During the rule of Francisco Franco (1939-1975), who came to power after a mutiny against the Spanish Republic's legal government and a civil war, up to two million people are believed to have left the country for political and economic reasons.
"Tens of thousands of grandchildren of Spanish emigres all over the world will soon be able to receive Spanish citizenship," RNE quoted Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as saying at a meeting with Spanish diaspora representatives in Mexico, where Zapatero is on an official visit.
Zapatero said Spain's parliament will soon adopt a government-backed bill to offer citizenship not only to the children of emigres, who have already been offered citizenship, but also to their grandchildren.
"I am proud that in this way we will be able to pay our debt to our country's greatest sons, who in the years of dictatorship were forced to leave Spain," RNE quoted the premier as saying.
Zapatero said the move will require a huge effort from the government, as "up to 60,000 people could claim such citizenship in Mexico alone."
After Franco's death and the establishment of democracy in Spain, citizenship was returned to the emigres and their children.
But the conservative opposition People's Party blames Rodriguez Zapatero, a grandson of a military doctor shot dead by Franco supporters, of trying to "find favor in the eyes of emigres' descendants at the expense of other Spanish nationals."
Spanish citizenship will make it possible for emigres' grandchildren to not only return to their historical homeland unhindered, but to stay abroad and receive social welfare and pensions from Spain.
