Sánchez: "Without migration, Spain would lose 19% of its GDP in 2050"

MadridOn the day that the extraordinary regularization process for migrants in the State concludes, the Spanish government presented this Tuesday the Integration and Citizenship Plan, with an initial budget of 500 million euros annually, to strengthen the inclusion of foreigners arriving in Spain. "Faced with fear, rigorous policy; faced with hatred, humanity," said the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, during the presentation of the plan, thus insisting on the benefits of the initiative.

At a time marked by the controversial "national priority" championed by the PP and Vox, a concept that La Moncloa has amended from the first minute, Sánchez did not hesitate to criticize those who he says "deny" the migratory reality and fuel "xenophobic discourses that do not solve the problem." Against this, the President of the Spanish government insisted that the integration of migrants by combining measures such as extraordinary regularization and border control is not only an "intelligent" issue – he exemplified that irregular arrivals of immigrants have been reduced by a third compared to the same period last year – but also "good for the [Spanish] economy". He then detailed its impact: "Without migration, Spain would lose 19% of its GDP by 2050", he said.

What does the plan say?

The plan announced this Tuesday and promoted by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration will mobilize more than 500 million euros in just one year. "It is a plan to take advantage of the opportunities that migration brings and to respond to the challenges that any social change entails," said Sánchez. Its deployment, as well as the budget, "will evolve according to the needs" of the moment.

The document is structured into four main axes and 16 specific measures. The first axis is the organization of migratory flows and regularization as the basis for integration. Here, the extraordinary process that ends precisely this Tuesday comes into play –now in the spotlight of the Supreme Court– and which has received more than 1.2 million requests from migrants, as revealed by Sánchez. A labor mobility strategy will also be launched to open "legal, safe and orderly channels, respond to the needs of the economy and facilitate integration", and the State Agency for Human Mobility will be created, a one-stop shop to "gather functions and resources currently dispersed" in different departments around international protection, migratory and border control procedures.

The second axis is that of the recognition of a job as the main tool for inclusion, personal autonomy and cohesion. For example, more than 35 million euros will be allocated to "facilitate" the incorporation of migrants into sectors with high demand: construction, hospitality and care. An extraordinary vocational training offer, endowed with 150 million euros, and an extraordinary offer of 100,000 places "connected" with labor market demands are also planned.

A third axis will be that of integration as a "reciprocal commitment". 30 million euros will be allocated to programs to strengthen the learning of "official languages in the State and of norms and values, and to community integration programs to improve coexistence. The fight against hate speech will also be strengthened.

Finally, a fourth axis will be to make citizenship "effective" and to guarantee migrants "equal opportunities". With this objective, more than 200 million euros will be allocated to the reinforcement of public services.