The socialist governments of Denmark and Malta support the deportation centers and leave Sánchez isolated in the EU

The position of the European Parliament – which has come out ahead by 389 votes in favor, 206 against and 32 abstentions – has been agreed by the so-called ‘Venezuela majority’formed by the European People’s Party (EPP) and the three radical right groups: Conservatives and Reformists, Patriots and Europe of Sovereign Nations.

The socialist group -led in the European Parliament by the Spanish Iratxe Garciavery close to Sánchez- had urged to vote against the normaccusing the European People’s Party (EPP) of having preferred a pact with the “extreme right” rather than negotiating in depth within the framework of the ‘grand coalition’.

However, the Socialist MEPs from Denmark and Malta -the only ones, along with Spain and Lithuania, with Governments led by this political family- have broken party discipline and voted in favor of the return directive.

That is, Sánchez does not even have the support of the few socialist prime ministers left in the EU. The Danish Mette Frederiksen has based its electoral success on a very restrictive immigration policy, while the Maltese Robert Abela runs one of the Member States with the greatest migratory pressure.

For their part, the Swedish socialists – who are not currently part of the government coalition – have abstained. The rest of the members of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group have adhered to the discipline and have voted against the returns regulation, as have the Greens, the radical left and the majority of the liberals.

The vote represents a boost to the model tested by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in its agreements with Albania to create migrant deportation centers there. And it once again reveals the loneliness of the Sánchez Government in the EUwhose plan for mass regularization of migrants goes against the grain of community policy.

“We cannot advance a credible and effective migration policy if the return decisions are not fulfilled,” said PP MEP Javier Zarzalejos, president of the Civil Liberties commission of the European Parliament.

Zarzalejos has highlighted that this regulation “contradicts the immigration policy of the Government of Spainwhich opens the door to massive regularizations and shows a clear absence of a strategy to control irregular immigration.”

For their part, European socialists maintain that the text approved by the European Parliament “is more inspired by the policies of the Trump administration and an ICE-style deportation regime than by European values.”

The Conservatives and Reformists and the Patriots speak of “historic victory“. “Vox and Patriotas manage to approve Parliament’s proposal for a new European return regulation, which lays the foundations for mass deportations. Remigration, getting closer,” said Santiago Abascal’s party.

This Thursday’s vote in the European Parliament is not yet the end of the procedure. Parliament’s representatives must now negotiate the final version of the regulation with the EU governments, which already adopted their position in December 2025. At that time, Sánchez’s Government was the only one that voted against this rule.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska then expressed “serious legal, political and economic doubts” about the return centers and alleged that they could cause a “negative impact” on bilateral relations with key partners in preventing irregular migration at origin.

As soon as the vote concluded this Thursday, the Cypriot presidency of the EU held the first round of contacts with the European Parliament, with the aim of reaching a definitive agreement before the end of the year.

“It is essential to ensure that those who do not have a legal right to remain in the EU are effectively returned and that return decisions are applied in practice throughout the Union,” said Cypriot Deputy Immigration Minister Nicholas A. Ioannides.

Obligation to cooperate

The new regulation introduces the legal possibility of returning to a third country (other than that of origin) to people who are illegally in the EU and have received a final return decision, on the basis of an agreement concluded bilaterally or at EU level.

That is, it is a “variable geometry” model that can be used by interested governments and discarded by the rest.

The norm It also imposes on migrants the obligation to cooperate with the national authorities throughout the return procedure. In case of non-compliance, migrants will suffer additional sanctions such as fines, detention or extension of the detention period.

Forced deportations will be mandatory when a migrant who is illegally in the EU does not cooperate, flees to another Member State, does not leave the EU by the deadline set for voluntary departure or poses a security risk.

The regulation allows migrants to be held in detention for a period of two years, extendable in successive periods of six months.