Mr Speaker, Honourable Members,
Some see immigration as nothing but a problem. In my idea of Spain, regulated and organized immigration represents an opportunity. This is why, since 2004 we have defined working relationships, jobs, as the key element in immigration policy. Work is what makes the integration of immigrants possible, what enables them to become members of a community, with rights and obligations.
Thus, for the last four years those who have come to live among us have had to do so legally, and with a job. I maintain that this is the case of the vast majority of immigrants, and I also hold that with their work, they contribute to our economic, social and cultural wealth.
Expert analyses agree that immigration in Spain has become a structural and not a temporary phenomenon, and that it plays a fundamental role in our economic growth and the sustainability of our social model, to the extent that it contributes to making our pensions system sustainable.
Here too, we shall seek agreement: agreement on our estimated capacity to absorb immigration, agreement with migrants' home countries to favour hiring at their point of origin, agreement to ensure legality with regard to entry, and also agreement to guarantee that those living here enjoy the same rights and are subject to the same obligations as any other citizen. This is, precisely, the immigration policy we have implemented for the last four years, and which we shall continue to implement over the next four, with even greater rigour and conviction, together with the Autonomous Communities, especially with those that bear the brunt of this situation. The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands is the best example.
We shall continue to request and we shall obtain the solidarity of the European Union. Those knocking at our door are also asking to enter the European Union and, therefore, protecting our doors concerns Europe as a whole. We shall continue improving entry controls and expulsion and repatriation procedures, we shall provide more resources for border control, and we shall combat networks that traffic in human beings.
Finally, we shall have to promote new formulas to provide incentives for immigrants who may lose their jobs, so that they may definitively return to live in their countries. Capitalization of unemployment benefits they may have generated, or the granting of microcredits, are means to be studied by the Government without delay.
We shall also intensify cooperation with the Autonomous Communities and Municipalities, so that no citizen is deprived of any right or social assistance as a result of the arrival of immigrants. Wherever new social needs arise, the means should be provided. Education and health services, as well as all other kinds of services, will be redoubled wherever demand increases.