MADRID: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has hailed Spain’s openness to immigration as a model for Europe, saying it has benefited the economy and bolstered state coffers.
While other European nations have tightened their borders against newcomers under pressure from right-wing parties, Spain has championed legal immigration.
The country has opened up paths for migrants to live and work in the country legally, even as it has pushed to police its borders and block irregular migration.
Migration accounts for 80 percent of Spain’s economic growth over the past six years, and accounts for 10 percent of the country’s social security revenues, Sanchez said.
“Spain will continue to defend a migration model that works, one that works for Spain and could also help awaken an aging Europe,” the Socialist premier told a gathering of Spanish ambassadors in Madrid.
