5. Immigrants, markets and policies in Southern Europe

Shocks and Spatial Regime Fades in Spain's International Migration Distribution

“…Foremost among these changes is the transition of most Southern European countries from being the sources of immigrants to being the main recipients of international migrants and the upsurge of significant migration flows from Eastern to Western Europe, which largely involves refugees and asylum seekers fleeing poverty and conflict following the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. As far as this issue is concerned, Spain is the Southern European country where international migration has increased at the most impressive pace by far, due to massive immigration, largely from Eastern Europe, Latin America and North Africa (Peixoto et al., ; Hierro, ).…”

“…With immigration to Western and Northern Europe becoming more restrictive, like other Southern European countries Spain emerged as a major destination of immigration to the point of evolving from a country of emigration (e.g. Izquierdo, ; Arango, ) to one of the major immigration countries in Europe (Carling, ; Peixoto et al., ; Hierro, ). Factors contributing to this include lower differences between the South and the North of Europe concerning wages and living standards, a strong demand for immigrant workers (specially in the construction, agriculture and service sectors), less restrictive migration policies, economic prosperity and political stability (Huntoon, ; Carella and Pace, ; Hierro, ).…”

“… Following the extension of some social rights to immigrants by the Ley Orgánica 4/2000 and particularly the provision of health assistance to undocumented immigrants registered in a Municipal Register, a large number of undocumented immigrants who reside in Spain has become “visible”, which yields a more precise count of the international migration numbers through this official statistic. In addition, since December 2003, the obligation of non‐EU foreign‐born residents without a permanent legal permit to renew their registration in the municipal registry every two years might have contributed to improving the reliability of the statistic (Peixoto et al., ). …”

So close but yet so far? Labour Migration Governance in Italy and Spain

“…Attention was given to the growing relevance of labour migration channels such as labour migration quotas for privileged countries (Pastore, ). Finally, first embryonic integration plans, such as the National Integration Plan in Spain and the Action Plan for Immigration Integration in Portugal, were developed (Peixoto et al., ). A migration paradigm that stood in clear contrast to the dominant European anti‐immigration dogma was especially visible in new recruitment schemes for foreign workers (Sciortino, ).…”

The Illegal Business of Human Trafficking

“…In the turn of the millennium, from the late 1990s to 2003/2004, immigration to Portugal increased substantially and the number of foreigners jumped from about 207,000 in 2000 to approximately 450,000 in 2004 (Malheiros 2012). During this period, three regularisations of undocumented foreigners took place: the first one in 2001, the second one in 2003 (specific to Brazilian citizens), and the last one in 2004, following a process that was also implemented by other southern EU countries (Peixoto et al 2012).…”