The far-right's ability to steer social discussions to its advantage has been evident with the proposal to regularize half a million people living in the country without legal status. Parties like Vox, followed by the Popular Party (PP), have framed the issue in strictly political-electoral terms: “papers for ballots,” reducing regularization to just another episode in the partisan battle.

This tactic prevents addressing the core of the debate, which is the economy and the privileges granted to certain economic actors by having a large pool of workers without rights. These workers are not protected by the legal framework that covers registered employees, facilitating savings on contributions, unregulated hours, and poverty wages.

The far-right acts as a willing ally to these beneficiaries, using smokescreens to avoid discussing who truly profits from having over half a million people working illegally. This context was mirrored in the meeting between a select group of businessmen and the leader of a xenophobic party with representation in the Catalan Parliament, an image reminiscent of that described by Éric Vuillard in his book The Order of the Day, where forces presenting themselves as anti-system seek to preserve existing privileges.