Philippe Legrain

Spanish voters are deserting corrupt, incompetent establishment parties. It’s time for a change. My column for Foreign Policy

I was interviewed by Hernán Garcés for the Spanish magazine Alternativas Económicas

From Greece to Spain to France, radical parties are making gains. And the Eurocrats have no one to blame but themselves. My latest column for Foreign Policy

Paul Krugman argues that a benefit for Britain of keeping the pound is that it has been able to devalue – unlike, for instance, Spain, which is part of the euro – and illustrates the point with a chart that shows the 20% devaluation of the UK’s real exchange rate since the crisis hit.   […]

I was interviewed on BBC World News on 25 November 2010 by George Alagiah about the euro-zone crisis and whether Portugal and Spain might be affected next.

There is an interesting article in The Times about Brits who had been living in Spain returning home because of the economic crisis. Tellingly, though, they are referred to as "expats" throughout. It seems that British people abroad aren't migrants, or worse still immigrants. That's a term we reserve for nasty foreigners.

Photo by Sergio Betancort © Prisacom S.A. From El Pais.com They came from North Africa and reached Europe: the Canary Island of Lanzarote, Spain

Net immigration to the EU – immigrants less emigrants – was 1.9 million in 2007, according to Eurostat. Since the EU population is just shy of 500 million, the immigration rate was 0.38%. Spain had the highest level of net immigration: 702,000; Italy was second, with 494,000; Britain third, with 175,000. The Netherlands experienced net […]

Spain’s Socialist government is planning to tighten the country’s immigration laws. It wants to limit the right of immigrants who are not yet permanent residents to bring their parents to live in Spain and to extend the length of time illegal immigrants are detained from 40 days to 60. The right-wing opposition, the Partido Popular, […]

A section of the border fence around the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa has been torn down by a violent storm. Perhaps the elements don’t look favourably on this unnatural barrier.

It is well known that the money that immigrants send home is the biggest – and best-targeted – source of development aid to poor countries. But immigration can also spur an increase in official government aid – in a bid to improve conditions in poor countries and thus deter their citizens from migrating. El Pais […]

From NCI, Noticias culturales iberoamericanas. Gracias.

1. Nine young children and six adults have died, with four more in a very serious state, in the latest tragic attempt by Africans to reach Europe. Full article in Spanish at El Pais; photos here. 2. The European Parliament has passed a motion demanding that the Berlusconi government stop collecting the fingerprints of gypsies […]

The English edition of Spanish newspaper El País has published an interview of me by Simon Hunter to coincide with the launch of Immigrants in Spanish. Read it here

Público, 18 June 2008. ¿Cómo justifica una Europa que se dice civilizada la directiva de retorno de los inmigrantes?

Toumaï, la revista para los inmigrantes, reports on the Spanish launch of Inmigrantes Also, Público, a Spanish daily, has published my article on why the EU directive that would allow irregular migrants to be locked up for 18 months, is unfair and misconceived. 

Pablo Ximénez de Sandoval writes in El País quoting my report for Sweden’s Globalisation Council on why immigration can help pay for Europe’s welfare states.

I’m delighted that Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them is being published in Spanish by Intermón Oxfam. The official launch is on 11 June at the Madrid Book Fair, where I’ll be speaking (in Spanish). The Spanish-speaking world is at the heart of the global debate about migration. Mexico is the biggest source of emigrants in […]

Integral, a Spanish magazine, have just published my article, entitled "Let immigrants in"

Spain is leading the way for a humane and common-sense approach to immigration. In 2005, the government allowed illegal immigrants to regularise their status, giving them the right to work legally.