting sail for Italy from the North African country.

Libya has already in principle agreed to Italian-Libyan navy patrols to try and stop the immigrants - many of whom have paid huge sums of money to be shipped by Libyans to Italian shores.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us