NETWORK MIGRATION IN EUROPE WWW.MIGRATIONEDUCATION.ORG 1 MANAGING MIGRATION – THE CASE OF SPAIN GEMMA PINYOL

With regard to migration issues, the Spanish case has become an atypical one. At the beginning of the nineties, Spain, similar to other Southern European countries, had a low regulated labour market and inadequate border protection. The reason is clear: until its accession to the European Community in 1986, Spain saw itself as a country of emigration. Just 20 years later, Spain has become a country of immigration, and an unusual one at that. In the past five years, Spain has become the country that receives the second highest number of immigrants after the United States, with 600,000 arrivals per year on average. Dealing with this huge influx of migratory flows, the different Spanish governments have had the challenge of managing an 'unexpected ' phenomenon. BECOMING A COUNTRY OF IMMIGRATION Until its accession to the European Community in 1986, Spain had neither an immigration policy nor an immigration law. In 1985, as a precondition for EC membership, the first Spanish immigration law was enacted. It was more a ‘requested ’ law to meet the EC standards than a real necessity because at that time