Driving licenses: Spain reopens the floodgates for a million Moroccans, the fear of fraud resurfaces

The government of Pedro Sánchez has just reactivated the digital exchange system for driving licenses with Morocco. This system allows drivers to obtain the Spanish permit without having to go to the offices of the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT). The measure potentially targets the largest foreign community in the country, i.e. more than a million Moroccan citizens, on the sole condition that the country of origin validates the document.

This administrative simplification hides a heavy security reality, worries the Spanish press. Spain has long served as a gateway for forged licenses, bought in Morocco and then legally validated on Iberian territory. This past had forced the authorities to impose strict restrictions, forcing residents to take their exam on site to avoid abuses. The reopening of the telematic channel removes this filter and relaxes the controls on a sensitive point again.

The impact is immediate for sectors such as transport, logistics and catering, where the license remains essential. But this specific treatment fuels an uncomfortable debate in Madrid. While other nationalities face strict homologation requirements, the flexibility granted to Rabat reinforces the idea of systematic political concessions towards the southern neighbor, accustomed to privileged negotiations.

The government’s bet rests entirely on the reliability of the Moroccan files. Thousands of drivers will thus be driving with a Spanish license without ever having taken an exam or received training on the highway code. This decision prioritizes bureaucratic lightening over road safety guarantees, allowing politics to dictate its law over administrative rigor, we conclude.