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The Spanish government is pursuing a markedly separate course from numerous European countries when it comes to migration policies and cooperation with the African mainland.

Although countries like the United States, UK, French Republic and Federal Republic of Germany are reducing their international support allocations, Spain stays focused to increasing its engagement, albeit from a lower starting point.

Current Programs

This week, the Spanish capital has been accommodating an AU-supported "international gathering on persons of African origin". The Madrid African conference will explore corrective fairness and the creation of a new development fund.

This demonstrates the most recent sign of how Madrid's leadership is working to enhance and broaden its involvement with the mainland that rests only a few kilometres to the southern direction, beyond the Gibraltar passage.

Strategic Framework

This past summer International Relations Head José Manuel Albares launched a new advisory council of renowned scholarly, diplomatic and arts representatives, more than half of them from Africa, to supervise the execution of the thorough Spanish-African initiative that his administration published at the close of the prior year.

New embassies below the Sahara desert, and cooperative ventures in commerce and education are scheduled.

Immigration Control

The distinction between Madrid's strategy and that of others in the West is not just in expenditure but in tone and philosophy – and especially noticeable than in addressing immigration.

Similar to other European locations, Government Leader the Spanish premier is looking for ways to control the entry of undocumented migrants.

"For us, the immigration situation is not only a question of moral principles, solidarity and honor, but also one of rationality," the government leader said.

More than 45,000 individuals made the perilous sea crossing from Africa's west coast to the island territory of the Canary Islands last year. Estimates of those who perished while making the attempt range between 1,400 to a astonishing 10,460.

Practical Solutions

The Spanish administration must house fresh migrants, evaluate their applications and oversee their integration into larger population, whether short-term or more enduring.

Nonetheless, in rhetoric noticeably distinct from the confrontational statements that originates from many European capitals, the Madrid leadership publicly recognizes the hard economic realities on the territory in the West African region that compel individuals to endanger themselves in the attempt to attain Europe.

Additionally, it strives to move beyond simply denying access to recent entrants. Rather, it is developing creative alternatives, with a promise to promote human mobility that are protected, systematic and standardized and "mutually beneficial".

Economic Partnerships

On his trip to Mauritania recently, the Spanish leader highlighted the participation that immigrants contribute to the Spanish economy.

Spain's leadership funds educational programs for jobless young people in nations including Senegal, especially for irregular migrants who have been repatriated, to support them in establishing sustainable income sources in their homeland.

And it has expanded a "circular migration" scheme that provides individuals from West Africa short-term visas to come to Spain for defined timeframes of seasonal work, mostly in cultivation, and then come home.

Strategic Importance

The fundamental premise underlying the Spanish approach is that Spain, as the EU member state nearest to the mainland, has an essential self interest in Africa's progress toward comprehensive and lasting growth, and peace and security.

This fundamental reasoning might seem apparent.

Nevertheless history had taken Spain down a quite different path.

Apart from a limited Mediterranean outposts and a compact tropical possession – currently sovereign the Gulf of Guinea country – its imperial growth in the 16th and 17th Centuries had mostly been oriented across the Atlantic.

Prospective Direction

The cultural dimension encompasses not only promotion of the Spanish language, with an enhanced representation of the Spanish cultural organization, but also programmes to assist the transfer of educational instructors and researchers.

Protection partnership, initiatives concerning global warming, female advancement and an increased international engagement are unsurprising components in the current climate.

Nonetheless, the plan also lays very public stress it assigns to backing democratic principles, the continental organization and, in especial, the West African regional organization the Economic Community of West African States.

This constitutes positive official support for the latter, which is currently under severe pressure after seeing its 50th anniversary year marred by the departure of the Sahel nations – Burkina Faso, the Malian Republic and the Nigerien Republic – whose controlling military regimes have declined to adhere with its agreement regarding democratic governance and good governance.

Simultaneously, in a statement targeted as much at Spain's internal population as its continental allies, the international relations office declared "supporting the African diaspora and the battle against prejudice and immigrant hostility are also crucial objectives".

Impressive rhetoric of course are only a initial phase. But in today's sour international climate such language really does appear distinctive.