New democratic memory law approved declaring Franco regime illegal

Spain has taken another step in dealing with its troubled history. The Spanish Congress on Thursday approved a new law of democratic memory. 

The new law is an update of the 2007 historical memory law that formally condemned the crimes of the Spanish state that occurred during the fascist dictatorship led by Francisco Franco from 1939 until his death in 1975.

Junts per Catalunya and CUP both voted against the bill, considering it insufficient, while ERC abstained; however, PDeCAT voted in favor of the bill. It passed thanks to from the Socialists, Podemos, Més País, PDeCAT, and Basque parties PNB and EH Bildu. PP, Vox, and Cs voted against the bill. The law will now have to make its way through the Senate.

What does this entail?

The text declares that the Franco regime was illegal and nullified the rulings of its courts, but does not modify the pre-constitutional amnesty law of 1977, one of the demands of some of the Catalan pro-independence parties. 

The amnesty law, a key element of Spain's so-called Pact of Forgetting during the transition to democracy, continues to prevent investigations and prosecutions for the crimes that happened during the dictatorship. 

"The wound continues to bleed," ERC MP Carolina Telechea said, lamenting that the new law continues to guarantee "impunity for executioners."

Another unfulfilled demand is that the ownership of the National Police station on Barcelona’s Via Laietana street be returned to the Catalan government to create a museum in the building.

However, as a result of the Spanish government's agreements with EH Bildu and PDeCAT, the text included some elements such as the explicit declaration of the illegality of the Francoist courts.

Fiercely criticized by conservative and far-right parties, who have long opposed attempts to deal with Spain's past, the law will also create a committee to investigate potential human rights violations committed in the period following Franco's death up until 1983. 

Another novelty is the creation of a Spain-wide DNA bank - Catalonia and other parts of the country already have their own - to identify remains, as well as a victims census and a map of mass graves. 

The Valley of the Fallen, a site built by imprisoned Republican soldiers that housed Franco's remains until late 2019, will be renamed the Valley of Cuelgamuros - a change that could force the exhumation of Primo de Rivera, the dictator who ruled over Spain in the 1920s, too. 

Filling the Sink podcast

Press play below to learn more about the debate surrounding the legacy of the Civil War, the dictatorship, and the transition to democracy. The episode was released on November 20, 2020, the 45th anniversary of Franco's death.