The Congress of Deputies has approved this Tuesday, despite the vote against the PSOE, to take into consideration a proposal of law of United We Can to grant Spanish nationality by naturalization letter to the Sahrawis born before 1976 and their descendants in the first line of consanguinity, as well as limiting to two years those necessary for them to obtain it by residence.
The initiative has been presented by the spokesman for the Interior and Justice of United We Can, Enrique Santiago, who has considered "the obligation of this Chamber to do justice to the historical offense committed against the Saharawi people" for "the delivery of a territory pending decolonization". to Morocco and the "shameful action carried out by the dying Franco regime", from which, in his opinion, "a historical debt" of Spain with Western Sahara is derived.
Santiago recalled that until 1976 the Sahrawis were considered Spanish and pointed out that, although they were allowed to opt for Spanish nationality, it was already impossible to do so under the domination of Morocco and Mauritania. "In practice, Spain sold the Sahara to Morocco", denounced the deputy, who also pointed out that the Madrid agreement is invalid for inducing an armed occupation of another country and that United Nations resolutions endorse the celebration of a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.
For this reason, Santiago has claimed, this proposal intends to "settle, even if in a limited way, this historical grievance", with the granting of Spanish nationality by naturalization letter to those born in the Sahara under Spanish sovereignty through a procedure very similar to that of that was used with the Sephardim. It will be worth it to present an ID, even expired, or other documents issued by Spanish or Saharawi authorities or to demonstrate the first degree of consanguinity with them, to acquire nationality within a maximum period of five years. They could also do it with a two-year stay in Spain, like Latin Americans or Andorrans.
The spokesman for the United Left in Congress has also called for support from all parliamentary groups "regardless of which they think is the most viable solution for Western Sahara", even if United We Can is the referendum and will do "everything possible so that be fulfilled”. Meanwhile, he advocated the granting of nationality to "make life easier" for a people with whom Spain has "a historical debt", also to "strengthen future ties between peoples of free sovereign and independent states".
On behalf of the PSOE, its deputy Sergio Gutiérrez has indicated that this "complex" debate should not be used as a "throwing weapon" or as a thermometer to see who supports the Saharawi cause the most, since Spanish nationality is a matter of national politics, not international .
For this reason, he wanted to focus the debate on the fact that there is a grievance with the Sahrawis in relation to Equatorial Guinea, another former colony of Spain in Africa, and has asked for the procedures between the two peoples to be equal and not to differentiate them. “We share the goal but we do not share the design”, she has synthesized.
Along these lines, he recalled that there are two possible obtaining of nationality: by naturalization letter, as requested by United We Can, and by abbreviated residence of two years. And he has pointed out that the procedure for other colonies is the second, because the Supreme Court and the Council of State consider it so, and that it is not right for a private organization like the Polisario Front to issue the documents.
For the PP, Miguel Ángel Jerez has recognized that the Sahara is an "imperfect process" and that Spain has not yet addressed its "historical responsibility" and that it is "a chapter to be closed" beyond historical or moral debts. He has also defended "active neutrality" as the position held by all Spanish governments "except this one."
Regarding the Spanish nationality of the Sahrawis, he has affirmed that there are experts who have reached different conclusions from that of UP, but that the PP will be loyal in the search for a solution "with the majority will of the chambers" and with the Constitution in the event that the bill is admitted for processing and will be "proactive" in its promotion. "Nothing that we have not voted for before," he proclaimed, before adding that "no one should be orphaned in their homeland."
Jerez has indicated that nationality should be limited to the Sahrawis who could not claim Spanish nationality in 1975 due to the Moroccan invasion, recalling a Constitutional Court ruling that ruled that citizens of the former Spanish Sahara cannot be recognized as Spaniards of origin . And he has ended up calling on the Socialists to vote thinking that Spain "cannot afford more clumsiness."
On behalf of Vox, the deputy María Teresa López Albares has started from the idea that "history has no mercy with servile traitors" and that this initiative is "a perk" to the Saharawi people after they were "outraged and humiliated" by the historical turn of the Government towards the Sahara. "What there is is a whitening purpose of its own formation", she has diagnosed herself.
López Albares has lamented that the independence of the Sahara depends on "treasonous governments" like that of Sánchez, and has taken the opportunity to reproach him for the fact that Morocco continues with its claim on Ceuta and Melilla. "The relationship between Spain and Morocco is based on permanent blackmail", he has inferred, where the Spanish Government "fixes the pressure by giving in, giving up and showing a cowardly weakness".
For this reason, he has asked United We Can why it does not urge the government of which it is a part to demand compliance with international legality in the Sahara, and has accused it of "immense incoherence that they want to recognize the Sahrawis as people with a different status". to the rest of the Moroccans.
The deputy of ERC Marta Rosique has begun denouncing that for Spain the Sahara is a "toy with which to play in geopolitics", as in its day Latin America. First to guarantee in return Ceuta and Melilla and the support of the United States and last year to control immigration from Morocco.
He also recalled that in 2015 the government of Mariano Rajoy refused to extend access to Sephardic nationality to the Sahrawis. And he has concluded that Spain "always sides with the powerful." In addition, he has pronounced a few words in Catalan to end by joking that, with so much effort that he puts into granting Spanish nationality to the Catalans, how can he not give it to the Sahrawis, who had it and are asking for it.
Mari Carmen Martínez, from Ciudadanos, has begun by ironizing that United We Can sit on the Council of Ministers, and if this initiative is to "publicly atone for their sins for all the times that this government of which they are a part bows to what they request Morocco". It has coincided, yes, in the "historical responsibilities with Western Sahara" that Spain has, including the United Nations mandate for its self-determination.
Even clarifying that Ciudadanos would vote in favor of taking the proposal into consideration, Martínez has reiterated that "what they would have to do" in the Government is "correct these historical errors" and "stop playing with the foreign policy" of Spain; "Think more about the general interest and less about the particular interest of the parties that are part of the Government".
On behalf of the PNV, Mikel Legarda recalled that in 2015 the law was approved to give Spanish nationality to the Sephardim, but that the PP, then with an absolute majority, ignored the groups that claimed it. He has agreed that Spain "has an undoubted historical responsibility and a deep moral debt" with the people of Western Sahara, to which it granted a self-determination referendum in 1975.
As part of the "degradation and discredit of his reputation" regarding the Sahara, Legarda has mentioned Sánchez's "Copernican turn" in assuming the Moroccan position. And, "to settle some" of those debts, Legarda has announced the support of the Basque group for the UP proposal.
The EH Bildu deputy Jon Iñarritu has said that the UP initiative is "common sense", to the point that "we should not talk about granting nationality, but about restitution of nationality" to the Sahrawis, but he recalled that it has been a year since the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, assumed Morocco's position on the Sahara, with the consequent impairment of relations with Algeria, and all so that only the respective "spheres of sovereignty" are respected.
In this sense, he also recalled the probable espionage with Pegasus by Morocco, that Morocco influences the position of the PSOE in Europe and the harassment of the Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero, and ended by reiterating the defense made by the abertzale group of a referendum of self-determination in the Sahara.
Mariona Illamola, from Junts, has confessed that she had been surprised by the bill, that UP presented it as a parliamentary group and not as a government. He has also criticized the turn given by Sánchez to relations with Morocco, which would not be reinforcement but rather "breaking of historical ties with the Saharawi people".
Junts denounced that Spain had abandoned the Sahara to its fate, and asked what interest a Saharawi could have in having the nationality of a country that, in his opinion, does not respect international law or his right to self-determination. Finally, he has asked if, if approved, the initiative will not be a mere "toast to the sun", but in any case he has promised to support it.
Joan Baldoví, from Compromís, has testified from a visit to the Sahara that he made with other Spanish deputies in 2013, to the "occupation", "repression" and "systematic violation of human rights" in the Sahara, and has recalled that a The old man asked them: "Why did Spain abandon us?" For what he has justified his support for the proposal: not doing so "would continue to delve into injustice and infamy."
Néstor Rego, from the BNG, has welcomed these individual solutions to the Saharawis, but has pointed out that what the Saharawi people need is a collective one, international recognition of the Saharawi nationality and of the Sahara as an independent State.
Ana Oramas, from Coalición Canaria, has started from the basis that "the Saharawi people do not want an identity card", but self-determination, but she has advanced her support for the UP proposal. Beyond the past, she has said that "you cannot understand" the change of position of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, towards the Sahara, which neither Congress nor the coalition government have sanctioned.
Everything, Oramas has mocked, so that he later goes to "make a fool of himself" in Rabat, where King Mohamed VI did not receive him on Sánchez's last visit to Morocco. Although, citing the example of a Saharawi girl welcomed by a Spanish couple, the CC spokesperson has acknowledged that "it is important" to give them Spanish nationality and has insisted that the important thing is to hold the self-determination referendum.
