The Commission’s position on the CGPJ’s draft report on the Democratic Memory Law
2.6.2021
Question for written answer E-002946/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Diana Riba i Giner (Verts/ALE), Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (Renew), Jordi Solé (Verts/ALE), Ernest Urtasun (Verts/ALE), Miguel Urbán Crespo (The Left), Sira Rego (The Left), Idoia Villanueva Ruiz (The Left), Pernando Barrena Arza (The Left), Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó (NI), Antoni Comín i Oliveres (NI), Clara Ponsatí Obiols (NI)
A draft report by the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) claims that Spain’s Democratic Memory Law[1] breaches freedom of ideology in seeking to close down foundations that have a long history of glorifying, denying and trivialising the crimes of the Franco dictatorship. Furthermore, the CGPJ maintains that the act of defending the Franco regime falls under freedom of expression and can be exercised without causing offence to the victims. This draft runs counter to the European Parliament resolution on the rise of neo-fascist violence in Europe, adopted in October 2018[2]. To this day, tens of thousands of families are still searching through ditches and mass graves for the bodies of their fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, victims of this criminal regime.
- 1.Does the Commission believe that the adoption of this report would contravene Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA[3]?
- 2.How many infringement procedures have been opened by the Commission for failure to comply with that framework decision?
- 3.Does the Commission believe that totalitarian ideologies such as Francoism, Nazism and Fascism fall under freedom of expression?