EPP Vice Chair Warns Spain’s Amnesty for 500,000 Illegal Immigrants Will Have EU-Wide Consequences

Spain’s socialist government’s plans to grant legal status to half a million illegal immigrants puts Europe at risk, said EPP vice chair Tomas Tobe. 

A cayuco boat carrying 57 migrants arrives at the port of La Restinga on the Canary Island of El Hierro, Spain, on Sept. 14, 2024. Antonio Sempere/AFP via Getty Images

A vice chair of the European People’s Party (EPP) has said that Spain’s plan to grant legal status to about 500,000 illegal immigrants puts Europe at risk.

Speaking in the European Parliament, EPP Vice Chair Tomas Tobé said Spain’s plan to legalize illegal immigrants already living and working in the country through an accelerated process was “a direct challenge to the Schengen Area,” in a Feb. 10 post on X.

“It undermines our common efforts to strengthen our borders and tackle illegal migration,” Tobé said.

The Schengen Area is Europe’s zone of 29 European countries that have abolished internal border controls, allowing for passport-free movement as if it were a single country, including most EU states plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Spain’s proposal, presented on Jan. 27, would allow about 500,000 people without legal status to obtain residence permits under a new administrative decree, without requiring parliamentary approval.

With Spanish residence permits, regularized immigrants would be entitled to travel within the Schengen EU bloc area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Referring to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Tobé said: “Let us be clear, this is not about solidarity. It is a political strategy to please the left-wing allies to stay in power.”

“At this time, the consequences go far beyond Spain,” Tobé said, adding that “when one member state acts alone, Europe is put at risk.”

The EPP is the largest political group in the European Parliament, bringing together center-right and conservative parties from across the EU. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is a prominent member of the party.

In 2024, von der Leyen proposed striking deals with non-EU countries from which illegal immigrants originate, or through which they transit, in order to stop them in those countries.

Under the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, member states can strike agreements with non-EU states to handle asylum claims extraterritorially, potentially setting up processing centers in North Africa or beyond.

Spanish left-wing politicians have celebrated the move as “pure social justice.”

“Thousands of migrant people in this country work without rights in exploitative conditions,” Podemos, one of the left-wing parties of Spain, stated on X on Jan. 26. “Not having [legal status] papers is capitalism’s way, in this time, to continue slavery in the 21st century. That’s why this regularization is pure social justice.”

Spanish Migration Minister Elma Saiz said at a press conference at the time that illegal immigrants who have lived in Spain for at least five months as of the end of 2025 and who have no criminal record would be eligible for the new permits.

“A measure long worked on, discussed, and necessary to respond to a reality that exists on our streets and that has an impact on coexistence and the economy,” she said in a post on X.

The scheme would also apply to illegal immigrants who applied for asylum before the end of the year but whose claims are still pending.

Spain has experienced large-scale immigration in recent years. Over the past two years, Spain’s immigrant population has increased sharply; net external immigration exceeded 600,000 in 2024 alone, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute.

Estimates suggest that there were about 686,000 illegal immigrants in Spain in early 2023, and that number rose toward 840,000 by 2025, although precise figures vary because illegal immigrants aren’t fully captured in official registries.

Spain’s asylum seeker pool is different from those of several other EU countries.

Northern European states have received large numbers of applicants from the Middle East, while Spain has become a major destination for those from Latin America.

Tens of thousands of migrants from West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa have been arriving illegally in recent years via sea and land routes to Spain, according to ACAPS, a humanitarian analysis organization that tracks displacement and immigration trends.

The Epoch Times has contacted Sánchez’s office for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.