The Spanish city with migrant integration as its top priority

This comes amid growing anti-tourism and even some outright anti-foreigner sentiment in Spain in recent years, but Valladolid and Spain more widely will increasingly rely on migrant labour to prop up its pensions system in the future.

A recent study by the Bank of Spain estimates that the country will need up to 25 million more immigrant workers by 2053 in order to combat demographic ageing and maintain the ratio of workers to pensioners.

This tension is not entirely understood by some aspects of Spanish society but is one that the authorities in Valladolid recognise and are already working towards.

Reports in the local media suggest that demographic forecasts mean the city will need as many as 40,000 immigrants by 2040 in order to maintain population levels. With this demographic challenge ahead, the city is now preparing for integration.

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The mayor of Valladolid, Jesús Julio Carnero, recently presented the “Second Plan for Coexistence” and it outlined the "inclusion, equal treatment and positive management of cultural diversity in the city."

"Valladolid is a dynamic and open city, reflecting an increasingly diverse society. In 2019, there were a total of 14,700 foreigners and now we have 24,412 in 2024, representing 8 percent of the population,” Carnero said. The city's foreign resident population has grown by 63 percent in that time.

"The largest community in Valladolid is Colombian, although we have residents from a total of 130 nationalities in the city.

"This illustrates the diversity of the city," he added. The objective is “an inclusive city, where people from different backgrounds live together in harmony based on respect and equal treatment between men and women," he said.

However, Carnero, who is from the centre-right Partido Popular, governs in coalition with the far-right party Vox. The party has traditionally taken a hard line on immigration and even called for mass deportations. As such, Carnero also acknowledged during the presentation that the city has changed in a “notable” way in recent years due to the influx of migrants.

The new plan is structured around a total of 60 different initiatives and has seven main areas, including reception and social inclusion, cultural diversity management, coexistence and meeting spaces, intercultural mediation, anti-discrimination and awareness-raising, leadership and co-governance, and participation and association.

Through all these plans, measures will be implemented to promote equal opportunities, prevent conflicts, support job placement, strengthen community ties and ensure equitable access to public services as the demographic face of the city changes.

The plan also commits to raising awareness and promoting the Roma community to combat prejudice and stigma through play and awareness-raising in educational and community settings.