Terpe and Joe.
Yes I was not talking about nationality but the rights of a person with permanent residencia (in Spain in particular)
After two years in Spain my wife applied for Nationality, but after just under 3 years that is progressing, slowly !
Her present Residencia was due to run out this year but when I checked with the police they said there had been an error and that it has another 5 years validity. It would appear that is because of the change caused by the Directive and that they were obliged to extend the original 5 years to 10 (not an error as such)