Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Friday that his left-leaning coalition government will speed up efforts to seek the dissolution of the Francisco Franco Foundation, just weeks before the 50th anniversary of the dictator’s death.
Founded in 1976, the far-right organisation was established to commemorate the legacy of the fascist-backed general who toppled Spain’s democratic republic in the 1936–1939 Civil War and ruled the country under a repressive dictatorship until his death in 1975.
Sánchez’s administration has made confronting historical injustices a central goal, most notably through the 2022 Democratic Memory Law, which honours victims of the Franco regime and obliges local authorities to remove symbols of the dictatorship. ALSO READ: Senate approves law that bans support for Franco and seeks to bring ‘justice’ to victims.
In 2024, the government began compiling evidence with the intention of formally asking the courts to dissolve the foundation.
‘There is a slow but constant effort to delegitimise democracy. It starts by calling revisionism ‘harmony’,’ Sánchez warned during an event in Madrid marking the official remembrance day for victims of the dictatorship.
The prime minister cited a recent poll showing that more than 20% of Spaniards believe Franco’s rule was ‘good’ or ‘very good’, describing this as ‘the result of revisionism that seeks to obscure our history, to cloud our present’. ALSO READ: Events to mark 50 years since Franco’s death commence, yet his legacy still divides Spain.
‘We will accelerate the procedure to legally press for the dissolution of the Francisco Franco Foundation,’ Sánchez declared. ALSO READ: Spanish government to publish a list of Franco-era symbols targeted for removal.
Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun confirmed to reporters that the government had formally notified the foundation of its decision to proceed with the process, a necessary step before the courts determine its fate.
According to Urtasun, the foundation breaches the Democratic Memory Law ‘because it does not pursue the general interest, because it glorifies the coup, and because it humiliates the victims’.
The right-wing opposition party, the People’s Party (PP), has accused the government of reopening old wounds and using the memory law to divert attention from corruption scandals, pledging to repeal the 2022 legislation if it regains power.
The Francisco Franco Foundation, for its part, denied that it insults victims or promotes hatred, calling the government’s move ‘a scandalous violation’ of the constitutional right to freedom of ideology and expression.
‘The shadow of the most serious suspicions of corruption hangs over this social-communist government. Only in this context should a decision so lacking in legal basis be situated,’ the foundation said in a statement (see social media link below).
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El Gobierno abre el procedimiento para ilegalizar la Fundación Francisco Franco https://t.co/w0nF0mj4Ap
— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) October 31, 2025
La fuerza de una democracia es no olvidar.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) October 31, 2025
Asumimos hoy un triple compromiso que contribuirá a la memoria democrática de nuestro país.
No vamos a dejar que nadie nos arranque las libertades que ha costado tanto conquistar.#MemoriaEsDemocracia pic.twitter.com/E4acHPIsc0
NOTA ante la Resolución del inicio del procedimiento previo a instar la extinción judicial de esta Fundaciónhttps://t.co/Qj3pYN42oa#fnff pic.twitter.com/5l9ajjvTvP
— Fundación F. Franco (@FNFFranco) October 31, 2025
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