Spain's Socialists and Sumar reach deal to erase 'gag' law

Parties forming the Spanish cabinet, the Socialist and left-wing Sumar, have reached a deal to erase the 'gag' or public safety law, as announced by vice president Yolanda Díaz, during a speech in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Spanish PM, Pedro Sánchez, will announce the "democratic reform" measures during a speech in Congress on Wednesday. This deal is part of the coalition agreement signed between both parties in October last year.

"All crimes related to democratic rights" will be shelved, Díaz said.

The government will also modify the public institutions' marketing law, limiting financial aid to those media outlets that attempt to follow the deontological code of journalists. 

It will affect all those who "practice a pseudo-journalism" and "attempt on journalism's deontological code," she said. Therefore, they will all "be capped on receiving aid or public financial support."

Opposition 'unaware' of proposal

The Catalan pro-independence Esquerra Republicana, anti-austerity Podem, and nationalist Bildu have all said that they are "unaware" of the proposal announced by Yolanda Díaz.

For them, getting rid of the 'gag' law should go hand in hand with a ban on rubber bullets or 'hot returns,' which refer to the return of migrants hours after they arrive. These were some of the measures already requested in the last law reform project.

The announcement came as a surprise, and Podem's MP Javier Sánchez Serna called for the measures to be put into place in the agreement.

Meanwhile, sources from Esquerra said that the Socialists had not reached out to the party to talk about the deal, and said that, as in 2023, they want for "fines for disrespecting police officers" be erased, among other requests.

They are worried that the text announced in Congress on Wednesday will be similar to the one already voted down in 2023 as it was "not enough."

Bildu said that their position "continues to be the same as in the last term," as if "they do not have these requests in mind, the 'gag' law derogation will be stopped."

Pending reform since 2019

Erasing the 'gag' law was already part of the 2019 coalition deal, but they did not have enough support due to the disagreements between the Socialists and its partners.

At the time, they were asking for 'hot returns' to be abolished, as well as fines for showing a lack of respect for law enforcement bodies and disobedience.

In fact, in March 2023, Catalan and Basque pro-independence parties, Esquerra Republicana and Bildu, respectively, rejected the law and voted against the reform.

National police and Guàrdia civil agents have already rejected 2019's reform, and it seems they will oppose this year's modification. The conservative People's Party and far-right Vox have always supported law enforcement agents, as they also back the law approved by the PP's government led by Mariano Rajoy.

What is the 'gag' law?

The Public Safety Law, commonly known as the ‘gag’ law was passed in 2015 by Spain’s conservative People’s Party when they had an absolute majority in Spain’s congress.

It grants the police more extensive powers, such as handing out fines for protesting in front of Congress or for taking and sharing photos of police officers.

Catalan News podcast

Listen to our podcast published on February 20, 2021, talking about the riots in favor of rapper Pablo Hasel’s freedom and against the Public Safety Law.