Spain’s government has advanced a landmark bill to declassify state secrets from the era of dictator Francisco Franco and the subsequent transition to democracy. In a move heralded as a victory for Spanish democracy, the initiative led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is seen not only as an effort to reckon with a dark past but also as a direct political strategy to combat the rise of the far-right in the country.
The new Law on Classified Information, approved by the Council of Ministers for parliamentary debate, seeks to automatically release confidential documents after a set period, with a maximum of 45 years for top-secret files. This would systematically dismantle the secrecy enshrined in the existing law, a relic from 1968 passed under Franco’s own regime, which allowed for indefinite classification. The reform is set to finally unveil details of government operations, secret police activities, and military tribunals up to 1981.
This legislation will open a window into one of the most painful periods of Spain’s national history. Franco’s rule, from 1939 to his death in 1975, was marked by severe repression against political opponents, with estimates of 100,000 to 200,000 people executed. The declassified archives are also expected to illuminate the murky details of the transition to democracy, including the full story behind the failed military coup attempt in February 1981, when Francoist officers stormed parliament in an effort to drag the country back to authoritarianism.
For Sánchez’s government, this move is a crucial part of its broader campaign of historical memory, aimed squarely at countering the political ascent of the far-right Vox party. For decades following Franco’s death, an informal “pact of forgetting” dominated Spanish society, with the consensus being that moving forward required leaving the painful divisions of the past behind. This approach began to change with the Socialists’ return to power and the emergence of Vox as a formidable political force.
According to analysts, the rise of Vox, founded in 2013, shattered the long-held belief that Spain was immune to a far-right revival due to its direct experience with dictatorship. While Vox may not explicitly claim to be Franco’s heir, its nationalist agenda contains echoes of his ideology. In response, Sánchez has made actively confronting the dictatorship’s legacy a cornerstone of his political identity. By forcing a public reckoning with the past, the government aims to create a bulwark against political forces that seek to sanitize or revive elements of that history.