Spain’s left-leaning coalition government led by the PSOE socialists has given the green light to a draft law that would automatically declassify confidential documents more than 45 years old. It potentially opens up previously inaccessible records from General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and the country’s democratic transition that followed.
The draft legislation, which must still pass through parliament where it may undergo revisions, aims to replace the current Official Secrets Law, a holdover from Franco’s regime. Unlike in many other European countries, the existing law lacks any provision for the automatic release of classified materials after a set period.
Justice Minister Félix Bolaños said the initiative would bring Spain’s standards in line with the rest of Europe and encourage more openness regarding ‘sensitive information’.
‘I believe that with this law, we are finally overcoming a longstanding shortcoming in our legislation,’ he stated during a press conference held after the cabinet’s weekly meeting, where the bill was approved.
The proposed reform would allow for the release of state secrets dated before 1980 — covering not only the dictatorship but also the volatile post-Franco years, as Spain navigated its path to democracy. ALSO READ: Events to mark 50 years since Franco’s death commence, yet his legacy still divides Spain.
Classified documents older than 45 years would be made accessible to the public unless their release is deemed a risk to national security or defence.
The legislation would also tighten the criteria for classifying documents, requiring that any such designation be clearly and exceptionally justified.
Notably, it explicitly prohibits the classification of any materials related to serious human rights abuses or crimes against humanity.
Over the past years, several attempts to modernise the outdated secrecy framework have stalled.
A previous push launched by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in 2020 was abandoned three years later, when parliament was dissolved ahead of a general election.
Amnesty International welcomed the cabinet’s move and called on all political parties to set aside differences and expedite the bill’s passage.
‘This law could change history,’ the organisation said in a statement posted on X, arguing that the current legal framework has blocked investigations into serious human rights violations under Franco and denied justice and reparations to victims.
Franco ruled Spain with authoritarian control after winning the 1936–1939 Civil War, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
Following his death in 1975, a sweeping amnesty was enacted – ensuring that no senior figures from his regime were ever held accountable.
Since first taking power in 2018, Pedro Sánchez has made several moves to address Franco’s legacy, including the exhumation of the dictator in October 2019. In 2022, a landmark law that bans expressions of support for the former dictator and that seeks to bring justice to the victims of the civil war and the ensuing dictatorship was finally passed. ALSO READ: Senate approves law that bans support for Franco and seeks to bring ‘justice’ to victims.
Franco’s legacy has remained a very divisive issue in Spain, and even more so since the rise of the far-right Vox party in the past few years, currently the third largest party in the country. ALSO READ: Spain rules Franco regime ‘illegal’ with new ‘Democratic Memory Law’.
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Nuestra democracia se merece que superemos leyes preconstitucionales, que nos equiparemos a los mejores estándares europeos y que protejamos el derecho a conocer información importante de nuestra historia.
Y todo ello garantizando la seguridad y la defensa de nuestro país. pic.twitter.com/f7QGn6XmQD
— Félix Bolaños (@felixbolanosg) July 22, 2025
👏 Damos la bienvenida a la aprobación en #ConsejodeMinistros de hoy del Anteproyecto de Ley de Información Clasificada. Las violaciones de DDHH nunca se pueden clasificar como secreto oficial. Pendiente de una valoración del texto, abrimos hilo y firma: https://t.co/CRJMI19ybC… pic.twitter.com/T3kvLOLZ3T
— Amnistía Internacional España (@amnistiaespana) July 22, 2025
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