DENMARK, Italy and Poland have joined forces to push the EU to take a tougher stance on migration, in a move widely seen as a criticism of Spain’s plan to legalise the status of around 600,000 undocumented migrants.
The three countries called for the bloc to do more to prevent what they describe as a ‘pull factor’ for irregular migration.
While urging EU member states to coordinate their migration policies before introducing measures that could affect other countries.
The proposal was put forward during a European Council summit in Brussels on Friday, October 16.
READ MORE: Spain’s migrant regularization scheme ends tomorrow – with 350,000 work permits already granted
Although the proposed wording did not mention Spain directly, several diplomatic sources said the three governments had reservations about the mass regularisation scheme introduced by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government earlier this year.
The plan would allow hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants already living in Spain to apply for legal status, provided they meet certain conditions.
Denmark, Italy and Poland want the European Commission to examine ways to improve cooperation between member states on national migration policies, particularly where decisions could have consequences beyond their own borders.
Their proposal also called for faster action to address the factors they believe encourage irregular migration.
The move comes as European countries remain divided over how to manage migration, with some governments pushing for stricter controls while others defend measures aimed at bringing undocumented residents into the legal system.
Eighteen EU countries also held an informal meeting on the sidelines of the summit to discuss preventing large-scale irregular arrivals.
According to diplomatic sources, Spain’s migration policy and Sanchez’s regularisation plan were criticised during the discussions.
Sanchez rejected criticism of Spain’s approach, defending his government’s record on managing migration.
The debate continued into the final discussions on the summit’s conclusions. However, the stronger wording proposed by Denmark, Italy and Poland was not adopted in its original form, with the final text taking a more general approach to migration as a shared European challenge.
The dispute highlights growing divisions between EU governments over national migration policies and whether individual countries should face greater scrutiny when their decisions could affect the wider bloc.
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