ZARZALEJOS DEFENDS AN EFFECTIVE EUROPEAN MIGRATION POLICY AT THE PP INTERPARLIAMENTARY MEETING IN A CORUÑA
People’s Party Member of the European Parliament Javier Zarzalejos took part on Saturday, 10 January, in the 28th Interparliamentary Meeting of the People’s Party, held in A Coruña, where he spoke at one of the round tables entitled “On what truly matters: a safe life.” The debate, moderated by Paula Prado, Secretary General of the Galician People’s Party, focused on key issues such as education, security, immigration, and citizens’ purchasing power.
During his remarks, the Basque MEP addressed the issue of migration specifically from a European perspective, defending the need to analyze this phenomenon on the basis of data and common policies. Zarzalejos stressed that the measures adopted at European level are beginning to yield results, with irregular arrivals falling from nearly 400,000 in 2023 to 178,000 in 2024—a significant, though still insufficient, decrease.
In this context, Zarzalejos criticized the hypocrisy of both the populist right and the left. He reproached the former for resorting to grandiloquent rhetoric and supposedly tough but ineffective solutions, while criticizing the latter for maintaining an overly naïve view of immigration. By contrast, he stated that “borders can be controlled” and called on the Spanish Government to act responsibly, denouncing a dereliction of duty in territories such as the Canary Islands, which remain one of the main hotspots for irregular entry into Europe.
Lastly, the People’s Party MEP defended the need for proper implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum and underlined that it is up to the European Commission to ensure that the agreements reached are translated into effective results, as an essential condition for guaranteeing an effective migration policy and a safe life for European citizens.
ecta implementación del Pacto Europeo de Migración y Asilo y subrayó que corresponde a la Comisión Europea asegurarse de que los acuerdos alcanzados se traduzcan en resultados efectivos, como condición imprescindible para garantizar una política migratoria eficaz y una vida segura para los ciudadanos europeos.