Spain may gain over 2 million new citizens, with half expected to come from Argentina. This opportunity arises from a provision known as the “grandchildren law”, which was added to the Democratic Memory Law by parliament in October 2022.
At the end of June, the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, reported that most of the 2.4 million applicants meet the requirements and are eligible for citizenship. Under the new provision, children and grandchildren born outside Spain, whose grandparents were forced to leave during the civil war and the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (1936–1978), can apply for Spanish citizenship. To submit an application, applicants must provide birth and marriage certificates confirming family ties, a passport or death certificate of one of the parents who had Spanish citizenship, and, in cases of political exile, additional evidence.
Criticism of “electoral engineering”
In a deeply divided Spain, where the Socialist Party (PSOE), led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, governs with the support of smaller parties, the new rules have faced criticism from the opposition People’s Party (PP), led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The PP leader claimed that the government aims to “attract new voters”, accusing the ruling party of “electoral engineering”. “If the current voters do not give Sánchez a good result, perhaps he will succeed by creating new voters for himself”, Feijóo said at the end of June.
In response to these statements, which the newspaper “El País” inquired about, Ángel Víctor Torres rejected the accusations, reminding that the provision was approved four years ago. “We have not accelerated the process and have not done anything that was not done in the past”, Torres said. He cited examples of two former Spanish prime ministers: Felipe González (from PSOE) introduced two legislative changes in this area, and during the governments of José María Aznar (from PP), the rights to obtain Spanish citizenship were expanded.
When asked about the number of applications processed before the next parliamentary elections in 2027, Torres estimated that there would be about 500,000. The process has already overwhelmed consulates and may take several more years. Half of the applications were submitted in Argentina, where there is a large community of descendants from Galicia, the Canary Islands, and Asturias.
Source: According to Gazeta.pl
