The regeneration plan that Pedro Sánchez announced after five days of imprisonment and a threat of resignation is beginning to take shape. The president will present the general outline of the project in Congress this Wednesday, although details will have to wait since the idea that La Moncloa is using is to start a debate with all partners for concrete texts that will begin in September. But the notes that are becoming known indicate that the plan could be relevant and touch several laws affecting fundamental rights, something that is already causing criticism from the opposition before the details are known. The general line seems clear: Sánchez wants to fight fraud and misinformation, in line with European law Freedom of the media Which was approved with the support of the Socialists in the European Union as well as the European People’s Party.
One of the key measures already outlined by the president is to limit institutional advertising for media – “pseudomedia”, he calls them – that are systematically dedicated to spreading fraud and misinformation. Sánchez emphasizes that it does not make sense for regional or local administrations to systematically finance media that have almost no readership and whose fundamental income is not subscriptions or private advertising but institutional advertising. According to Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the PP has accused Sánchez of wanting to “repress the press”, but the government emphasizes that it is about setting limits so that public funds in the form of campaigns can reach professional media that have readership and that are dedicated to informing and whose main income is not institutional advertising. Sánchez also pointed to the reforms of the right to opinion and the law on the right to respect to “update” them because they are from the 80s, when there was still no internet, although there are no details about how this change will be made.
Yolanda Díaz, second vice president and leader of SUMAR, announced this Tuesday that the PSOE and SUMAR have reached an agreement on some of the key measures of this democratic regeneration package, including this reform of the institutional advertising law that was already outlined, but they also touch other sensitive issues that affect freedom of expression. This is an issue that SUMAR has been working on for some time, since in Spain singers, artists and satirical publications have been convicted for mockery or criticism that would not lead to any type of criminal condemnation in other neighboring countries. This issue had already triggered initiatives by Unidas Podemos and the PSOE in the previous legislature, which ultimately did not succeed. SUMAR has presented another point on this and the Socialists generally agree with the exception of crimes like glorifying terrorism, which the Socialists do not want to touch.
Sumar announced an agreement with the PSOE to remove it from the Penal Code Crimes against religious feelings (Article 525 of the Penal Code). This crime has been systematically used by groups such as Christian lawyers to prosecute columnists, comedians or satirical publications that mock religious symbols, which is not a crime in almost any EU country. They also assured that they have the agreement of the PSOE to abolish crimes against the Crown, allowing, for example, a judge to hijack the entire publication of a satirical magazine. Thursday. It is also a regulation that most countries around Spain do not have, as the Ministry of Justice said in February 2021, when it announced an amendment to these crimes in the Penal Code that ultimately did not come into effect. Then there was a great social mobilization due to the entry into prison of rapper Pablo Hasél, who received a manifesto from 200 artists, including Joan Manuel Serrat and Pedro Almodóvar. Now Sumar assured that the PSOE will also eliminate the crimes of insulting the Government, the General Council of the Judiciary, the Constitutional Court or the military, included in article 504 of the Penal Code.
All these amendments to better protect freedom of expression were announced by Justice in 2021, although they never came to fruition. PSOE sources indicate that they agree on the essence of the issue, and in fact they voted in favor of considering the Sumar initiative, but the wording will have to be discussed a lot. These sources admit that it is an anachronism that in Spain there is a prison sentence for crimes against the flag, something that most neighboring countries do not have, and that European courts have already dealt Spain some blows on this issue. The first vice president, María Jesús Montero, who was in talks with Sumar, explained that it has been agreed to “review” these issues, but there is no agreed wording yet because the executive wants to talk about it with all partners. The democratic regeneration plan incorporates his proposals and thus guarantees their processing starting in September.
What does not seem to be agreed at the moment is another initiative that Sumar announced and that involves compensation for those who face months or years of judicial directives that later have no result and are archived without the oral hearings being initiated. Sumar seeks compensation in some way, through official recognition of the damage to the image of the affected person, but according to information from sources, there does not seem to be an agreement at the moment with the PSOE on this issue. In recent years, several politicians have faced these long and controversial directives that have later been archived, but they have already caused damage and even led to resignations.
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In any case, Sánchez is going to Congress this Wednesday with an important speech on democratic regeneration and several declarations, although there is still time to finalize them and, above all, to get them approved, since the numbers in Parliament force the government to agree on every measure with all its partners. He appears to have significant support for these types of issues, but he will have to negotiate and implement all the reforms and most likely face the PP and Vox, who reject this regeneration package. Sánchez will also face a debate today with Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal, regarding the judicial process that is being pursued against his wife Begoña Gómez. Both will seek details about the meetings in La Moncloa with businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, who testified as a witness in the process against Gómez. In the absence of control sessions – there are none in July – this will be the last major debate between the president and the opposition leader before the summer holidays.