Feijóo follows Ayuso's lead and calls for prioritizing Hispanic immigration.

BarcelonaAmid the struggle with Vox, immigration has become a key issue in the PP's discourse. While the far right is soaring in all the polls and the Popular Party remains stagnant and loses ground ahead of the 2023 elections, Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party has chosen to toughen its immigration discourse and categorize migrants by differentiating between people of Hispanic origin and the rest. In fact, Madrid's president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, paved the way for Latin America with a controversial statement: "Hispanic immigration is not immigration"Feijóo followed in their footsteps this Thursday from Barcelona at a European People's Party event in front of around thirty international representatives of the parties that comprise it in the European Union. "We share a worldview," he said, just after being infected with "order."

Specifically, he boasted about Spain's presence in front of other countries. "You don't have the possibility of receiving culturally similar immigration, like we do with Latin Americans, with whom we share language, values, traditions, culture, customs, and worldview," he said. Later, he reiterated that Spain and the countries of Latin America are "brothers" and established the State as the defender "of the cause of freedom" in many of these places of origin, such as Venezuela. This approach, together with the PP's points-based visa system that prioritizes this cultural proximity, epitomizes the country's total commitment to Latin American immigration over the rest.

At a European People's Party summit, attended by no European prime minister, despite the initial intention, the Galician leader placed immigration as the "first challenge" and said that "Europe has woken up": "It has emerged from the ideological prison of a left that was better pushed." The Popular Party member defended "migration policies that guarantee order, security, and freedom," without "open doors" or "criminalizing anyone." However, putting an end to the "irregularity" that he believes the Spanish government defends as "the first gateway." He also said that Pedro Sánchez's government wants "more" people of foreign origin. "No to irregular immigration," he went so far as to demand.

Borders and the struggle with Vox

For this reason, he commented that "more resources and a reinforced presence of Frontex" are needed to better monitor the continent's southern borders, "combat mafias," and facilitate "effective returns." He only spoke about integration "through a job," after noting that in the last four years, another 1.5 million immigrants have arrived in the country and that one in five citizens was born abroad. According to his diagnosis, "poorly managed immigration is a source of conflict, division, and precariousness." Before Feijóo, he had already warned the secretary general of the European People's Party (PP) and MEP Dolors Montserrat about the issue. "The migration challenge worries us," he said, just before citing "combating populism and extremism" as a priority.

But the PP's commitment to Latin American immigration has allowed Vox to establish a profile. The secretary general of the far-right party, Ignacio Garriga, stated in an interview on RTVE that "the PP is playing games, not saying that no one can enter Spain until we expel many people who are in an irregular situation, who are collapsing public services and compromising our identity." Thus, he not only argued that a Latin American "is obviously an immigrant," unlike Ayuso, but also sought to differentiate himself from the Popular Party with the message that in Spain "there is no room for anyone else."

Security and Defense

On the other hand, Feijóo also defended increased spending on security and defense policies. "We are obliged to invest more in our security and defense for national reasons and to strengthen the European pillar of NATO," Feijóo said, and, shielding himself from this, criticized Sánchez for "complicating the spending objectives." He then mentioned that the PSOE is allied with "pro-Russian and anti-Atlanticist" parties and reviewed a series of problems in "domestic politics," which he considered "marked by corruption" and multiple "scandals." With this comparison, he lamented "the progressive international isolation" that he believes the Spanish president is experiencing.