Exhumation of victims of Francoism and rededication of the Cuelgamuros basilica

7.6.2018

Question for written answer E-003110-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE) , Clara Eugenia Aguilera García (S&D) , Marina Albiol Guzmán (GUE/NGL) , Ana Gomes (S&D) , Stelios Kouloglou (GUE/NGL) , António Marinho e Pinto (ALDE) , Martin Schirdewan (GUE/NGL) , Jordi Solé (Verts/ALE) , Josep-Maria Terricabras (Verts/ALE) , Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE) , Miguel Urbán Crespo (GUE/NGL) , Ernest Urtasun (Verts/ALE)

On 1 and 2 March 2018, a group of MEPs visited the monument in Cuelgamuros Valley built during the Franco regime. We were able to confirm for ourselves that the Spanish authorities are failing to comply with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), assuming that the same criteria are applied as those employed by the European institutions in similar cases, for example in Cyprus. The authorities have taken no action in response to calls from family members whose Republican dissident relatives were buried there against their wishes and who want to reclaim their bodies, nor have they complied with court rulings authorising exhumations or taken action against those who have disregarded these rulings. What is more, they have refused to rededicate the monument. These failures clearly constitute inhuman treatment of these victims of Francoism.

1. Does the Commission not agree that this state of affairs is an insult to the victims of the dictatorial regime and their families?

2. Will it acknowledge that it is acting unfairly by taking two different approaches to Cypriot and Spanish citizens facing a very similar problem?

3. Does it believe that the Spanish authorities’ inaction in response to the failure to implement court rulings, which contrasts with their overreaction in other cases, is undermining the rule of law in Spain?