PSOE and Sumar unblock the naturalization of Sahrawis, which is now opposed by PP and Vox

Eduardo González After voting against the initiative twice, the PSOE has finally reached an agreement with its coalition partner, Sumar, to pass, with the corresponding compromise amendments, the bill to grant Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born before 1976. This time, the opposition came from the People's Party (PP) and Vox. Congress approved the report from the Justice Committee on Tuesday regarding the proposed law to grant Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born under Spanish administration. The text had been promoted by Sumar, the junior partner in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government, but the PSOE had voted against it twice in Congress (February 2023 and February 2025). To justify their position, the Socialists had resorted to mere legal technicalities. Specifically, they rejected the legal-technical procedure of the Sumar proposal, arguing that the Polisario Front, a private entity not recognized by Morocco, should not be the one to certify the documentation necessary for nationality. Furthermore, they opposed the process of granting nationality being that of a naturalization certificate. Once the initial debate on its consideration was passed, the proposed law was sent to the Justice Committee of the Congress of Deputies, thus beginning the process of submitting amendments to the entire bill and to specific articles. On April 28, the report was debated for the first time in the Justice Committee, amidst the controversy surrounding the exclusion of Sahrawis from the extraordinary regularization of immigrants due to their stateless status. Following that meeting, the text remained shelved for several months, but Sumar, the main driving force behind the initiative, began a negotiation process with the PSOE and other progressive parties to push through a series of compromise amendments that would integrate the various proposals presented. Furthermore, the proposal also received a boost from an unexpected source: last Wednesday, June 24, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured the plenary session of the Lower House that he is "fully in favor of granting Spanish nationality to Sahrawis born under Spanish administration." "There is no blockage, and I, as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, am in favor of it," he insisted in response to a question from MP Francesc-Marc Álvaro Vidal, of the Republican Parliamentary Group. Just a few days after the minister's remarks, the Justice Committee finally approved the report this Tuesday thanks to the convergence of positions between Sumar and the PSOE, which allowed the Socialists to stop blocking the proposal. In the vote, Junts abstained, and the PP (which until now had supported granting nationality to the Sahrawi people) and Vox voted against it, but their votes were not enough to stop the bill's progress. Having passed this preliminary stage, Sumar will attempt to bring the initiative to the Congress's Justice Committee, which will meet in a public session on July 14, with the aim of having the text voted on in the final plenary session of the current parliamentary term, scheduled for July 24. Following the approval of the committee's report, MP Tesh Sidi, of the Sumar party (and of Sahrawi origin), explained that this legislation could benefit up to 350,000 people, including the 50,000 Sahrawis (and their descendants) who resided in the former Spanish province before the 1976 Moroccan occupation and the 300,000 Sahrawi immigrants currently living in Spain. Under the new text, individuals who can prove two years of residency in Spain could apply for citizenship, as is the case for people from Latin America, Sephardic origin, or other former Spanish territories.

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