In the state’s general budget for 2023, projections allocate 13.95 million euros to advance the measures outlined in the recently approved Democratic Memory contract. The plan highlights initiatives such as the creation of a national DNA bank for victims of the Civil War and dictatorship, along with the removal of Francoist symbols from public spaces and institutions.
The new budgets specify 13,952,000 euros to develop the Democratic Memory Act, a figure slightly above the 11,826,300 euros recorded in the 2022 accounts, with the expectation that the new rule would be approved in the year shown. This allocation underscores the government’s commitment to transforming memory policies into concrete programs and protections for victims and their families.
Consequently, the program statement for Democratic Memory under the Ministry of the Presidency reiterates many of the elements already present in the 2022 budgets, including steps toward a national DNA bank and a system to count victims. The objective remains to establish robust mechanisms for identifying, documenting, and recognizing those affected by the Civil War and the Franco era.
The notable difference this year is that the Democratic Memory Act has not yet been definitively ratified by the full Senate and is expected to come into effect after its publication in the Official State Gazette, thus superseding the 2007 Historical Memory Law enacted during the government led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The new framework aims to modernize transitional justice measures and align them with current constitutional norms.
Under the Democratic Memory program, planned budget increases call for expanded interventions in mass graves, rising from 1,000 to 1,200 scenes of intervention and from 800 to 1,000 related actions, reflecting a more proactive approach to locating and documenting burial sites tied to past conflicts.
One of the principal aims is to initiate a national census of Civil War and Franco-dictatorship victims, with a target of reaching about one thousand cases by 2023. The government plans to collect 50 DNA samples the next year to support the national bank and issue 120 certificates of recognition and compensation to victims. The figures for the Civil War and the Franco regime align with the 2022 forecast, signaling continuity in policy goals and funding levels.
The plans also align with ongoing efforts to map burial sites, updating the national map to include a total of 450 entries. In parallel, the program accounts for a modest rise in beneficiaries receiving subsidies under the direct grant regime, increasing from 45 to 50, while subsidies under the competitive system are projected to rise from 123 to 130 beneficiaries.
As part of community engagement, the government intends to conduct 35 meetings with victims’ families and organize ten events to commemorate and educate the public about the liberation of extermination camps. A catalog of 200 buildings constructed by forced labor in the Franco camps is also part of the plan, with the aim of preserving memory and acknowledging the injustices endured by victims and their descendants.
In addition, the 2023 budget earmarks funds for candidate grants to the city councils of Jaén and Huelva and to the Ciudad Real council to support the exhumation of mass graves tied to the Civil War. Other extraordinary actions include a census of Francoist symbols to identify relics in the Valley of the Fallen, with the intention of removing them and renaming the site Valle de Cuelgamuros as a recontextualized memory space.
The 2023 budgets also emphasize initiatives to promote and publicize memory sites, anticipating a competition of ideas for the re-signification of the Valley of the Fallen and the creation of a state inventory of places of democratic memory. While specific numbers are not listed for every target, the plan also contemplates the establishment of a commission to examine human rights violations between 1978 and 1983, with a temporary one-year extension following an amendment agreed with EH Bildu, aligning the process with the constitutional framework and the political timeline of the period.
Other concrete actions include an exhibition on the anti-Franco student movement related to the Memory Law planned for 2023, along with an exhibition commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Liberal Triennium ending. The overall strategy seeks to preserve historical memory through documentation, education, and commemoration, while addressing the needs and rights of victims and their families.