Tajani criticises Sánchez over domestic policy

He is supposed to be the moderate leader of the centre-right coalition and the head of Italian diplomacy, yet – perhaps fuelled by the ‘Vannacci psychosis’ – Antonio Tajani is adopting an increasingly inflammatory tone, going so far as to attack the domestic policies of another European country. Yesterday, the Foreign Minister gave an interview to the Spanish daily "El Mundo" packed with criticism of the political actions of Pedro Sánchez’s government – not on minor points, but on issues that divide Spanish public opinion, such as the amnesty for Catalan separatists and the regularisation of undocumented migrants, which he described as ‘incredible’ and ‘demagogic’: “I do not agree with what Spain has done regarding regularisation,” says the Foreign Minister.

The position of the Foreign Minister, as conveyed to El Mundo, is that the Sánchez government’s decision to regularise the status of irregular migrants has repercussions for Italy, because “there is free movement within the European Union and people regularised in Spain could move to Italy. Furthermore, for Spanish speakers, it is easier to learn Italian than other European languages. For Spanish speakers, it is easier to go to Italy than to Germany’. Therefore, Tajani says with great severity, ‘half a million people, or even more than a million, as is now being rumoured, seems incredible to me. This amounts to another million Europeans without a clear job, thanks to a demagogic measure. It is a decision that is very difficult to understand. It is a European problem, not just a Spanish one. It must be tackled jointly.” We should have been informed and consulted – that is the Italian government’s message.

The issue of immigration, which has seen a surge in recent years partly due to the needs of the Spanish economy, is one of the hot-button issues in the political debate ahead of next year’s elections, being exploited above all by the far-right Vox party. This constitutes a clear interference in a matter of national policy, flawed in its approach, but also somewhat far-fetched in substance: it is unclear why Madrid should have consulted other governments on an issue falling within its national remit. What is more, it is surreal that the criticism should come from Italy, which, more than any other country in Europe, manages the issue of immigration through periodic amnesties. There have been at least eight such amnesties. In 2022, it was the Berlusconi government itself, through the Bossi-Fini law, that approved an amnesty involving some 650,000 immigrants: the largest regularisation ever carried out in Europe.

But Tajani addressed another highly sensitive issue, concerning Spanish national unity and the process of reconciliation with the Catalan independence movement, which reached its peak with the 2017 referendum on Catalan independence. Pedro Sánchez, driven by the need to secure the votes required to remain in the Moncloa, struck a deal with the Catalan separatists in 2023: an amnesty for offences committed during the Procés, which would allow the ‘fugitive’ leader Carles Puigdemont to return home, in exchange for the separatists’ votes to enable the socialist government to be formed. For many on the left, this agreement – sought out of necessity – also has a virtue: to bring a peaceful end to a political issue that has torn the country apart over the last decade. For critics, however – who are mainly from the centre-right but also include figures on the left such as the historic PSOE leader Felipe González – the amnesty amounts to a surrender to those who wish to undermine the Constitution and national unity. Moreover, just a few days ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in a long-awaited ruling, dismissed the appeals lodged by the Spanish judiciary against the amnesty law, arguing that it does not contravene European law because it pursues a legitimate objective: ‘to reduce institutional and political tensions and facilitate a process of reconciliation’.

Tajani has burst onto the scene in this heated political, legal and institutional context, shaped by Spanish history. “I do not believe that amnesty is the right decision,” says the Foreign Minister in a lengthy interview with “El Mundo”. “On crucial issues concerning national unity, I believe it is always important to mobilise broad majorities across the country and in Parliament to prevent dangerous secessionist tendencies.”

Tajani, as a member of the EPP, clearly supports the Spanish PP’s election campaign, but using methods hardly befitting a head of diplomacy. There have been no formal protests from the Spanish government, but it is easy to imagine what the Italian government’s reaction would have been if, for example, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares had spoken out during the referendum against judicial reform, saying that a ‘broad majority in Parliament’ is preferable for constitutional amendments. After all, there is a precedent. When, in 2023, French Minister Gérald Darmanin criticised the Meloni government’s migration policies from home, a diplomatic row erupted: “It is a gratuitous and vulgar insult to a friendly country,” thundered Tajani, who, to avenge the offence and in the absence of the requested apology, cancelled an official visit to Paris. If there were a Tajani in Madrid today, he would have already recalled the ambassador to Rome.