The Justice Commission of Congress will meet this Thursday to advance the report of the bill that recognizes Spanish nationality for people born in Western Sahara when it was under Spanish administration, as well as for their descendants. However, it is expected that the final vote in the Plenary will not take place until the new session period, which will begin in September.
The condition of Sahrawi born in that context can be demonstrated through a Spanish ID (even if it is expired), receipt of registration in the census for the Western Sahara Referendum issued by the UN, birth certificate, family book, schooling certificate, retirement pensions, or hospitalization and medical assistance certificates, among other documents. The PSOE has rejected accepting as valid the documents issued by the Polisario Front, as it is not officially recognized as an authority.
The request to obtain nationality will not carry any type of fee and must be submitted within a maximum period of three years from the entry into force of the regulation, which will occur six months after its publication in the Official State Gazette.
MORE THAN A YEAR IN THE "FRIDGE" OF CONGRESS
The processing of this bill remained paralyzed for more than a year in the "fridge" of Congress, until Sumar, since April, began to try to reactivate it by offering progressive parties, including the PSOE, a package of transactional amendments that integrated the different proposals.
In June, the two parties of the coalition government managed to bring positions closer and reached an agreement on several changes to the initial text, which were endorsed on June 30 by the working group with the support of leftist partners, while Junts decided to abstain. The PP --which initially supported the initiative-- and Vox voted against, remaining in the minority.
As July and August are non-working months in parliamentary activity, the Ministry of Justice requested the Congress Board to enable this month to continue with the processing. Sumar aspired for the committee debate to be held on July 14 and for the text to be raised to the Plenary this Thursday.
Finally, the commission has been set for that day, so the initiative will not reach the Plenary until the first ordinary session of September, unless an extraordinary Plenary is called before. In any case, once this procedure is overcome, it will still have to go through the Senate.