Reuters recently published an article that weaves in the journey of a small rubber boat carrying 57 people who are trying to reach Europe from Libya into a broader narrative that highlights the continued dangers facing migrants who attempt to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

“The rubber dinghy was one of more than 1,300 migrant boats that ran into trouble while trying to reach Europe by sea last year, according to figures provided by Alarm Phone,” writes Joan Faus, Mariano Zafra and Sudev Kiyada in their article.

The article highlights the Faustian bargain that European countries such as Italu have made with countries such as Libya, effectively handing off responsibility for reducing migration from Africa to countries that have documented cases of abuse of migrants.

The European Union’s economy “would have looked far weaker after the pandemic without foreign workers, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday, warning policymakers not to ignore migration’s role even as it fuels political tensions,” reports Bartosz Brzezinski in Politico.

The ECB president “argued that migration has played a crucial role in offsetting Europe’s shrinking birth rate and growing appetite for shorter working hours,” the Politico story said.

“Migration could, in principle, play a crucial role in easing” labor shortages as native populations age, Lagarde said. But “political economy pressures may increasingly limit inflows,” she said, according to a report in Fortune.

“At a time when many Western democracies are trying to keep immigrants out, Spain is boldly welcoming them in,” writes By Omar G. Encarnación, in a recent New York Times Op-Ed.

While the country’s low birthrate is one factor in its welcoming embrace of migrants that only tells part of the story, he notes. Spain’s “rich and complex history helps explain the relatively high level of tolerance for immigration among Spaniards.”

“Ultimately, however, Spain’s immigration politics owe most to the administration of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of the last exponents of social democracy in Europe. Although decidedly liberal, Mr. Sánchez’s approach is far from an experiment with open borders. Instead, it’s as pragmatic as it is deliberate. It’s true he has built-in advantages not shared by other European leaders. But by marrying practical solutions to an uplifting message, he has provided a case study in how to build support for progressive immigration policies,” writes Encarnacion.

 Spain “is proving an important point: A generous immigration policy is not a threat to the nation or to a thriving economy. More than that, it is a resource for growth and renewal that Spain’s peers spurn at their cost,” he notes.