Feijóo aligns himself with the ultra Meloni and fuels the discourse that has elevated immigration as a problem

The CIS barometer for September reflects that Spaniards perceive immigration as the country’s main problem, after months of political and media campaigning by the right. Although those interviewed considerably lower their perception of the problem when asked how it affects them personally (to fifth place), the escalation of immigration policy in the polls has not gone unnoticed by the parties. If Vox used it as a lever to break with the PP, Feijóo’s party has aligned its discourse with that of the ultras.

This Thursday, the leader of the opposition visited Giorgia Meloni in Italy to praise her anti-immigration measures. And yet Italy is the European country where the most migrants arrive through its shores. Despite leading a harsh, xenophobic and racist discourse on many occasions, and although he has tried to criminalize non-governmental organizations and social movements that defend human rights, the data is overwhelming: 43,804 entries to Italy compared to 38,302 to Spain, according to UN data. until September 15th.

Feijóo lands in Rome for his second meeting with leaders from his European political family or those close to him. Meloni is not just any prime minister, but the leader of the main far-right group in Brussels and a firm ally of Vox. It is common to see them together and, this Wednesday, Santiago Abascal made fun of the meeting in the corridors of Congress: “Mr. Feijóo and the PP can learn many things. I like that my partners and allies are increasingly considerate.”

Last week, the leader of the Popular Party visited the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In Athens, the leader of the PP said that immigration “is a non-existent policy” in Spain. And he pointed to it as a “problem that they are trying to share out among the autonomous communities” while he praised the measures adopted by Greece, despite evidence showing the abandonment of people, including small children, at sea.

Meloni’s whitewashing began in the run-up to the last European elections, when it seemed that the Italian’s support would be essential to achieve the necessary majorities in Brussels to agree on the composition of the main community bodies. Although in the end the extreme right has split into three in the European Parliament, so its influence is limited, Ursula von der Leyen has rewarded Meloni with a Vice-Presidency.

The PP has adopted the harshest discourse against migrants throughout the year, pointing to them as criminals, generators of insecurity and social problems, and even as spreaders of diseases. But these are not disjointed voices within the party. They are not outbursts from mayors like Xavier García Albiol, who has encouraged “lynchings”, or unruly deputies who break the script.

The anti-migrant discourse comes from the top leadership of the PP. Feijóo himself directly accused them during the Catalan election campaign last May. His spokesman, Borja Sémper, justified his leader. And, since then, the xenophobic tone of the PP has only increased to compete with the extreme right of Vox.

Sociological data had already previously detected an increase in concern about immigration. In November 2023, it reached 14.3%. Last July, it climbed to 16.9%. Now it has climbed to 30.4%.

The assimilation of the toughest discourse by the PP forced Vox to go a step further, until the leadership of Santiago Abascal forced the break-up of the autonomous governments that they shared with Feijóo’s, despite the evident reluctance of the regional leaders. The excuse: the arrival of a handful of migrant minors to the communities.

In the recent European elections, the Salf group, led by Alvise Pérez, also emerged, which has made anti-immigration discourse one of the axes of its ultra-right proposal. The measures proposed by Salf are even more extreme than those of Vox, which has fuelled an electoral competition that even targets migrant minors.

It is precisely right-wing voters who report the greatest perception of risk in immigration.

Meloni’s limited success

The PP president has been twisting the data for months on the increase in irregular arrivals to Spain. Although migrant arrivals have increased by 49% so far this year, the figure remains at the same level or below that of the other two EU countries with external borders with third countries; Italy and Greece.

Despite Feijóo’s insistence on using Meloni as an example, Italy remains the country that has received the most irregular arrivals so far this year, with 43,804 migrants detected up to 15 September. Spain is in second place, with 38,302; followed by Greece, with 36,963 arrivals.

The statements by PP spokesman Miguel Tellado, calling for the sending of military vessels to stop the arrival of migrants to Spain, marked one of the first milestones in the hardening of the PP’s discourse. His proposal was reminiscent of one of the measures most repeated by the far-right Giorgia Meloni before taking over the Italian government.

“Naval blockade,” the far-right candidate insisted at her campaign rallies. The Italian promised to prevent all migrant boats from landing on Italian shores, without distinguishing the reasons that led them to risk their lives in the Mediterranean. But legal obstacles prevented the measure.

In 2023, with Meloni as Prime Minister, 157,652 people entered Italy irregularly, making it the country with the most arrivals in the European Union by this route, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This year, however, there has been a drastic decrease in entries to Italy, linked among other factors to the effects of the EU agreement with Tunisia.

The increase in departures from Tunisia had a direct impact on the increase in arrivals recorded in Italy in 2023. With the aim of blocking this route, in July last year, Tunisia and the EU sealed the pact that promised the North African state 105 million euros to fight irregular migration. The agreement was widely criticized by organizations specializing in human rights due to the mistreatment and persecution suffered by sub-Saharan migrants in this country.

Another of the anti-immigration measures promoted by Meloni last year was the agreement signed in 2023 with Albania with the aim of processing there the asylum applications of tens of thousands of people rescued at sea in their attempt to reach Italy. The pact has not yet been put into effect, although the Italian government plans to start implementing it soon.

Human Rights Watch, among other human rights organizations, has accused Italy of playing The organisation has criticised the Albanian deal because it could lead to abuses such as those reported in the EU’s Libya deal. Failing to take refugees to the nearest Italian port “violates the human rights of rescue at sea and undermines the rights to asylum and freedom from arbitrary detention”, it complained. The European Commission said it would “monitor” the deal and the UN refugee agency predicted it would cause “more suffering” like other such arrangements.

Experts warn that repressive measures such as these, which border on legality, may close off migratory traffic in one way, but the flow will end up increasing in another. While the rate of arrivals through Italy has decreased, due to the greater border control by Tunisia after the agreement and the drop in departures from Libya, arrivals are increasing through Spain. And if before they left mainly from Senegal or Morocco towards the Spanish coast, now they do so mainly from Mauritania due, also, to the increase in border control by both countries.

Mauritania, however, is finding it more difficult to increase its efforts to curb departures to the Canary Islands due to its particular situation, given that it is one of the main host States for Malian refugees. The escalation of the conflict in Mali has been noted in the migratory flow towards the Spanish coasts in 2024, especially at the entrances to the Archipelago. Among the nationalities detected at sea crossings to Spain, the Malian is the one that has increased the most so far this year, already surpassing the Moroccan and Senegalese, according to police sources.

Mauritania is the only country to rank first in the North African region, both as a host country and as a source country, to or from another African country. At the beginning of 2024, the European Union allocated 210 million euros to Mauritania with the aim of reducing human trafficking and thus deterring boats heading out to the Atlantic.