Qualified for “Totalitarian By the right and the extreme right, who accuse him of “Reopen the wounds” civil war and“Indoctrinate society”, judge ” cowardly »By the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the new democratic memory bill drawn up by the Spanish government was defended, in the rostrum of Parliament, by the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, on Thursday 14 October. “Memory is a state policy, he said. All political forces should understand that condemning the dictatorship and paying homage to the victims is not ideology, but justice and democracy. “
After the rejection of the amendments presented by the Popular Party (PP, right), Vox (far right) and ERC, the text, which notably calls for the abolition of the 1977 amnesty law, will continue its legislative course. But the heated debates on Thursday foreshadow the tensions to come on the question, still very sensitive in Spain, of the Francoist legacy.
This bill aims to “Correct the shortcomings” of the text approved in 2007 under José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. This is a promise from the head of the left-wing government, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, who has already carried out the exhumation of Franco outside his mausoleum-monument in the Valle de los Caidos, in October 2019.
Creation of a DNA bank
The new law, which could be adopted in early 2022, would introduce major advances in the recognition of Republican victims of the civil war (1936-1939) and the dictatorship. The state would become responsible for the search and identification of thousands of missing, thrown into mass graves. In the 2007 law, these tasks were entrusted to memory associations, through a system of grants, which were reduced to zero under the government of Mariano Rajoy (PP). The text also provides that the government identifies the victims, creates a DNA bank and facilitates the opening of the archives. All the verdicts of the exceptional Francoist courts would be declared “void” and a prosecution specializing in human rights and “Democratic memory” would guarantee “The right to the truth”.
The apology for dictatorship would become “Contrary to the general interest”, which would make it possible to close structures like the Francisco Franco National Foundation, which, in Madrid, defends the dictator’s legacy in its publications and conferences. Franco’s repression and the defense of democratic values would be incorporated into school curricula.
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