In the midst of an institutional clash between the central government and the regional executives of the Popular Party and the far-right Vox in Aragon, the Valencian Community and Castilla y León, over “laws of concord” with which they try to repeal the approved Democratic Memory law by the Cortes in 2022, Pedro Sánchez has accused the parties led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal of “historical revisionism.” “We thought that in the year 2024, the Spanish right would have overcome some debates, such as calling a regime like that of dictator Franco a dictatorship or the praise of soldiers and politicians whose hands were stained with blood. "That is called many things, but it can never be called concord, it is called historical revisionism," the head of the Executive warned during the celebration of the day of tribute to the exiles of Franco's regime that he presided over this Wednesday in Alicante.
During the event, Sánchez brandished the recent United Nations report against these regional “concord laws” agreed between the PP and Vox: “You have to be a bad person to not address the claim of the victims of what were human rights violations.” during the Spanish Civil War and during the Franco dictatorship,” paraphrased one of the rapporteurs of this UN communication. “Pain never prescribes,” he warned. “Defending our memory is an obligation, derived from our international commitments assumed by Spanish democracy,” he defended.
“Equating victims with executioners is the opposite of harmony,” Sánchez stressed. And he has reiterated, as the Government announced from the first moment, his determination to “resort to all means of the rule of law to protect the democratic memory and dignity of the victims of Francoism.” After trying to get the regional governments of Aragon, the Valencian Community and Castilla y León to rectify these legislative initiatives, the central Executive has already announced that if there is no agreement it will appeal to the Constitutional Court.
“Remembering is an obligation, the memory of our past is democratic regeneration for our present,” Sánchez assured. And he stressed that "the anti-memory laws promoted by two political parties in our parliamentary arc, in several autonomous communities, are an attack on international law and an attack against our democracy and the dignity of the victims." “History should never be used as a political tactic,” she claimed.
On the eve of the next European elections on June 9, the President of the Government has criticized “the denialism and forgetfulness” that sweep the world, but also Europe and some Spanish autonomies. And he has opted to “preserve the memory” of those exiled and retaliated by Franco's regime. “For his dignity and our dignity, for respect for the truth and for what he demands in defense of the democratic values embodied in our Constitution,” he has defended.
