Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has criticised Spain’s decision to grant legal status to more than one million irregular migrants, warning that the policy could encourage further migration across Europe and place additional pressure on the Schengen free-movement system.
Kristersson described Spain’s migrant amnesty as a “very bad idea” and said European countries must avoid policies that could recreate the migration pressures experienced during the 2015 refugee crisis.
His comments came amid renewed European concern over migration following a mass influx into Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta at the end of July. The incident, which involved tens of thousands of people attempting to enter the Spanish enclave from Morocco, has intensified debate over border controls, asylum policies and the movement of migrants within the European Union.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Kristersson said Spain’s decision had generated significant concern among European leaders because it appeared to conflict with the stricter migration policies adopted by several other EU countries.
“It symbolises that we still have to be very, very careful not to act in a way that could even come close to what happened in 2015,” Kristersson said, according to the newspaper.
He said he had directly communicated his concerns to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and warned that migrants who enter Europe through southern member states could eventually travel to other countries further north.
“Exactly that happened in 2015,” Kristersson said.
Spain’s amnesty programme allows migrants without legal status to obtain a renewable one-year residence permit if they can demonstrate that they have lived in the country for at least five months and have no criminal record.
The programme attracted approximately 1.2 million applications, more than twice the number initially anticipated by the Spanish government.
Sánchez has defended the policy by arguing that immigration is important to Spain’s economy, particularly as the country faces an ageing population and labour shortages in several sectors.
Although the permits allow beneficiaries to live and work legally in Spain, they do not give them the right to work in other EU member states. However, recipients can travel within the Schengen Area, where internal border controls are generally removed.
That distinction has nevertheless fuelled concerns in some northern European countries that decisions taken by one member state could have consequences for migration patterns elsewhere in the bloc.
Kristersson said the Schengen system depended on EU countries maintaining coordinated migration policies and protecting the bloc’s external borders.
He warned that migration pressures created by decisions in one country could ultimately affect other members and test the solidarity that underpins the European free-movement system.
Sweden has adopted significantly stricter migration policies since the 2015 crisis, including tighter rules governing asylum, deportations and permanent residence.
The country recorded its lowest number of asylum applications in four decades last year, according to Swedish authorities.
Kristersson has made migration control a central issue of his political agenda and has campaigned on reducing asylum applications while addressing concerns over violent crime.
He said Sweden must not become complacent about migration policy and claimed there was broad public support for preventing a return to what he described as an uncontrolled migration situation.
The prime minister’s warning comes as European authorities continue to deal with the fallout from the Ceuta migrant crisis.
Ceuta, located on Morocco’s northern coast, is one of Spain’s two North African territories and is surrounded by Moroccan territory. Its proximity to mainland Spain makes it a particularly sensitive point in Europe’s migration and border-control system.
Most of the migrants who entered Ceuta during the late-July influx were returned to Morocco within hours. Spanish authorities said approximately 69,500 people were returned during the first four days of the crisis.
However, the incident has raised concerns about whether some migrants could subsequently attempt to reach mainland Spain by sea.
Police sources in the southern Spanish region of Andalucia reportedly estimated that around 75 people from the Ceuta influx eventually reached mainland Spain.
The Spanish mainland is less than 15 nautical miles from Ceuta across the Strait of Gibraltar, making the journey possible by small boats under favourable conditions.
Spanish authorities reported several recent arrivals along the coast near Algeciras and other locations in southern Spain.
On August 1, around 20 Moroccan migrants reportedly reached Punta Carnero in Algeciras. Four were arrested by Spanish National Police, while others managed to escape.
Authorities later intercepted another boat carrying eight migrants near Punta Carnero.
Additional arrivals were reported over the following days, including two groups of migrants who reached beaches in San Roque and other parts of the southern Spanish coast.
Police described the renewed crossings as a worrying reactivation of the Gibraltar Strait migration route, where migrants may travel by boat before swimming the final distance to the Spanish coast and attempting to evade authorities.
The Ceuta crisis has also generated significant political and diplomatic tensions within the EU.
Spanish authorities have criticised what they described as an unhelpful and polarising response from some European partners, while governments in several countries have called for tighter controls on migration.
Italy temporarily reinstated controls on certain borders with Spain following the crisis, suspending normal Schengen arrangements for air and sea travel until at least August 15.
Spain subsequently introduced additional checks on passengers arriving from Italy, including passport, nationality and visa verification.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said authorities had checked 199 passengers on 12 flights arriving from Italy at airports in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Alicante and Valencia.
The reciprocal border measures have raised concerns about the wider implications of the Ceuta crisis for Europe’s passport-free travel area.
The Schengen system allows citizens and legal residents to move freely between participating European countries without routine internal border checks. However, member states can temporarily restore border controls in exceptional circumstances, including serious threats to public policy or internal security.
The current dispute illustrates the tension between national migration policies and the EU’s commitment to maintaining free movement.
Countries such as Spain, which receive significant numbers of migrants at the EU’s southern external borders, often argue that legal migration and integration are essential to their economies.
Other countries, particularly in northern and central Europe, have increasingly emphasised stricter border controls, lower asylum numbers and faster deportations.
Kristersson’s criticism reflects this broader divide over how Europe should respond to migration following the 2015 crisis.
For Sweden, the issue carries particular political significance because the country experienced one of Europe’s highest rates of asylum applications relative to its population during the 2015 migration crisis.
The Swedish government has since moved toward tighter immigration policies, arguing that uncontrolled migration placed excessive pressure on public services and created long-term integration challenges.
Kristersson’s warning therefore reflects not only Sweden’s domestic experience but also a broader concern among some European governments that national decisions on immigration can produce consequences beyond national borders.
The debate over Spain’s amnesty is likely to continue as EU countries seek to balance their economic need for workers, humanitarian responsibilities and commitments under the Schengen system.
For critics of the Spanish policy, the central concern is that regularising large numbers of migrants could create an incentive for further irregular migration or encourage migrants already in southern Europe to move toward countries with stronger labour markets and social protection.
Spanish authorities, meanwhile, maintain that legalising migrants already living in the country can bring them into the formal economy, improve labour-market participation and strengthen integration.
The dispute highlights one of the EU’s most difficult policy challenges: developing a common migration strategy while member states retain significant control over their own immigration systems.
As European governments continue to respond to the fallout from the Ceuta crisis, the disagreement between Spain and countries such as Sweden could further intensify discussions over external border protection, migrant regularisation and the future of free movement within the Schengen Area.