MEP Stanisław Tyszka (ESN) has submitted a parliamentary question to the European Commission on 26 June 2026, challenging the compatibility of Spain's mass regularisation of irregular migrants with the EU's migration pact and Schengen rules. The Polish MEP warns that over 900,000 applications have been filed under the Spanish procedure, far exceeding the government's original estimate of 500,000, and argues that the move could undermine solidarity mechanisms under the migration pact.
The question, addressed to the Commission, seeks clarification on how the executive reconciles Commissioner Magnus Brunner's statement during a 10 February 2026 European Parliament debate — that regularisation is a national competence but must not harm other member states — with the scale of the Spanish regularisation. Tyszka also asks whether the Commission has estimated how many beneficiaries could obtain EU long-term resident status and move to other member states after five years, and why unilateral mass regularisation is treated as a national matter while countries refusing relocation or financial contributions under the migration pact are deemed not acting in solidarity.
The question references Regulation (EU) 2024/1351, a key element of the migration pact, which establishes a mandatory solidarity mechanism covering relocations, financial contributions, and other measures. Tyszka's query highlights a tension between national sovereignty over regularisation and the collective obligations of the Schengen area and migration pact.
The Commission is expected to respond within approximately six weeks, and its answer will signal its stance on the limits of national regularisation policies within the EU's migration framework.