Pedro Sánchez: 'You don't have to be left wing or right wing to look back with sadness and terror on the dark years of Franco's regime and fear that this regression will be[...]

The President of the Government of Spain has announced that, throughout 2025, conferences, exhibitions and cultural activities will be held under the slogan "Spain in Freedom".

Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Centre, Madrid

Pedro Sánchez speaks at the opening ceremony to celebrate 50 years of "Spain in Freedom" (Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has assured that "it is not necessary to be of a certain ideology - neither left, nor centre, nor right - to look with sadness and terror at the dark years of Francoism and fear that this regression will be repeated. It is enough to be democrats." During his speech at the inaugural "Spain in Freedom" event at the Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Centre in Madrid, Sánchez explained that what we are going to commemorate throughout 2025 is that "in 1975, at a time of great political uncertainty, Spanish society decided to opt for democracy and freedom. Spain decided to embark on a long and eventful process of political, institutional, social and economic transformation, which succeeded and turned us into the advanced, open, influential and tolerant country we are today. That is what we celebrate. That is what we are calling for."

To this end, hundreds of conferences, exhibitions, audiovisual screenings and cultural activities will take place throughout 2025, with "three clear objectives." "The first will be to celebrate the great economic, social and political transformation that Spain has undergone in the last 50 years. Because remembering how much we have achieved in the past is the best way to understand how much we can achieve in the future," he said.

The second objective, explained Sánchez, will be "to pay tribute to all those people, groups and institutions that made and have made this successful transformation possible": workers, businesspeople, civil society, political parties, city councils, autonomous communities and the various Governments that our country has had. And, of course, "to value the efforts of the citizens, whose talent and ambition have made Spain a world reference in terms of stability, prosperity and tolerance."

Family photo from the "Spain in Freedom" event| Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The president pointed out that the third objective of this anniversary will be to "transmit to our young people the importance of living in democracy," "because when you have spent your whole life under its protective veil, it is easy to forget the enormous strengths of democracy and to be seduced by those who promise people 'order, security and wealth' in exchange for taking away their power to choose their destiny."

He also pointed out that "we are not the only ones celebrating this type of event. In fact, all the countries around us have commemorated the anniversary of their democracies, and they have done so using the same milestone that we use: the beginning of the end of their dictatorships and the beginning of the democratisation process."

Reclaiming, defending and strengthening democracy

Sánchez added that "on an anniversary such as the one we are celebrating, today more than ever, we have to vindicate, defend and strengthen democracy." And we have to do so, he said, "by being brave; by consolidating and advancing in rights and freedoms; by making our society a more prosperous and cohesive, free and tolerant society, as the Spanish Constitution claims; by fighting 'fake news', because lies and disinformation are the main weapon of the enemies of democracy; by cultivating optimism, because despair is the greatest corrosive of life in society," and by remembering history, because forgetting the mistakes of the past is the first step towards repeating them again.

During his speech, the president also recalled the lack of freedoms during Franco's regime and denounced the advance of autocratic values and regimes in the world and the rise of fascism in Europe. In this sense, he pointed out that "those who sing the virtues of authoritarianism want us to forget that, still in 1970, Spain was governed by an authoritarian and repressive minority that used fear and power to impose its interests and values on the rest of society" and "that Spain, which some said was 'One, great and free', was in reality in pieces, isolated from the world and hungry for freedom."

The event's presenter, Eva Baroja, leads the dialogue between journalist Soledad Gallego and writer Javier Padilla| Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

"Fifty years ago, Spain began to walk towards freedom. From the ashes of the last dictatorship in Western Europe, our mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers - ourselves - managed to raise one of the most prosperous and full democracies on the planet. The democracy we are today. Let us celebrate. And let us build with it another 50 years of progress and freedom," he concluded.

Programming on the "Spain in Freedom" website

Carmina Gustrán, commissioner of "Spain in Freedom", also spoke at the event, giving details of the programme that has been designed for this year with more than a hundred activities, in which experts from more than 40 national and international universities will participate.

There will be dozens of conferences, debates, exhibitions, meetings throughout the territory, programming of films, documentaries and other special radio and television productions, design of games and applications, as well as visits, historical walks, or competitions, among other activities. A programme that, as Gustrán explained, will serve to "get to know, enjoy and dialogue," will be "open to all citizens" and will be available on a specific website.

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• Aid from the Immediate Response, Reconstruction and Relaunching Plan
• "Spain in Freedom" website

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