The European Commission has included Spain among the four countries in the bloc that, due to being under major migratory pressure, can appeal to the solidarity of their partners and activate the mechanism provided for in the new Migration and Asylum Pact, allowing some of the migrants who have arrived irregularly on their territory to be relocated to other Member States.
Alongside Spain, the countries facing the highest migratory pressure are Italy, Greece, and Cyprus. These countries will also be able to benefit from this solidarity mechanism established by the pact, which will come into effect next year. Countries may refuse to receive some of the candidates for relocation in exchange for a compensation of 20,000 euros for each rejected transfer (or equivalent means or funds).
According to Brussels, Spain is facing a “disproportionate” number of arrivals of migrants and refugees as a result of rescue operations. The report by the EU executive is based on data collected between July 2024 and June 2025 and does not distinguish between government operations or those carried out by NGOs.
However, in general terms, the Commission’s report certifies a significant drop in both irregular arrivals and asylum applications across the bloc. “Irregular arrivals to the European Union have dropped by 35% this year. This is the result of the work we have carried out with our international partners,” said the Migration Commissioner, Magnus Brunner, during a media appearance. Projections for 2026 anticipate that this downward trend will continue.
(Immigration has boosted the growth of the resident population in Spain, which reached 49,442,844 inhabitants on October 1, 2025, the highest value in the entire historical series that began in 1971, according to the Continuous Population Statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) published this Tuesday. In annual terms, the estimated population growth is 474,454 people, and in the third quarter of this year, it was 105,488 people, 75% of whom were immigrants).
