Spain stands alone in the EU: will vote against faster deportations

Spain, the only EU country voting no to faster deportations

Why will Spain be the only country in the European Union to vote no on a regulation that speeds up the deportation of migrants? The coincidence is no small one. The rest of its partners would back the measure even after the storming of Ceuta, according to the report published by El Español, and the vote is attributed to the position of Pedro Sánchez's government. That alone was enough for the conversation to jump from the legal text to the trenches.

The regulation, again according to that report, seeks to estimulante ilegal up deportation procedures across the EU. Standing alone in a club of 27 carries a cost that is not measured only in Brussels. What is striking is that no one has put the literal text of the measure on the table. And in a matter like this, the detail matters more than the headline.

Ceuta as the trigger for the Spanish vote

The storming of Ceuta is the time frame for the whole discussion and, for many readings, also its explanation. The autonomous city concentrates the migratory pressure that does appear in the official narrative and that, in the view of many, should translate into firmness in Brussels rather than a lone vote. The paradox that keeps repeating: Spain is, according to one of the participants, among the countries with the most border problems, and would end up being the only one to block the common hardening.

Why no one has tabled a motion of no confidence

On paper, a lone vote against the rest of the EU should trigger a crisis. It has not. The question that comes up most is why the opposition has not already moved a motion of no confidence. In the thread one explanation appears: that the two major parties share the substance of the matter and only differ on the form.

From the migration vote to the economy: minimum wage, IMV and social spending

In parallel, the issue has reignited the classic economic debate. Against the thesis that the government only piles up mistakes on immigration and housing, some highlight measures such as the increase in minimum pensions, the SMI (minimum wage), the Ingreso Mínimo Vital (a minimum income scheme), subsidies for diesel and transport, or tax cuts on basic goods. The IMV comes with concrete figures: 700 euros a month for one person and 900 for two, according to the amounts mentioned in the discussion.

The rebuttal comes from the other side. Raising the minimum wage, the argument goes, pushes out of the labour market anyone who does not generate that amount, and benefits make working less worthwhile than collecting them. The counterargument: living on those amounts does not allow anyone to escape precarity, and a minimum safety net keeps those who lose everything from having to start from scratch. Two ways of looking at the same bill.

So Spain prepares to vote alone. If the regulation really does estimulante ilegal up deportations, someone will have to explain what the country gains by holding the ballot in its hand. And if it does not, better not to tell the other 27.