\n Spain’s leftist government approved a draft law Tuesday to automatically declassify confidential documents older than 45 years, potentially shedding new light on the dictatorship of General \u00a0Francisco Franco and the country\u2019s transition to democracy.\n <\/p>\n
The proposed law, which still must be approved by parliament — where it could be subjected to changes — would replace the existing secrets law dating from the dictatorship which lacks any timeline for automatic declassification, as exists in many other European nations.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister F\u00e9lix Bola\u00f1os said the legislation would align Spain\u2019s secrecy laws with “European standards” and promote greater transparency around “sensitive information”.<\/p>\n
“I believe that with this law, we are finally overcoming a longstanding shortcoming in our legislation,” he told a news conference following a weekly cabinet meeting that approved the draft bill.<\/p>\n
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The proposed law would lift secrecy on archives from before 1980 — a period that includes Franco’s decades-long dictatorship and the turbulent years that followed his death in 1975, during which Spain transitioned to democracy.<\/p>\n
All classified materials older than 45 years would be made public unless their disclosure still poses a threat to national security or defense.<\/p>\n
The bill would also restrict the classification of information to exceptional cases, which must be clearly justified.<\/p>\n
Documents related to serious human rights violations or crimes against humanity could not be classified under any circumstances.<\/p>\n