Since he was appointed Minister of Culture, the public exhibition of Ernest Urtasun She had confined herself to domestic controversies, such as the desire to “decolonize” Spanish museums or the criticism of bullfighting, and to Sumar’s Monday morning press conferences. If possible, her duties had consisted more of playing the role of plumber for the coalition and number 2 by Yolanda Diaz, but always with a delay.
It was not like that this time. Urtasun, who enjoys good press in the socialist ranks, appeared on Tuesday to explain the government’s flagship project, the Action Plan for Democracydespite the fact that his ministry does not intervene in any of the more than 30 proposed measures. On the PSOE side, the Minister of the Presidency intervened, Felix Bolanos.
The plan, initially known as “regeneration”, was born from Pedro Sánchez’s personal reflection in April, but was developed by the two ministers throughout the summer. Urtasun was also in charge of establishing contacts with the Catalan parliamentary groups in Congress and obtaining their support. Some of their proposals appear in the text that arrived Tuesday in the Council of Ministers.
According to sources close to the government, the negotiations were “a pain in the neck” for the coalition government, which never reached an agreement on the limits of the plan. Sumar demanded the elimination of the crimes of glorification of terrorism, insults to the Crown and high state institutions, something that the PSOE categorically refused to do. The type of wording of the document – vague, open, inconcrete – responds to this internal discussion.
The only thing that clearly shows is that it will be necessary to reform in depth certain articles of the Penal Code “which may affect the right to freedom of expression and artistic creation, among other cases when it refers to state institutions, whether crimes against religious feelings or public derision or other cases, in order to give them a formulation comparable to that of the countries around us,” he said. document.
The sources point out that our Penal Code, as it is written, is incompatible with some of the changes demanded by the EU and has led Spain to rule against a multitude of European courts, particularly in matters of freedom of expression. In Sumar, in particular, the convictions against musicians and tweeters are remembered.
This is where the characters of Bolaños and Urtasun come in, in charge not only of negotiating but also of adapting the text. One as Minister of Justice and the other for his experience in Brusselswhere he remained a Member of the European Parliament for nine years.
In fact, the spirit of Action Plan for Democracy Sánchez’s bill consists of the transposition of the European Parliament’s media freedom law of 2023 and is based on the Action Plan for European Democracywhich the European Commission approved in 2020.
