Spain's mass regularization programs: the 'call effect' myth and political hypocrisy
538,000 applications in 2005, but the PP also carried out regularizations in 2000 and 2001. The data debunk the myth of the 'call effect' and the hypocrisy of the fight…
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Regularizations in Spain: everyone did them, and the 'call effect' doesn't add up
538,000 applications in 2005. 576,506 granted under Zapatero's government. The PP called it a 'call effect' and 'papers for everyone'. But the numbers tell another story: mass regularizations were not invented by socialism. The first was in 1986, under Felipe González. Then came those of 1991-92, 1996 (Aznar's government), 2000 and 2001 (also under Aznar). The PP regularized 239,174 people in 2001, with an acceptance rate of 74%. And in 2000, 264,153, at 97%.
The anti-Zapatero narrative: a political alibi
In 2006, Mariano Rajoy, then leader of the opposition, coined the 'call effect' to attack Zapatero's regularization. That year there were 41,180 irregular entries, the highest figure on record. But the causal link is weak: if the 'call effect' worked, Aznar's regularizations in 2001 should have driven arrivals up in 2002, and that did not happen. The 2006 peak responds more to circumstantial factors than to any specific policy.
The figure that makes everyone uncomfortable
The table of regularizations speaks for itself. Between 1986 and 2005, seven extraordinary processes, under governments of both stripes. The average acceptance rate exceeds 80%. No government has avoided resorting to them. The 'papers for everyone' rhetoric is a political weapon, not a description of reality. And what no analysis usually remembers is that the PP not only regularized, but did so in bulk and with percentages similar to the socialists'.
The question remains open: if Spain's migration policy has been essentially the same for decades, why does the public debate insist on pretending there are two irreconcilable models?
538,000 applications in 2005. 576,506 granted under Zapatero's government. The PP called it a 'call effect' and 'papers for everyone'. But the numbers tell another story: mass regularizations were not invented by socialism. The first was in 1986, under Felipe González. Then came those of 1991-92, 1996 (Aznar's government), 2000 and 2001 (also under Aznar). The PP regularized 239,174 people in 2001, with an acceptance rate of 74%. And in 2000, 264,153, at 97%.
The anti-Zapatero narrative: a political alibi
In 2006, Mariano Rajoy, then leader of the opposition, coined the 'call effect' to attack Zapatero's regularization. That year there were 41,180 irregular entries, the highest figure on record. But the causal link is weak: if the 'call effect' worked, Aznar's regularizations in 2001 should have driven arrivals up in 2002, and that did not happen. The 2006 peak responds more to circumstantial factors than to any specific policy.
The figure that makes everyone uncomfortable
The table of regularizations speaks for itself. Between 1986 and 2005, seven extraordinary processes, under governments of both stripes. The average acceptance rate exceeds 80%. No government has avoided resorting to them. The 'papers for everyone' rhetoric is a political weapon, not a description of reality. And what no analysis usually remembers is that the PP not only regularized, but did so in bulk and with percentages similar to the socialists'.
The question remains open: if Spain's migration policy has been essentially the same for decades, why does the public debate insist on pretending there are two irreconcilable models?
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (30 replies).
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