Migrations Programme - [03/13/2007]

Immigration and relations with third countries: A challenge for Spain

During a working breakfast held in the Jordi Maragall Hall of the CIDOB Foundation, Félix Fernández-Shaw, Deputy Director-General of Justice and Home Affairs in the Secretariat General for the European Union of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, reflected on the priorities of Spanish foreign policy regarding immigration.

Presented by Anna Terrón, Secretary for the European Union of the Generalitat of Catalonia, this session, which inaugurated the series of activities on the foreign dimension of immigration policies, allowed participants to become familiar with Spain’s position in this sphere, as well as that of its main European partners.

Bilateral agreements with different sub-Saharan African countries, Spain’s role in managing the Marine II crisis and the incorporation of immigration issues into the foreign agenda of the European Union were some of the topics discussed. The need to articulate a common European response to the challenges posed by migratory flows, especially the irregular ones, in the countries of the European Mediterranean also was the focus of a good part of the debate.

This coming 5th of May, also in the Jordi Maragall Hall of the CIDOB Foundation, the second session in this series of activities, The Foreign Dimension of Migratory Policies in the European Union: An Uncertain Game, will be held.

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