Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell denied today that the country was experiencing "mass" immigration and said Europe needed "new blood" to compensate for a low birth rate.
"We're trivialising the word 'mass'," he told reporters after talks in Madrid with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.
Close to 21,000 migrants have arrived in Spain by sea since the beginning of the year and 304 died in the attempt, the International Organization for Migration says.
The Libya-Italy Mediterranean route, which was the main one until recently, has dwindled by 80 per cent while Spain has now become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Europe.
Migrants are also reaching Spain by land, with 602 managing to scramble over the double barrier between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa last Thursday, throwing caustic quicklime, excrement and stones onto police below.
Borrell recognised that "this shocks public opinion and the disorderly nature of immigration produces fear."
"That's not mass migration."