Why Spain’s new Sahrawi citizenship law matters to Morocco

What the report says

Spain’s Congress has approved a bill that would create a special path to Spanish citizenship for Sahrawis born in Western Sahara while the territory was under Spanish rule, as well as for some first-degree descendants. The measure passed by 168 votes to 31, with 145 abstentions, and still needs Senate approval before it can become law. Al Jazeera reported that the proposal would also shorten the normal residency requirement for eligible Sahrawis living legally in Spain from 10 years to two.

The initiative has drawn close attention in Morocco because of its possible political and symbolic effects, even though it would not change Western Sahara’s disputed status. Under the bill, citizenship would not recognize a Sahrawi state or alter the territory’s sovereignty, but it could eventually give Spanish and European Union citizenship to a sizeable group of people with links to Western Sahara. Estimates cited by Reuters in the article suggest between 70,000 and 110,000 people might qualify, though that number is uncertain.

Al Jazeera said the timing is significant because Spain has already shifted its Western Sahara policy. In 2022, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government backed Morocco’s autonomy plan as the most serious basis for resolving the dispute, helping mend a previous diplomatic crisis. The new citizenship measure sits alongside that stance, but Morocco may still see both as connected because they involve the same unresolved territory.

Inside Spain, the bill has also exposed political divisions. The governing Socialists and their Sumar allies supported it, while the conservative People’s Party abstained and Vox opposed it. Al Jazeera framed the debate as part of a broader discussion about Spain’s colonial past, its responsibilities toward Sahrawis, and the sensitivity of its relationship with Rabat.