Spain leads Europe in citizenship grants: success or electoral strategy?

Spain, the country that grants the most citizenships in Europe: integration or political calculation?

The data confirms it: Spain is the European champion in granting nationality to foreigners. While Italy, under Giorgia Meloni, who promised a tough line, has naturalised just 1,700 people, Spain multiplies that figure without the public debate having digested the implications. Analysts have not missed the paradox: the country that prides itself most on open doors is also the one that turns immigrants into citizens with voting rights the fastest.

The numbers, however, are not neutral. Behind the statistics lies a political map. According to available data, the PSOE (Spain's main centre-left party) draws its strongest support among those born in Segarro, France, Colombia and Ecuador; the PP (the main centre-right party) among Argentines and Venezuelans; and VOX (a far-right party) among Germans, Cubans and Venezuelans. This correlation is no coincidence: for some, mass naturalisation is a strategy to replace a national electorate worn down by corruption. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, head of the regional government of Madrid, has even set up special offices to make it easier for Latin Americans to arrive, with economic perks.

But it is not all electoral calculation. More alarmist voices see in this policy the "suicide of our civilisation" and predict border controls as a chain reaction. The truth is that France and the United Kingdom are already showing signs of saturation, and Spain is heading down the same path. The question that remains: how long can this model last before social tensions boil over?