The new democratic memory law it has picked up cruising speed in Congress and it is more than likely that it will be approved during the first half of July. Parliamentary sources have informed that throughout this week the paper will close the report, that during the coming week (despite being an extraordinary period) the Constitutional Commission will approve the opinion and that between July 11 and 15, the plenary will give the “ok” definitive and will send the text to the Senate.
The parliamentary groups are therefore negotiating the amendments at full speed. Some have received the “ok” of the PSOE and United We Can, who are the ones who take the lead. But there are still many to review and to present as transactional, that is, the fusion of the texts contributed by various formations. There are several aspects that still require tweaks and approvals from the Government, but one, as reported by the sources of the negotiation to this medium, has already been finalized.
In the week prior to the beginning of Pride, next Friday, the novelty contains symbology and relevance. As a result of a proposal by Más País, the new memory law will return Spanish nationality to the children and grandchildren of those people who were exiled during the Civil War and the Franco regime because of their sexual orientation.
The text, a slight modification of the eighth additional provision of the norm, on the acquisition of Spanish nationality, is as follows: “Those born outside of Spain to a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who originally would have been Spanish and who, as a consequence of having suffered exile for political, ideological, belief or sexual orientation, had lost or renounced Spanish nationality, may opt for it, for the purposes of article 20 of the Civil Code & rdquor ;. The novelty lies in four words that did not appear in the same paragraph of the legislative project that the Government sent at the end of August last year: “or of sexual orientation & rdquor ;.
This eighth additional provision regulates a series of assumptions regarding the assumption of nationality, and in turn, the term for formalizing it: two years from the entry into force of the lawalthough it empowers the Council of Ministers to establish an extension of one more year.
Although the historical memory law of 2007 facilitated the granting of nationality to the children and grandchildren of exiles, in general terms (Government calculations put the number of beneficiaries at more than 80,000), until now there was no precision on exiles by sexual orientation The memory law of 2022 will add such a condition.
In More Country they do not hide their satisfaction with this addition, which they believe “pioneer”, point out sources from the formation led by Íñigo Errejón. “It is a recognition that the dictatorship persecuted and criminalized homosexuality & rdquor ;, which led many people to exile, if not to jail, arrest or torture, they add.
The aforementioned sources are pleased that the law includes a guarantee not contemplated in the initial wording: that of the State on the right to investigate human rights violations not only during the Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship, but also during the Transition, 1982 inclusive. It will be the new Human Rights and Democratic Memory Chamber Prosecutor’s Office that intervenes in these cases.
LGTBI rights in law
The Government’s legislative project gives priority to the recognition of the LGTBI victims of the Franco dictatorship. The explanatory statement, without going any further, establishes the nullity of the convictions and sanctions imposed during the conflict and the Franco regime for “political, ideological reasons, conscience or religious belief or sexual orientation and identity & rdquor ;.
The rule adds that the repression and persecution of LGTBI groups was demonstrated in the modification of the Vagrants and Crooks Act of 1954, since it was worked to include “homosexuals & rdquor; in such categories, and Dangerousness and Social Rehabilitation Act of 1970, according to which those who carry out “acts of homosexuality & rdquor; they would be considered “social dangers & rdquor ;.
Both the nullity of the sanctions and the recognition as victims are articulated later in the rule, in precepts 1.2 and 4.2, which alludes to reparation.
The political plane
If the new law on democratic memory, successor to the law on historical memory promulgated by the Cortes at the request of the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is going to become a reality shortly, it is because of the degree of consensus that has been slowly forged and little by little, the PSOE and United We Can. They haven’t had it easy.
The project, in fact, landed in Congress at the end of August 2021. Before the end of the year, the parties that make up the coalition government announced an agreement on a series of fundamental amendments for the political health of the text, according to of the proponents. One has to do with the application of the Amnesty Law of 1977, which will be carried out in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. The crimes committed by the Franco regime would be imprescriptible and not subject to amnesty. Another fully affects the ways of reparation or compensation for seized and/or plundered assets.
The ERC did not like the first text at all and did not like the ideas of PSOE and United We Can at all. In fact, the law of democratic memory was the first serious threat to stability that socialists and “purples & rdquor; they tried to forge and solidify in the Chamber. In September 2021, the Republican spokesman, Gabriel Rufián, confirmed that his group would not only present an amendment to the totality (return), but would also register an alternative text. None prospered in the plenary session, but it illustrated to what extent Esquerra was going to fight to take the rule to its course.
The historic pro-independence deputy Joan Tardá has always been in the negotiations. As he was already in Zapatero’s time, he knows the twists and turns of the new regulation by heart, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the other negotiators. In an interview with this medium he harshly denounced the PSOE’s timidity with the law. He called it “cheating”.
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ERC twisted the viability of the negotiation so much that the Government, instead of going fast during the spring of this year, preferred to slow down the march. He did not stop sounding out other groups in the meantime, behind Esquerra’s back. He spoke with minority formations, especially Más País, and it was cultivating ways of pact with the PNV, EH Bildu and PDeCAT. The process has gone well. The parliamentary sources consulted take for granted the support of those of Aitor Esteban, Ferrán Bel and Íñigo Errejón and believe that the group of Mertxe Aizpurua is almost tied. Sources from the Basque independence formation ask to wait. BNG and Compromís also advocate caution.
The sources, on the other hand, see signs of change in Esquerra. The first exchanges of amendments have qualified the position of the Catalan Republicans, according to socialist sources and United We Can. Could you go to yes? Such a trip is still far away, but it is no longer ruled out. In the set of proposals to modify the project, it has become clear that the 1977 Amnesty Law is not going to be repealed, as ERC proposes, nor will Francoism be declared illegal. However, the groups are analyzing how to ensure that the 55-year-old law does not hinder judicial investigations into alleged crimes against humanity. Perhaps, here, something will move, and consequently, also, the vote of the 13 pro-independence deputies.