The European Commission considers that Spain is “under great migratory pressure“This is stated in a first annual report on the migratory situation in the European Union, the preview of which was made known this Tuesday. Beyond the striking rhetorical level, this fact has direct implications for our country and for the rest of our partners.
The decision assumes that Spain and also Italy, Greece and Cyprus They can appeal to the solidarity of neighbors and activate the mechanism scheduled for relocate part of the illegal migrants to other states member.
Although it is a first step in the form of progress, the known document does not make public the aforementioned relocation quotas of immigrants in an irregular situation that different countries could handle. This will come with the entry into force of the migration pactwhich is expected to be released definitively in June 2026.
The road, however, is still long and countries like Poland or Hungary, key in migration matters, have yet to present their own national plans, a condition sine qua non so that the Pact is fully valid, as Europa Press highlights.
Brussels brings together Spain and Italy as countries under “great pressure” immigration due to the “disproportionate” number of irregular arrivals and humanitarian search and rescue operations around the coasts. Likewise, reference is made to Greece and Cyprusin your case “under pressure” due to similar circumstances
The classification of being a country under “great migratory pressure” does not imply an instant activation of cooperation between states but it does open the way to this by making them “eligible“to take advantage of what the text calls”solidarity reserve“. A step that “is not perfect”, but that is “better than nothing”, confessed this Tuesday the Commissioner of the Interior and Migration, Magnus Brunner.
The pressure is not exclusive to the four Mediterranean countries highlighted in the report. In parallel, Europa Press details, the Von der Leyen Commission considers that 12 other members are at “risk” to suffer it soon if circumstances do not change. Those dozen countries include France, Germany, Netherlands o Belgiumas well as Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland.
For all of them, the solidarity ‘clause’ of not worsening their prospects will not be activated, but a priority access to aid instruments community.
Deadlines are lengthening everywhere. Brussels expected to have made its distribution proposal official in October, but reservations from countries like Belgium and the Netherlands paralyzed it for a while. In the absence of specifying the figures, the Brussels’ intention is to transfer ‘at least’ 30,000 migrants each year. There is also the option of rejection by the different states, which would have to pay compensation of 20,000 euros for each rejected transfer.
However, the European Commission recognizes that the data from the last year (between July 2024 and June 2025) point to an “improvement” in the situation in the Union as a whole, with a 35% drop in the number of illegal arrivals.
Among rights there is also a place for the duties of countries that require help from their partners. Yeah the EU observes “systemic deficiencies“in the operations of the country in question, the rest of the members will be exempt from the commitment to host migrants who were going to be relocated. A “balance between solidarity and responsibility,” concluded the commissioner of the sector.
