Spain Pledges Protection for Ukrainian Migrants

Madrid is considering the possibility of signing an agreement with Kyiv designed to protect the Ukrainian workforce in Spain, Spanish State Secretary Ramon de Miguel said following the February 18 Ukrainian - Spanish consultations. On his part, Ukraine’s State Secretary for Integration with Europe, Oleksandr Chaly, pointed out that the corresponding draft agreement was submitted to the Spanish side long ago.

Mr. Miguel attributed the need for such a document to the large influx of skilled migrants from Ukraine. Though, as he put it, the number of illegal Ukrainian workers in Spain is about half that of Portugal, where there is an estimated 80,000 illegally employed Ukrainians. Incidentally, the week before last saw the signing of an agreement between Kyiv and Lisbon on social protection of our compatriots on the Portuguese labor market (Read more in page 4). Mr. Miguel stressed that a similar agreement between Ukraine and Spain is only a matter of time. Miguel mentioned that Madrid has made similar arrangements with Romania and Poland. The Spanish state secretary, however, declined to name a more or less specific date for the signing of the agreement with Kyiv. As he put it, it could be endorsed “even before this month’s ends, let alone this year,” but first the “Ukrainian question” must be studied at the Interior Ministry.

The future bilateral relations in the wake of EU enlargement also dominated the consultations. “We look to the day when our relations will be close enough so that there would be no need for negotiations,” Mr. Miguel underscored. According to him, despite the fact that there are no disagreements between Kyiv and Madrid, much still remains to be done, hence the need for consultations addressing both bilateral and European issues.