As part of wider legal reforms to target repeat offenders such as pickpockets, Spain’s upper chamber has proposed a law that would tighten residency requirements for foreigners who commit crimes.
The Spanish Senate on Wednesday approved a reform designed to combat repeat criminal offending, with possible implications to toughen residency requirements for foreigners in Spain.
The proposal, promoted by centre-right Catalan separatist party Junts per Catalunya, will now return to the Congress of Deputies for final approval.
The reform includes amendments to both Spain’s criminal code and the Criminal Procedure Act with the aim of strengthening the legal response to repeat offences and potentially tying it to residency rights for foreigners.
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Among the measures is a plan to toughen penalties for frequent or repeat theft, including prison sentences of up to three years in certain cases such as the theft of mobile phones.
Repeat, low-level thefts have become a problem in parts of Spain in recent years due to legal loopholes allowing criminals to evade justice.
Barcelona in particular has become infamous for low-level criminals who not only exploit the abundance of distracted tourists, but also the fact that Spanish law allows them to steal goods worth less than €400 and not face a prison sentence if caught.
The Catalan capital has in recent years become known as Europe’s ‘pickpocket capital’. In the wider Catalonia region, 65.5 percent of those arrested are foreigners, whilst in the Basque Country, crimes committed by foreigners also account for a disproportionate number of arrests, data from the Interior Ministry shows.
The reform also introduces new criminal offences, including activities linked to the supply of fuel to vessels used in drug trafficking, a practice known as petaqueo in Spanish.
READ ALSO: How Barcelona is once again Spain’s pickpocket capital
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The legal text also proposes several changes to Spain’s Immigration Law.
Amendments proposed by the centre-right Popular Party (PP) during the Senate debate establish stricter requirements for obtaining or retaining residence permits by requiring the absence of a criminal record not only in Spain, but also in countries where the applicant has previously lived.
The reform also provides for the possibility of refusing residence permits to individuals convicted of repeat offences and would give authorities the power to request reports from state security forces in order to assess whether residency applicants may pose a risk to public order.
Furthermore, if approved in Congress, the changes would also update deportation procedures, notably that they will not be automatically suspended by the submission of applications for regularisation or residence permits.
