On 22 July 2021, the Council of Ministers of the Government of Spain agreed to adopt the Democratic Memory Bill and bring it before the Spanish parliament, where the statutory procedure is now underway. The text contains the precise regulations for the Valley’s resignification as a site of democratic memory. The following are the Bill’s key elements.
Article 54 states that the Valley of the Fallen is a site of democratic memory, the resignification of which will use research and dissemination initiatives and instruments to provide information about the circumstances in which it was built, the period of history of which it is a part and its significance, with a view to strengthening constitutional and democratic values. No part of the site may be used for acts of a political nature or to glorify either the war, those who took part in it or the Francoist dictatorship.
The crypts beside the Basilica and any existing burials within it will have the status of a civil cemetery. Only those who died as a result of the Spanish Civil War may rest in the Valley of the Fallen, which is to be a site of recognition, commemoration, remembrance and homage to the victims interred there. Any mortal remains that occupy a preeminent place at the site shall be relocated according to the specific procedure set out in the Second Additional Provision. Any claims and petitions from families calling for the exhumation and handover of the remains of victims buried there shall be duly addressed. In the event that exhumation proves technically impossible, reparation measures of a symbolic and moral nature shall be agreed upon.
The new legal framework applicable to the Valley of the Fallen, which determines its organization, operation and patrimonial regime, will be established by Royal Decree. According to the Bill, the Foundation of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen – which is incompatible with constitutional values and principles – will cease to exist as of the date on which the Royal Decree comes into force. Its legal basis is set out in a transitional provision which will remain in effect until the Royal Decree is adopted, whereby the Governing Board of Patrimonio Nacional will continue to exercise its role as trustee and representation of the Foundation of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen in the meantime.
Once the new law takes effect, the following legislation will be repealed: the Decree of 1 April 1940, the Decree-Law of 23 August 1957 creating the Foundation of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen, the third final provision of Law 23/1982 of 16 June, which governs Patrimonio Nacional, and Article 58 of its bylaws, adopted by Royal Decree 496/1987 of 18 March, which designates the role of trustee and representation of the Foundation created by the Decree-Law of 23 August 1957 to the Governing Board of Patrimonio Nacional.