On 14 January, the group on the regularisation of undocumented migrants organised by the Trade Union Network for Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Migration (RSMMS) met in Madrid. The meeting was attended by the European trade unions belonging to the network (CGIL, Italy, CCOO, Spain, CGT – France, CFDT, France, FGTB, AVC-CSC, Belgium), as well as by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Picum (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants) and FES (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung) Tunisia.
On the first day, the participants discussed the key points to be included in the proposal to be presented at the final conference of the working group, which aims to raise standards for the regularisation of undocumented migrants in EU countries. Many points of convergence emerged, particularly in the light of the presentation of the Spanish regulation, which is the result of an intensive social dialogue between the social partners and the government.
The meeting took place at the headquarters of CCOO Comisiones Obreras, which invited the group to participate in an official event to present the new Spanish migration regulation, which took place the following day, 15 January, at the National Institute of Public Administration INAP (agenda 15 January).
The event was attended by the Secretary General of the CCOO, Unai Sordo, and the Minister for Social Inclusion and Migration, as well as other important guests. In his speech, Unai Sordo called for “better management of migratory flows, more resources to speed up regularisations and the political will to fight xenophobia and racism, because the debate on migration is not about “yes or no”, but about “how””. In the afternoon, a round table was held where the working group on regularisation of undocumented migrants presented national experiences and the work of the network and and the importance of sharing and exchange between trade unions from European, Mediterranean and sub-Saharan African countries.