The PSOE and Sumar agree to decriminalize insults to the Crown and offenses to religious sentiments

Barcelona / MadridIn the middle of a horribilis week for the PSOE due to the judicial agenda against Pedro Sánchez's circle, the socialists and Sumar have agreed to unblock one of the pending issues in Congress. The two formations that make up the Spanish government have announced the push for the reform of the Penal Code which includes, among others, the repeal of the crimes of insult and slander against the Crown and offenses against religious feelings. This modification proposal had been shelved in the lower house for more than two years. The pact recovers the bill presented by Sumar at the beginning of the legislature – it was taken into consideration by Congress at the end of 2023 – and plans to abolish fines and prison sentences of up to two years for insulting or slandering any member of the Spanish royal family or for using their image in a way that "could damage the prestige of the Crown", as currently established in the Penal Code.

The document agreed between PSOE and Sumar also provides for the repeal of insults to the Cortes Generales or legislative assemblies (punishable by fines of twelve to eighteen months) and also against high State institutions such as the Spanish government, the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the equivalent bodies of the autonomous communities, and the armies and security forces. What remains are prison sentences of three to five years for those who use "force, violence or intimidation" against these institutions and fines of twelve to eighteen months for those who "seriously threaten" them.

Regarding the repeal of the crime of offense to religious feelings, the agreement of the two parliamentary groups would mean, if it is finalized in Congress, an end to the possibility of fines of eight to twelve months for those who offend a religious confession, whether "publicly, by word, in writing or by any means". In the same vein, the pact document also plans to remove from the Penal Code the crime of offenses or outrages – by word or writing – against Spain, the autonomous communities or their symbols and emblems, which are currently punished by law with fines of between six months to one year.

On the other hand, the deletion of the crime of glorifying terrorism provided for in article 548 of the Penal Code is excluded. Sumar's initial approach contemplated it, but the PSOE has refused to approve it, so it will be withdrawn from the text during the parliamentary procedure that is now reactivated. The government partners have set out to streamline the processing of the initiative and are confident in having the support of the plurinational majority for the reform to move forward at a time when the investiture allies are further away than ever from the Spanish executive and in a final stretch of the legislature in which serious doubts linger as to whether a large part of the pending legislative agenda can be completed.

In fact, on the eve of the end of the current session – there are only two ordinary plenary sessions left before the summer – the approval of this proposal will not be immediate as it still has to overcome the vote on the amendments in their entirety, be debated with the groups and be approved in committee and in the Justice commission before returning to the plenary session of the lower house. Once approved, it would still have to go through the Senate.

"Puppeteers and illustrators"

"It would have been unforgivable not to try to repeal these articles of the Penal Code that have done so much harm to puppeteers and cartoonists," said the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, who appeared to present the agreement with the deputy spokesperson for Sumar, Enrique Santiago, and the spokesperson for the Constitutional Commission of the PSOE, Artemi Rallo. Santiago described the agreed reform as a "democratic urgency". With this reform, PSOE and Sumar affirm their desire to "strengthen the right to freedom of expression, as befits a quality and full democracy, and more specifically, to align Spain with international standards, with the United Nations and with the Council of Europe," explained Rallo, who recalled that the Spanish state has been condemned up to three times by the European Court of Human Rights, which recalls that freedom of expression protects demonstrations, scenarios and acts such as the burning of photographs of the king, criticism of institutions such as the Crown, or offenses to the flag.