PORTO, Portugal, April 22 (Reuters) - France's far-right National Rally would reintroduce border controls and seek to limit Europe’s free‑movement zone to EU nationals if it came to power, its leader said on Wednesday, accusing Spain of becoming a gateway for migration into Europe.
At an event organised by Patriots for Europe - the EU Parliament's third-largest grouping - in Porto, Jordan Bardella said Spain's upcoming mass regularisation of migrants had "considerable consequences for the larger balance of Spanish society, but also for neighbouring countries".
Last week, Madrid launched the fast‑track scheme to grant legal residence to undocumented migrants who can prove having entered the country before end-2025 and spent five uninterrupted months living in Spain, a move it says could integrate up to 500,000 workers and boost the economy.
"Spain under (Prime Minister Pedro) Sanchez is in the process of becoming the entry point for migratory subversion in Europe," he told reporters in Portugal's second-largest city.
Sanchez, a Socialist, has repeatedly rejected such criticism from the domestic opposition, saying the measure simply aimed to recognise the rights of people who were already living in the country. He also cited the precedent of similar schemes implemented by prior Spanish governments of the conservative People's Party.
Bardella said that if his party won next year's presidential election, it would enforce border controls and push for the freedom of movement granted under the Schengen agreement to be reserved exclusively for nationals of EU member states.
Aside from Bardella and host Andre Ventura, who leads the far-right Portuguese opposition party Chega, the Patriots event brought together MEPs and policy experts for a two‑day debate on energy sovereignty, territory and the broader future of Europe.
Ventura claimed the residence permits obtained by migrants in Spain were a ploy by Sanchez to reap votes in future elections and said it put all of Europe at risk.
However, under Spanish electoral law, only Spanish citizens are eligible to vote in general elections. Migrants who obtain residency do not automatically receive citizenship and therefore cannot vote.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Miguel Pereira; Editing by David Latona and William Maclean)
