The bill that aims to grant Spanish nationality to those born in Western Sahara when it was a territory under Spanish administration is once again postponed in Congress. The vote in the Plenary, which was being considered for the extraordinary session of July 23, will not finally take place until after the summer break.
The norm was stalled for more than a year in the 'refrigerator' of Congress and Sumar, the promoter of the initiative, had been trying to reactivate it since April. To do this, it offered the progressive parties, including the PSOE, a battery of transactional amendments that would integrate the proposals of the different groups.
Last month, the two partners of the coalition government managed to bring their positions closer and closed an agreement on several tweaks to the initial text. These changes were endorsed on June 30 by the committee with the support of the left-wing allies, while Junts chose to abstain. The PP and Vox positioned themselves against it, although they were in the minority.
As July and August are non-working months in parliamentary terms, the Ministry of Justice asked the Congress Board to enable July to continue with the processing. The next step is the meeting of the Justice Commission to approve its report and, subsequently, to submit the bill to the Plenary for its final approval before sending it to the Senate.
Sumar's idea was for the Justice Commission to meet on July 14 to debate and vote on the report, and for the Plenary to ratify it the following week in the extraordinary session scheduled for the 23rd.
However, as parliamentary sources have indicated to Europa Press, the Justice Commission will not hold its meeting until the 23rd. Thus, unless a new extraordinary Plenary is convened at the end of August, the approval in the hemicycle will be delayed until the first ordinary session in September. Afterwards, the Senate's examination will still remain.
The law aims to recognize Spanish nationality for Sahrawis and their descendants who resided in the former Spanish province before August 11, 1976, when it was still under Spanish rule. Sumar estimates that this measure could reach about 50,000 people living in the Tindouf camps.
COULD BENEFIT ALMOST 100,000 PEOPLE
The condition of being Sahrawi born in those circumstances may be proven by Spanish National Identity Document (even if expired), receipts of registration in the census for the Western Sahara Referendum issued by the UN, birth certificates, family book, school enrollment certificates, retirement pensions, or hospitalization and medical assistance documents, among others. The PSOE has refused to validate documentation issued by the Polisario Front, as it is not officially recognized as an authority.
Furthermore, the rule would apply to Sahrawi immigrants currently residing in Spain, which Sumar estimates at around 30,000. For them, the project contemplates that they will only have to prove two years of legal and continuous residence, and not three, to apply for nationality, thus equating their rights to those of citizens from Hispanic America, Sephardim, or other former territories under Spanish sovereignty.
The application to acquire nationality will not incur any type of fee and must be submitted within three years from the entry into force of the law, which will occur six months after its publication in the Official State Gazette.