Spain’s parliament has passed a contentious law granting Spanish citizenship to Sahrawis and residents of the Tindouf camps, and the move has already backfired at home. Spanish social media and press have erupted in ridicule and anger directed at Madrid’s own government.
Commentators across the political spectrum accuse the ruling coalition of handing out citizenship « like cheap candy, » driven less by principle than by narrow electoral calculations between left and right ahead of sensitive upcoming votes. A gesture meant to project solidarity is turning, in real time, into an administrative and security headache of Spain’s own making.
The contradiction has not escaped Moroccan observers either. Madrid has formally recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara and backed the autonomy plan as the most serious and credible basis for resolving the dispute. Simultaneously opening the door to naturalizing thousands of separatist sympathizers strikes many as diplomatically untenable in the long run.
Some Moroccan commentators describe it as a case of the sorcerer’s trick turning against the sorcerer: a tool Spain long wielded as leverage against Rabat is now generating an identity and migration puzzle Madrid must manage within its own borders. Morocco, meanwhile, continues steadily consolidating sovereignty and developing its southern provinces, largely undisturbed by the noise.
The episode is another sign of the Polisario’s shrinking diplomatic room internationally, as Morocco’s autonomy plan keeps racking up endorsements, from Denmark to Greece and several European and American capitals in recent weeks. Spain’s contradiction, by contrast, is fueling a domestic reckoning the Sánchez government is struggling to contain, caught between accusations of migration laxity and criticism over the incoherence of its foreign policy.
Whether this public backlash will shift Madrid’s next moves remains to be seen, as the balance between economic realpolitik and diplomatic posture grows harder to maintain for the Spanish government by the day.
