BREAKING: Spain, the only one that votes against
International Report:
Governments, analysts, and media outlets are continuing to follow this situation closely as additional details become available.
The European Union takes a decisive step towards toughening its migration policy. After two months of negotiations, the Cypriot presidency and the representatives of the European Parliament reached a final agreement this Monday on the new return regulation, which aims to accelerate the expulsions of migrants in an irregular situation and provide legal coverage to deportation centers in third countries, following the model promoted by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Albania. The reform once again reveals the absolute loneliness in Brussels in immigration matters of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, whose plan for the massive regularization of migrants clashes head-on with the objectives and philosophy of this regulation. “We must ensure that, as a rule, irregular migrants leave the EU. Without this, our policies are not credible,” European Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner warned when Sánchez’s regularization was debated in Strasbourg in February. In 2025, the return rate reached 27.5% on average in the European Union, the highest figure in the last 10 years. Spain was among the countries with the worst results: it carried out only 10.6% of the expulsion orders issued, the third lowest percentage of the Twenty-Seven, only ahead of the Netherlands and Portugal. At the opposite extreme are Malta, with 97.7%; Lithuania, with 92.8%; and Latvia, with 86.4%, well above the community average. Sánchez’s Government was the only country that voted against the return regulation in the Interior Council of December 2025 and will likely do so again in the final approval, without its ‘no’ having any practical consequences beyond certifying its isolation. The last obstacle in the negotiation, resolved this Monday between the Cypriot presidency and the European Parliament, has been the date of entry into force: the regulation will begin to be applied immediately after its entry into force (the day after its publication in the Official Journal), although several provisions will be applied 12 months later. The objective is to allow Member States enough time to adapt their legislation, IT systems and staff training. “The new regulation will speed up the return process and increase the returns of people who do not have the right legal to remain in the EU,” said the Deputy Minister of Migration of Cyprus, Nicholas A. Ioannides. “With the new rules, we will have greater control over who can enter the EU, who can stay in it and who must leave it. This is what citizens expect and it is what we are complying with,” says the Commissioner for the Interior, the Austrian Magnus Brunner. The reform introduces for the first time the legal possibility of returning people who are found to a third country (different from their country of origin). illegally in the EU and have received a final return decision, based on an agreement concluded bilaterally or at EU level. Such an agreement or arrangement may only be concluded with a third country that respects international human rights standards and the principles of international law, including the principle of non-refoulement. Unaccompanied minors are excluded from such agreements. These deportation centers could serve as final destination or as transfer centers that facilitate subsequent return to the country of origin or another third country. It is a “variable geometry” model that can be used by interested governments and discarded by the rest. In the December debate, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, expressed “serious legal, political and economic doubts” about return centers, which could also cause a “negative impact” on bilateral relations with key partners in the prevention of irregular migration at origin. The new regulation also imposes on migrants the obligation to cooperate with national authorities throughout the return procedure. In case of non-compliance, migrants will face additional sanctions, such as the reduction of benefits and aid granted in accordance with national legislation, or even criminal sanctions, including imprisonment. The new regulation provides for special measures for people who represent a security risk. For example, Member States may impose an entry ban that exceeds the usual maximum period of ten years or even an indefinite entry ban in security cases, and may also impose detention in prison. The regulation allows migrants to be held in detention for a period of two years, extendable in successive periods of six months. Unaccompanied minors and families with minors will only be detained as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period, taking into account the best interests of the minor. Mutual recognition of return decisions will remain voluntary for the time being and will be re-evaluated two years after the regulation comes into force. The Sánchez Government demanded mandatory automatic recognition, but here it also lost the battle.
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Source: This article was originally published by El Español – Home and adapted for our international English-speaking audience.
Read the original article here.