The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration and spokesperson for the Spanish government, Elma Saiz, vehemently defended the extraordinary regularization program announced by the Executive. In a conversation with the president of the Círculo de Economía (Circle of Economy), Teresa Garcia-Milà, she stated that "orderly and integrated immigration is the key to sustaining economic prosperity in the coming decades." In response to questions from Garcia-Milà, she applauded the fact that some autonomous communities, such as Catalonia, are demanding powers regarding immigration within the constitutional framework. She acknowledged that there are issues, such as healthcare and others, that require local management. Saiz participated in the Cercle after the organization published an opinion piece a few days ago calling for the regulation of migration flows and their adaptation to an economic model based on improving productivity. The minister, who congratulated the Catalan organization for opening the debate on the issue, noted that the people who will be eligible for regularization "are already here" and rejected claims by some political groups that the new arrivals will overwhelm public services. The data, she added, shows that they do not overwhelm public services, but rather "contribute to sustaining them." It is, in any case, the responsibility of public administrations to size public services according to the population, the Spanish government spokesperson said. She asserted that "when immigration is managed well, it is not a threat but an opportunity for growth and for strengthening democratic society."

The Circle of Economy has decided to address a central issue that sparks debate and even poisons politics: immigration. In an opinion piece, a document through which this organization expresses its views on essential matters, the Circle calls on the PSOE and the PP to reach an agreement to regulate immigration, which, it argues, requires treatment as a matter of national policy. The document, titled The need for a migration policy: production model, integration and social welfareThe Circle criticizes the lack of a "genuine immigration policy" in Catalonia and Spain and the application of "a succession of reactive and fragmented responses," such as the regularization announced by the Spanish government, which it sees as necessary but also as "an acknowledgment of failure, which should not perpetuate past mistakes." One of the Circle's recommendations is to review the "arraigo" (rooting) policy, which is rarely used in other countries and, although conceived as an exception, has become the most common way to obtain residency and employment. Furthermore, it contributes to the precariousness of the labor market, fosters a low-wage economic model in which per capita income does not grow sufficiently, and generates a pull factor that increases irregular immigration. Without specifying how, the Circle advocates "modulating" the entry of immigrants and aligning it with the objective of shifting towards a more productive and less labor-intensive economic model based on low wages.

The lack of talent and qualified personnel to fill job vacancies is not only a problem for companies, but also affects economic growth. The employers' association of the Vallès region, Cecot, has issued this warning and raised the issue in a report entitled Towards a sustainable labor market 38 proposals to address the problem, which has various facets, ranging from demographics to changes in the labor market. Among the proposals are aligning school hours with work schedules, promoting active and reversible retirement, and further encouraging teleworking, among others aimed at attracting more talent to companies.

A decade to begin the process of obtaining Spanish nationality is an excessive period. This is emphasized by the Economic and Social Council (CES), an advisory body to the Spanish government, which, in its report on the migration situation in Spain, warns that the Spanish system for accessing nationality by residence is too slow, unequal, and opaque, and calls for urgent reforms to guarantee equal treatment and respect for human rights. It also denounces that the unaccompanied foreign minors do not have a special pathway by obtaining a Spanish passport once they reach the age of majority, after being under the guardianship of the administration.

It was because of microeconometrics, which he wanted to study at Pompeu Fabra University, that Antonio Di Paolo (Pescara, 1981) ended up in Barcelona in 2004. In Bologna, he had passively learned Spanish from exchange students who didn't speak Italian, and it was clear to him that the same wouldn't happen to him with Catalan. He did everything possible to learn it quickly: he enrolled in courses taught in Catalan and threw himself into "practice" until he could answer exams in Catalan. Then came the classes he taught as a predoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University and, therefore, total immersion in Catalan.

The number of unemployed (people without work and available for work) increased by 47,200 in the first quarter. This significant figure has raised some alarm and prompted a search in historical data for other poor first quarters. The year 2012 has appeared, when unemployment rose by 61,500. But the contextual situation is not comparable, because that year closed with a staggering figure of over 26% unemployment, while now in Catalonia we are below 9%.

Between 2019 and 2023, the number of migrants in OECD countries increased by almost 30%. This is, therefore, a global phenomenon that has been particularly intense both in Catalonia and in the country as a whole: three out of every four jobs created between 2019 and 2024 were filled by people born abroad. It is estimated that 31% of the working-age population in Catalonia and 42% of those between 30 and 44 years of age were born outside of Spain, and that 40% of the child population in Catalonia (between 0 and 4 years of age) has at least one parent born abroad. We are facing a structural change that demands an informed and calm debate, comparing opinions with facts.