THE TELEGRAPH: A controversial law that will officially condemn the Franco dictatorship has been presented to parliament in the hope of healing the deep wounds that have divided Spain since the start of the civil war 70 years ago.
The Law of Historic Memory will, for the first time, acknowledge the victims of the fascist dictator, breaking a tacit agreement among most Spaniards not to dwell on the past, a move which paved the way for a smooth transition to democracy on the death of Franco in 1975.
The process to break that pacto de olvido [collective pact of forgetting] began with the arrival in 2004 of a socialist government under the prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose grandfather was shot by Franco's Nationalist troops in the war.
Last year, on the 70th anniversary of the start of the conflict, the government announced plans to introduce the Bill with the intention of addressing past wrongs.
Some 15 months later, amid fierce opposition from the Right-wing opposition, who have said it is "derisive" and "opens old wounds", the government has finally thrashed out a Bill that should win enough support from Congress to become law before the end of the year.
"We have reached an important moment," said Diego Lopez Garrido, the Socialist parliamentary spokesman. "The law will provide definitive reparation and recognition for those who suffered in the civil war." Spain's law 'to right wrongs' of Franco era (more) By Fiona Govan in Madrid
Mark Alexander
