'Grandchild law' crisis in Spanish diplomacy due to Albares' silence

In recent days in Spanish diplomatic corridors, intense political tension and unease are spreading regarding the legal regulation known as the 'grandchild law'. Bureaucrats within the Ministry of the Interior and the consular network are under pressure, accused by the right and far-right of 'election engineering' by granting emergency citizenship to grandchildren of those exiled during the Second Spanish Republic. These accusations have created an environment that questions the professionalism of consular staff and the manner of law implementation, while diplomatic units also struggle with deep structural issues such as insufficient resources, excessive workload, and a complete lack of communication with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares' decision to remain silent in the face of these claims has been met with surprise and reaction within the diplomatic community.

The focus of the reaction from diplomats centers on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' silence and failure to defend itself. Alberto Virella, President of the Spanish Diplomats Association (ADE), states that it is incomprehensible that the Ministry bureaucracy does not respond with data to the unfounded claims rising in the public sphere, despite already possessing data on external votes, CERA records, and consular activities. Diplomats emphasize that sufficient data and information exist within the Ministry to prove the accusations are groundless, but there is a lack of will to use this information to inform the public and make statements to debunk the claims.

The issue is not limited to political debates; diplomats also criticize the 'flawed management' of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding consular services. According to Virella and other diplomats, even if the government wished to intentionally accelerate these processes and use them for election politics, it is technically impossible due to existing bureaucratic deficiencies and system failures. The Union states that they are saddened by the damage to the reputation of the employees, but they direct their main reaction to the fact that they cannot get support from the Ministry to defend the efforts of the staff in the field.

Diplomatic sources regarding the reality of processes at consulates announce that files are examined with great care, requests are made to complete missing documents for applications, and if necessary, the process is terminated. They express that the claims that citizenship applications are granted arbitrarily or quickly under the 'grandchild law', working like a kind of 'revolving door', are inconsistent with the strict procedures applied at consulates and do not reflect reality. Diplomats state that there is no irregularity in the application of the laws and that the granted citizenships are based on specific criteria, arguing that the perception of an 'easy way out' in the system is wrong.

While the diplomatic community expected the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a direct statement and defend the institution during these discussions, the failure to meet this expectation led them to decide to make their voices heard as a union. Instead of simply saying 'everything is a lie' on a sensitive issue like an election process and citizenship applications, diplomats argue that explaining how the system works with concrete data is the state's accountability. Therefore, to preserve the institution's reputation and correct misconceptions among the public, they have come together to explain the details of the process until authorities make a statement.