Sánchez keeps state secrets locked

BarcelonaThe initial plan was to approve the official secrets act before the end of 2025, but not only has the objective not been met, but the law remains stalled in Congress. A week after the Spanish government declassified the 23-F documents, it has not been able to unblock the norm that will legally cover the lifting of secrecy of classified matters. Moncloa sent the bill to Congress last July, but sources from the socialist group admit to ARA that for now there is no "news" about this reform and that their bill "does not have the necessary support" to move forward.

The norm drafted by the Spanish government established a period of 45 years to automatically declassify matters classified as top secret, with an option for a 15-year extension; in the case of matters classified as secret, the period was 35 years extendable to 10 years; while for confidential and restricted matters, the term ranged between 4 and 9 years. Although the state executive had already lowered these terms compared to the preliminary draft presented in 2022, the partners still see them as too long. In fact, the bill presented by the PNB three years ago – it had already presented it in previous legislatures – proposed shorter declassification periods: 25 years for matters classified as secrets and 10 years for restricted matters. The extension it established was only for secrets and set it at a maximum of 10 years.

The partners of the plurinational majority have shown reluctance regarding the declassification periods and had planned to channel it through amendments. However, there were groups that also did not look favorably on the sanctioning regime that the socialists had incorporated into the law: for revealing classified information, the Spanish government had foreseen prison sentences and administrative sanctions with fines ranging from 30,000 euros to 2.5 million. The minority partner of the coalition government, Sumar, is one of those that had requested changes to reduce the sanctions, as did ERC. Junts, for its part, does not see the norm as "progress" and is more in favor of the PNB's law moving forward. The PP, consulted by ARA, has avoided commenting on the Spanish government's bill, although various media outlets published on Monday that the party rejected negotiating the text with the socialists.

The Francoist law of 1968

While neither the reform proposed by the PNB nor Pedro Sánchez's bill are unblocked, the Francoist regulation approved in 1968 will continue to be in force in Spain. This means that documents classified as secret will continue to be locked away, because the law does not establish declassification periods. Thus, only documents that the government of the day considers it wishes to reveal, at its discretion, will be able to see the light, as became evident last week when Sánchez decided to declassify the 23-F archives when it was 45 years since that coup attempt.