Congress takes the first step to grant nationality to Sahrawis born before 1976 with the ‘no’ of the PSOE

With 168 votes in favor, 53 abstentions from the extreme right and the rejection of 118 socialist deputies, the confederal group has managed to start processing its bill in Congress. The proposal contemplates granting nationality “by naturalization letter to the Sahrawis and the Sahrawis born in the territory of Western Sahara under the sovereignty of Spain” before 1976 and even if they do not have legal residence.

The bill was registered in April 2022, shortly after the PSOE turned to endorse the Moroccan autonomy proposal for that territory and United We Can have decided to address it now, a few weeks after the high-level summit with Morocco. The text provides that the Sahrawis who meet the requirements can prove their condition with a Spanish national identity document, even if it has expired; with a certificate of registration in the census for the Western Sahara Referendum issued by the United Nations; a birth certificate issued by the Saharawi authorities of the refugee camps in Tindouf and legalized by the Representation of the Polisario Front in Spain.

It also offers as alternatives a “birth certificate, family book, documents proving the status of public employee issued by the Spanish administration in Western Sahara” or “any other document from a Spanish administrative authority proving birth in Western Sahara.” before February 26, 1976”.

The proposition includes an article for descendants in the first degree of consanguinity of the Sahrawis who benefit from this law. The text proposes a period of 5 years from the registration in the Civil Registry of their predecessors so that they could also apply for Spanish nationality.

“Our political priority is the right to self-determination and we will do everything possible so that this United Nations mandate is fulfilled and the Saharawis can be free to decide their future by holding that unjustifiably postponed referendum”, the spokesman began. deputy of United We Can from the rostrum of Congress.

Until then, he said, “this initiative can be useful” for a people with whom Spain has “a historical debt.” “We believe this initiative will serve to strengthen future ties between peoples, between sovereign and independent states,” said Santiago, who insisted on the need to guarantee a dignified future for the African people.

The norm has taken the first step in Congress thanks to the support of the Popular Party and the abstention of Vox. “No one should be orphaned of homeland, State and nationality. Which is equivalent to being orphaned by protection and living in helplessness”, said the deputy of the PP Miguel Ángel Jerez from the rostrum, who nevertheless recalled the Supreme Court ruling that denies the possibility of being considered of Spanish origin to those born in the former Spanish Sahara.

“If the initiative they propose is approved, we will approach a debate from the serenity and respect without deteriorating our international relations, without committing the same clumsiness that the Government of Sánchez has committed with the Sahara, with Morocco and with Algeria in 24 hours”, has specified later.

The partners reproach the Government for the turn on the Sahara

Most of the usual partners of the Government have approved the admission for processing of the proposal of United We Can but all have agreed in their reproaches to the Executive for the change of position regarding Western Sahara.

The deputy of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) Mikel Legarda has considered that this “Copernican turn” is the latest chapter in the “discredit” of his reputation. “It is clearly positioned in favor of the Moroccan theses and against the Saharawi people, which has been another milestone in many of the debts pending payment,” said Lagarda to advance her vote in favor of taking it into consideration as a form to settle some of those pending accounts.

“One year has passed since the socialist part of the Government unilaterally decided to change its position and point out that the proposal for the autonomy of Western Sahara was the most serious, realistic and credible”, recalled the spokesman for EH Bildu in Congress Jon Iñarritu .

“The reality is that the general courts have made this decision ugly to the Government, we see how the Polisario Front has done the same and has also cut relations with the Spanish Sahara. Due to historical responsibility, due to international law and because the Saharawis and also this House ask them to do so, we ask them to rectify”, Iñarritu has claimed.

The PP has also taken advantage of the debate to charge against the turn of the PSOE on this issue. “They unilaterally changed their criteria and robbed this Congress of an essential debate. They never valued the consequences. They have put our energy dependence at risk. They sent us migratory flows that ended in tragedy. I don’t know what they will do, but what they do think twice. This country cannot afford more clumsiness”, Jerez warned.

The PSOE, against

The PSOE has criticized that the tone of the debate has become a generalized questioning of Spanish foreign policy and as a “throwing weapon” against the government’s position regarding the territory. “It is a debate on internal issues, on who has the right to request nationality, with what procedure, with what requirements and who has the postmark to certify that nationality”, said the Socialist deputy Sergio Gutiérrez.

The PSOE spokesman has shared with his government partner that there is “a grievance” of the Saharawi people with respect to other communities and historical territories “with great ties to Spain” when it comes to accessing nationality, and has given the example of Equatorial Guinea. In this sense, he has criticized the procedure of nationality by naturalization letter proposed by the confederal group and has opposed the possibility of granting nationality after two years of residence in Spanish territory.

“Even though we agree with the political objective, we do not agree with the procedure. We believe that it should be the same for all historical territories, but we do not agree on some technical issues either. We do not agree that it is the Polisario Front, as the private organization that it is, that issues the certificates”, Gutiérrez pointed out. “We believe that for legal, political and technical reasons we should promote the consensus of 2016, which is to match the procedures to those of the rest of the colonies. To similar situations, same solutions ”, he has settled.