80,000 Sahrawis: Spain votes on Spanish nationality
Up to 80,000 Sahrawis could gain Spanish nationality when Spain’s Congress votes in Madrid next Thursday. The bill covers people born while Western Sahara was under Spanish administration.
Sumar expects the proposal to pass with broad backing. Enrique Santiago, the party’s spokesman on the Congress Justice Committee and rapporteur for the bill, said the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) was already set to vote in favour.
He wants the People’s Party (PP) and Junts to move from abstention to support. Santiago said the text already includes views put forward by both the Socialists and the PP, and described the measure as redress for Sahrawis who lost their nationality.
The vote comes as more than 70,000 migrants have entered Ceuta and relations with Morocco are particularly sensitive. Santiago said neither the crisis nor the tensions with Morocco should alter the result.
Podemos is far less confident that the PP will back the bill. Its co-spokesman Pablo Fernández said he expects the party to vote against it, arguing that its stance is shaped by its relations with Morocco and the country’s links with the United States and Israel.
Santiago also expects Vox to oppose the proposal. The decision now rests with the full Congress vote next Thursday.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com