"Collapse" in the Spanish foreign service: diplomats demand Moncloa act

MadridWorking in the network of Spanish embassies and consulates is far from the idyll associated with diplomacy. This is what is denounced by both the officials who work for the State abroad and the representatives of Spanish citizens residing abroad who are users of this network. All of them have long been fighting for an improvement of resources in the face of the "collapse" they claim to be experiencing in consular services. "There is anger" with the ministry, diplomatic sources explain to ARA, denouncing the indifference on the part of the Spanish government, despite the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assures this newspaper that they are working to resize the service.

In recent years, two phenomena have occurred that have aggravated the situation: on the one hand, the number of Spaniards abroad has tripled, from one million in the 2000s to 3.2 million currently; and, on the other hand, the increase in applications to access nationality following the democratic memory law for children and grandchildren of Spaniards who went into exile. A law that was interpreted broadly and allowed applications from October 2022 to October 2025.

"The situation of the consular network has been catastrophic for a long time," states Violeta Alonso, president of the General Council of Spanish Citizenship Abroad. Alberto Virella, president of the Association of Spanish Diplomats and former ambassador to Senegal, speaks of a "critical" state of the consular network, both from the point of view of human resources and the maintenance of properties and the digitalization of administration. And he assures, like Alonso, that with the increase in the community abroad and the nationality demands, they are even more on the brink: there is currently a backlog of 2.4 million applications to access Spanish nationality that could take a decade to process. "Successive governments have not taken sufficient account of the conditions of the general administration of the State abroad," summarizes Virella, who believes that there is insufficient planning of available resources to execute the political decisions that are made. He currently says there are 1,000 diplomats for a Spanish population of 49 million inhabitants; a lower ratio compared to countries like Poland (37 million for about 1,700 diplomats) or Portugal (about 10 million inhabitants for 490 diplomats).

Fedeca (the Federation of Associations of Senior Civil Servants of the State) has embraced the demands of diplomats, to the point that they recently denounced the "abandonment" of the foreign service. They cited the saturation of the consulate in Sao Paulo (Brazil) as an example, where they claim to serve "more than 1,000 people a day with approximately 70 employees".

Sources familiar with the situation abroad also cite the city of Buenos Aires as an example, where they assure that if all applications are accepted in a few years, it could become one of the cities with the largest community of Spaniards (around 800,000), also including municipalities in the State. In fact, Violeta Alonso notes that Argentina is one of the most saturated places and emphasizes that they are content with these procedures taking five years. Alonso assures that the democratic memory law has been a "success" – "the problem is not the increase in applications," she says – but rather that the administration abroad is not properly resized, because as a result, usual services cannot be provided. For example, processing a Spanish citizen's passport renewal abroad can take months. "There is an increase in the workload," states Virella, referring to all these transformations, and recalls that the administration must be able to guarantee the rights of all Spaniards, both within and outside the State.

Violeta Alonso gives the example of the right to vote: although all Spaniards abroad can vote, participation is very low due to the difficulty of the procedures and it is also unequal among different countries. Even after the repeal of the requested vote. In the last general elections, she notes, only 10% voted. In any case, Alonso is hopeful that the Spanish government will make decisions soon.

The diplomats' demands

The Association of Diplomats has a list of demands and considers the following measures indispensable: the approval of a new regulation for the diplomatic career – the current one is from 1955, in the midst of Francoism –; the creation of 90 positions abroad; the incorporation of the specificity of civil servants abroad in normative production because they consider that the same staff cannot be applied abroad as anywhere else in the State; or healthcare coverage, which is deficient especially for many diplomat couples who have to move with them to work abroad.

And what does the Spanish government say about it? Sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consulted by ARA assure that they are working on a "structural resizing of the foreign service, adapting it to a Spanish community abroad that continues to grow." Despite the complaints from diplomats, they say they have made an "extraordinary" reinforcement of the most saturated staff and that an "unprecedented digital transformation is being promoted to streamline procedures." To address the situation, the Association of Diplomats has met on several occasions with the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs – the last meeting was on January 19 – to address their demands, but they have not yet managed to meet with the minister, José Manuel Albares, nor with the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, despite the various requests they have sent him. "Lots of narrative and little data, an irresponsible attitude from those in charge of solving a critical situation," summarizes Virella.