The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday the so-called Action Plan for Democracy, which responds to some long-standing demands of the majority of parliamentary partners and introduces changes to the Gag Law, the Official Secrets Law or the Penal Code in terms of protection of freedom of expression or the crime of insulting state institutions, one of Sumar’s main demands when negotiating the text with the PSOE within the coalition.
Here are all the measures included in the plan:
Measures to expand and improve the quality of government information:
1.1. Development of open government strategies and mechanisms:
1.1.1. Approval of the new open government strategy and submission to the Cortes Generales of the draft law on open administration to expand transparency obligations, strengthen controls on public positions, particularly in matters of conflicts of interest, and expand citizen participation and civil society collaboration in public affairs.
1.1.2. Celebration in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz of the ninth Global Summit of the Open Government Partnership in the fall of 2025, which will be attended by more experts in the field and government leaders from around the world.
1.1.3 Complete the implementation of the IV Open Government Plan (2020-2024) and prepare Plan V in a joint creation process with civil society organizations.
1.1.4 Adoption of the Agreement approving the Integrity System of the General Administration of the State.
1.2. Mandatory liability:
1.2.1. Establishment of a legal obligation to report every six months for all administrations.
1.3. Strategies and initiatives to combat corruption:
1.3.1. Approval of the Royal Decree that develops an anti-corruption strategy provided for in Law 2/2023.
1.3.2. Approval of the Royal Decree establishing the Independent Authority for the Protection of Whistleblowers contained in Law 2/2023.
1.3.3. Approval of the Royal Decree to increase the organic staff of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to create two new specialized units of the State Public Prosecutor’s Office to advance the fight against the phenomenon of public and private corruption.
1.4. Reform of the Official Secrets Act:
1.4.1. Reform of Law 9/1968, of April 5, on official secrets.
Measures to strengthen the transparency, plurality and accountability of the information ecosystem:
2.1. Establish new standards for media transparency:
2.1.1. Creation of a media registry in which public information is available on their ownership and the advertising investments they receive.
2.1.2. Establishment of an obligation for annual publication of advertising investments by all public administrations. –
2.1.3. Reform of the law on institutional advertising to introduce criteria of transparency, proportionality and non-discrimination in its allocation.
2.1.4. Reform of the Institutional Advertising Law to ensure that audience measurement systems and the methodology they use comply with the principles of transparency, impartiality, inclusiveness, proportionality, non-discrimination, comparability and verifiability. Likewise, support measures will be established for media entirely in official languages other than Spanish.
2.2. Establishment of greater guarantees for media independence:
2.2.1. Promotion of the law on professional secrecy of journalists as a legal guarantee for the protection of sources.
2.2.2. Transposition of the anti-SLAPP directive to protect journalists from external harassment.
2.2.3. Reform of Organic Law 4/2015, of March 30, on the protection of citizen security, in its article 36, section 23, on the qualification of the sanction for the use of images of the State security forces and agencies.
2.2.4. Strengthen self-regulation of digital media and platforms within the framework of the Code of Good Practice at European level.
2.2.5. Introduction of limits on the funding that public administrations can devote to the media, so that there are no media promoted or dependent on public administrations.
23. Review of mechanisms for defending pluralism and competition to avoid the concentration of media in a few hands:
2.3.1. Review of the regulatory framework to ensure pluralism, avoiding media concentration.
2.4. Promotion of a better quality public debate:
2.4.1. Approval of a national strategy to combat disinformation campaigns.
2.4.2. Reform of Organic Law 1/1982, of May 5, on civil protection of the right to honor, personal and family privacy and image, and Organic Law 2/1984, of March 26, regulating the right to rectification, to improve the system to incite and obtain the rectification of false or openly biased information, with adequate compensation and deadlines.
2.4.3. Address a comprehensive reform of the articles of the Criminal Code that may affect the right to freedom of expression and artistic creation, among other cases when it comes to state institutions, whether it is crimes against religious feelings or public mockery or others. in order to give them a formulation comparable to that of the countries around us and to comply with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, in matters of defamation and its legal relevance.
2.4.4. Launch of a €100 million aid programme to promote the digitalisation of the media through the creation of databases, the development of tools to improve productivity and the quality of information, as well as the strengthening of cybersecurity.
2.4.5. Reform of the National Commission for Markets and Competition so that it is given powers in the area of digital services and media, in line with the creation at Community level of the European Media Services Committee. – Ministry of Digital Transformation and Civil Service.
2.4.6. Creation of a new commission in the Congress of Deputies on disinformation.
Measures to strengthen the transparency of the legislative branch and the electoral system
3.1. Promotion of transparency instruments of the political system and electoral processes:
3.1.1. Reform of the rules of Congress to establish the obligation to hold the debate on the state of the nation every year.
3.1.2. Reform of Organic Law 5/1985 of June 19 of the general electoral regime aimed at establishing the obligation to hold electoral debates between candidates.
3.1.3. Reform of Organic Law 5/1985 of June 19 of the General Electoral Regime aimed at establishing the obligation to publish all microdata of electoral surveys, duly anonymized.
3.2. Strengthening mechanisms for preventing and detecting conflicts of interest:
3.2.1. Reform of the Rules of Congress and the Rules of the Senate to strengthen sanctions in the event of failure to submit a declaration of assets by its members or the submission of false or incomplete information.
3.2.2. Approval of the Law on Interest Groups which regulates its code of conduct and facilitates the control of the legislative process.
3.3. Strengthen sanctions against political parties that do not present their accounts adequately:
3.3.1. Strengthen the sanctions regime applicable to political parties which fail to present their accounts adequately.
