Rabat - Naturalization data indicates that citizens of Morocco make up the largest group of recipients of citizenship from European Union member states.
Eurostat’s latest release revealed that in 2013 Moroccan nationals made up the largest group of foreigners acquiring citizenship of an EU Member State, with over 86,500 new citizenships granted through naturalization. Moroccans ended up primarily in Spain, France or Italy.
Moroccans made up the largest group of people naturalized in Spain with 35.1 percent of all naturalizations. They were also the largest group to be naturalized in Italy, with 29.4 per cent, and in France, with 19.3 per cent.
India came in a distant second with over 48,000 new citizenships, mostly in the UK. Turkey took third place with over 46,000, mostly in Germany.
The report noted that Moroccans, Indians, Turks, Colombians, Albanians and Ecuadorians represented together almost a third (31%) of the total number of persons who acquired EU citizenship in 2013.
Romanians (23,000 persons) and Poles (18,000) were the two largest groups of EU citizens acquiring citizenship in another EU member state, the same source added.
The report said that in 2013, around 985,000 persons acquired citizenship of a Member State of the European Union (EU), up by 20% (or about 163,000 persons) compared with 2012.
“Of the total number of persons obtaining citizenship in one of the EU Member States in 2013, 89% were citizens of non-EU countries,” the report concluded.
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