European Commissioner: EU faces urgent need for legal immigrants to fill labour gaps

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner has said that labour markets in EU member states are in desperate need of legal immigrants.

"We must distinguish between legal migration, which we need, and other types of migration that we need to combat," he said at an event in Madrid, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

"We are desperately in need of legal immigrants for our labour markets," Brunner added. He made this statement ahead of a meeting with Spain's Minister for the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

In October 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that Europe is experiencing a "demographic winter" which is why it needs immigrants. According to earlier data from Spain's National Statistics Institute, the population of the kingdom exceeded 49 million for the first time as of January 1, 2025, marking a historic high. The population growth was driven by an increase in the number of individuals born abroad.

By Naila Huseynova