The groups to the left of the PSOE have been insisting on this for years and have once again managed to persuade Congress to open the door to removing some crimes of opinion from the criminal code. This Tuesday, the Chamber's plenary session approved for consideration a bill by Sumar, the first representative of this legislative period, which, among other things, calls for the decriminalization of the glorification of terrorism and insults to the Crown. The Social Democrats agreed to take it into account, but expressed reservations about the content. In the previous legislative period, the PSOE had already agreed to the processing of two similar initiatives, which it later blocked. The socialists warn against their initial refusal to suppress the crime of glorifying terror.
Sisyphus is a figure from Greek mythology and also from Spanish parliamentary practice. Like the stone that eternally rises and falls at the top of the mountain, there are initiatives that have been allowed to be worked on in Congress for years and always end up in nothing. It was inevitable that someone, in this case PNV MP Mikel Legarda, remembered the Hellenic myth about this initiative. Legarda listed that Unidas Podemos twice, ERC once, Junts again and even the entire Senate have put forward similar proposals since 2014. Due to the old method of extending the deadline for tabling amendments indefinitely, the two proposals considered in the last parliamentary term remained at the negotiating table.
This time, Sumar raised the issue right at the start of the legislative period, and for now the process follows the same pattern: the Socialists admit that the debate is being opened, but warn that they will raise objections. Before the plenary session, the socialist spokesman Patxi López had already declared “in his personal capacity” that he opposed the deprivation of the crime of glorifying terrorism. His opinion was later confirmed by government sources and finally put forward by Isaura Leal, the MP who set the PSOE's position during the debate. “The institutional protection of victims of terrorism is a duty of the state,” said Leal. “This must take precedence over any other objective.” Regarding the insults to the Crown, the PSOE was ambiguous, although Leal clarified: “We cannot and should not fail to protect the dignity and respect of the institutions.”
Sumar's justice spokesman, Enrique Santiago, claimed that the proposal, called “defense of freedom of expression,” aims to adapt the criminal code to the “democratic standards of countries” in the Spanish environment. The initiative also proposes to suppress the crimes of insulting religious feelings and insulting the government, the judiciary, the army, Spain and its symbols. Santiago argued that all of these criminal figures were “inaccurate,” that they curtailed freedom of expression and only led to convictions of “artists and tweeters” for expressions of a “satirical sense.” He explained that several of these cases had led to judgments against Spain by the European Court of Human Rights and that NGOs such as Amnesty International had called for these crimes to be repealed.
In the case of the glorification of terrorism, Santiago pointed out that this has only been used since the disappearance of ETA and that some of these behaviors could be prosecuted with a less specific type of crime, namely excusing the crime. The same applies, he claimed, to the case of insults to high state authorities, which are punished under the general criminal offense of insult, without, in Sumar's opinion, being granted any special protection.
The proposal once again caused a stir in the seats of the right, who saw it as another milestone in what the popular Sergio Sayas called the “auction of shame”, which includes everything from the amnesty law to the Pamplona censure motion of PSOE and EH Bildu. For Vox's José María Figaredo, the initiative confirms that Pedro Sánchez is “preparing a coup from La Moncloa.”
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Government allies such as EH Bildu, Podemos and BNG called for the repeal of the gagging law, another open issue in the last legislative period. Eduard Pujol from Junts accused the monarchy of being “a corrupt SA”. ERC's Pilar Vallugera addressed the Socialists, demanding that this time they not leave the proposal “in a drawer that sleeps the sleep of the righteous.” Santiago could only nod from his seat.
New scandal for the PP
Not a day goes by without the right denouncing a new “disgrace” by the government, and the impending approval to proceed with Sumar’s proposal prompted the PP to start all its trumpeting again. Starting with their leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the people's representatives considered it a fact that the PSOE supports the decriminalization of the glorification of terrorism. Feijóo used an interview on Telecinco to rescue old proposals, such as banning honors for ETA members or banning the entry of those convicted of blood crimes on electoral lists.
The heated intervention of her deputy Sergio Sayas on the platform was not enough for the PP and it led its secretary general Cuca Gamarra into the hallway to denounce that “Sánchez has adopted the roadmap of parties like Bildu and Junts”.
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