SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

LAW

What are the proposed changes to Spain’s controversial ‘gag law’?

Spain's Citizen Security Law, long controversial due its perceived limits on free speech, is set to be amended by the Spanish government. The proposed changes, however, have not proven popular with Spanish police and the government are still wrangling over the detail.

What are the proposed changes to Spain's controversial 'gag law'?
A demonstrator against the 'gag law' in 2015. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP

In 2015, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative People’s Party (PP) government passed a law known as the ‘Citizen Security Law.’

Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE-led coalition government is now trying to reform the law by changing the rules on recording and sharing images of police officers, the organising spontaneous protests, and the use of rubber bullets by police, among other things.

Though some kind of legislation like this (namely the regulation of protests and policing) has existed in Spain since as far back as the 1980s, the reforms made by the Rajoy government went a step further and bolstered police powers to crack down on protests and free speech, as well as introducing punishments for things like recording or photographing police officers, arranging protests without officially registering it beforehand, and even ‘disrespecting’ police officers.

Drawn up partly in reaction to Spain’s famous 15M anti-austerity demonstrations, after the wave of protest action in the early 2010’s many in the Spanish police felt they had been unprepared and without sufficient legal bandwidth to properly prosecute (though some would say repress) protesters. In response, Rajoy’s government rectified these perceived shortcomings in law.

For some, the changes were necessary and served to rebalance a system that offered more protections to criminals than police officers.

For others, the changes were so reactionary, such a blatant overcorrection, that they were widely viewed as anti-free speech measures and quickly became known as the ‘gag law’ (ley mordaza) both in Spain and abroad. That’s why the Sánchez government is now trying to reform it.

Gag Law

Under the gag law, anyone who organises or takes part in an “unauthorised protest” (that is, without registering it with the authorities beforehand) is liable to fines of between €30,000 and €600,000, especially so if the demonstration took place near certain locations, such as the Spanish parliament.

Similarly, disrupting public events like religious ceremonies, public speeches or events and even sports matches, could land you with a fine of between €600 and €300,000.

The law also made photographing and recording police officers illegal and punishable by fines. Incredibly, ‘disrespecting’ a police officer was also made punishable by hefty fines, as was not carrying your ID with you at all times.

Using social media to arrange protests is also punishable under the 2015 law, a legal attempt to cut protests off at the organisational level as social media had played a huge role in the organisation of the 15M protests.

The gag law has also been used a legal justification for a crackdown on online speech. Perhaps most famously, Catalonian rapper Pablo Hasel was given a nine-month jail term in 2018 for tweets suggesting that the Spanish police tortured protestors and migrants, as well as posting several anti-monarchy tweets.

Hasel’s conviction, which itself caused a string of protests, was held up by many as the gag law’s true underlying aim: to silence voices critical of the Spanish establishment and its monarchy, government, church, army and police forces. 

Changes

Fast forward almost eight years later, and Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE-led government coalition are trying to amend the gag law.

For many, it’s long overdue; for others, it represents disrespect for the police and typifies Sánchez’s dependence on separatist forces in Spanish politics.

After trying to squeeze in the changes during the last plenary session of 2022 (following almost an entire year of little legislative progress) the government, along with other parties in favour of reforming the law, including Unidas Podemos, ERC, PNV, EH Bildu and Junts, are hoping to get the reform through as soon as possible, though there are some minor divergences (particularly from ERC and Bildu) on the detail that are slowing progress.

It is expected that the reforms will be revisited after Spain’s Three Kings Day on January 6th.

READ ALSO: Why Spain loves the Three Kings more than Santa

Among the proposed changes, the recording or sharing of images of police officers will no longer constitute a serious infringement of the new law, except when the images pose a direct threat to the safety of the police officers.

As such, a serious infringement will now be considered only when “the use of images or personal or professional data of authorities or security forces agents generates a certain danger to family or personal safety or protected facilities or has put an operation at risk.” 

Under the 2015 law, simply taking a photo of a police officer could, legally speaking, land you with a fine.

Other proposed changes include stopping or limiting the use of rubber bullets by police during protests, something that has split even the pro-reform groups within parliament. Likely because of that, the draft text states rather vaguely that “the competent authorities must develop specific protocols, in accordance with international standards, on the use of force and the use of riot-resistant material, in order to always use the least harmful means for people and avoid those that cause irreparable injuries,” according to Spanish newspaper Publico.

Other changes include no longer punishing those involved in spontaneous demonstrations without prior communication, and the reduction of some of the more severe fines outlined in the previous bill depending on the offender’s income. With regards to lowering fines, a proposal put forward jointly by PSOE and its junior coalition partner, Unidas Podemos, suggests linking fine payment to Spain’s Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI). 

Offenders with a salary of up to 1.5 times the SMI could be given a 50 percent reduction, while those with a salary between 1.5 and 2.5 the SMI will be given 25 percent off.

In addition to this, most of the pro-reform parliamentary group support introducing a clause that would allow an offender request the suspension of a fine in exchange for “a repairing activity.”

Until now, only underage offenders were able to do this.

Controversy 

Unsurprisingly, these changes have proven less than popular with the Spanish police and political right, who have threatened to themselves protest like they did in November of 2022.

READ ALSO: Spanish police protest in Madrid against ‘gag law’ reform

Agustín Leal, spokesman for the Guardia Civil group Jucil, criticised the reforms and pointed to the minority parties propping up the government in Congress. “It is another concession to the Catalan coup partners and to the pro-ETA sympathisers in Bildu who are the main support of the government,” Leal said. “They have already disarmed us in terms of personnel and means, and with this they are going to do it legally. The first to suffer will be the police and Guardia Civil who guarantee our security and social peace, and the biggest losers will be the Spanish people.”

Similarly, the changes have been criticised by the PP. Party deputy Ana Vázquez said in the Spanish press: “They are reactivating it [after months of no progress] because they must be afraid, as the budgets are not yet in the Senate. If it is approved, it will be an outrage. It will leave Spaniards unprotected and leave a more insecure country, a country of criminals.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

PROPERTY

Why Spain is unlikely to ever ban foreigners from buying property

After several regions around Spain have attempted to bring in limits on property purchases by foreigners, members of Spain's government coalition have even started floating the idea of an outright ban at a national level.

Why Spain is unlikely to ever ban foreigners from buying property

In recent years several regions around Spain have attempted to put limits on foreigners buying homes and clamped down on tourist rentals. These are mainly in areas traditionally popular with foreigners, and many have become places with highly inflationary property markets.

In 2022 Canary nationalist political party Nueva Canarias demanded the regional government address the large number of property purchases by non-residents in the archipelago, and even suggested a limit on the number of properties that can be bought by foreigners altogether in the popular holiday islands.

READ ALSO: Will Spain’s Canary Islands limit sale of properties to foreigners?

Property prices have surged across Spain in recent years, sparked in part by an influx of post-pandemic purchases by foreigners, as well as tourist accommodation geared towards wealthy remote workers and digital nomads pushing up rental prices and pricing out locals. Increasingly, landlords will buy properties with the aim of converting them into Airbnbs, thus removing them from the pool of available (and affordable) housing stock for locals.

This comes after Spain’s other archipelago, the Balearic Islands, also started this same debate in November 2022, with the regional Senate agreeing to discuss solutions.

In the two decades from 2000-2020, the islands’ population grew by 50 percent – rising from 823,000 to 1,223,000 inhabitants. Around a third (32.67 percent) of property purchases in the Balearics are made by foreigners, and of those 57.4 percent are residents, while the remaining 42.6 percent are non-residents.

National ban?

But it’s not just a regional issue. In 2024, the debate rumbles on in parts of Spain particularly affected by foreign home owners and members of the Spanish government are even proposing similar measures at a national level. Though, it should be said, no policy has been decided on yet, and any move such as a ban (in whatever form, on whatever type of property) or even a limit would likely face fierce opposition from the main opposition parties, notably the centre-right Partido Popular (PP).

Sumar, the far-left junior coalition partner in the Spanish government, has even gone as far as proposing a three year ban on the purchase of housing by investment funds and non-residents in Spain.

This was recently outlined in a (for now) non-legislative proposal that was presented to the Spanish Congress’ Housing Commission. It was roundly rejected with the vote of, among others, its coalition partner in government, the Socialists (PSOE). That’s not to say the PSOE is totally against the idea, however.

Socialist Minister for Housing Isabel María Pérez said of the plans: “We agree on the philosophy of the proposal, but with nuances,” she said. “We have submitted an amendment but we think it will not be accepted, so we will not be able to support this bill,” she added.

So, from that we can take that the junior partner in the Spanish government wants to ban non-residents and investment funds from buying property in Spain, and the senior partner (Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s party, no less) supports the principle but not the practicalities.

READ ALSO: Spain’s new housing minister vows to protect second homeowners

The argument against

Clearly, non-resident foreigners buying up property in Spain, particularly in its space starved archipelagos, contributes to price inflation, saturates the market, and plays a role in pricing locals out of their own neighbourhoods.

However, it’s not that simple. Clearly, there is a difference between a non-resident foreigner buying a holiday home (perhaps to rent out as tourist accommodation for half the year) and a resident foreigner buying property to live in.

READ ALSO: How important are foreign second homeowners to Spain?

This difference has, for now, been reflected in proposed limits at both the regional and national level, rather than outright bans.

However, foreign home owners in Spain also make a huge contribution to the Spanish economy. In 2022 foreigners with a second home in Spain contributed €6.35 billion to Spanish GDP and generated more than 105,000 jobs in the tourism sector, according to the study “The economic impact of residential tourism in Spain” done for the Spanish Association of Developers and Builders (APCE) by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The financial contribution made by these second-home owners in Spain is clearly significant. In fact, experts point out that the money brought into the Spanish coffers by foreign homeowners even outstrips some major industries.

“The contribution of residential tourism to GDP is triple that of the textile industry, double that of the timber industry and the same as the manufacture of pharmaceutical products in Spain,” Anna Merino, director of the Economics team at PwC, said when presenting the study. Every euro spent by ‘residential tourists’ adds €2.34 to Spanish GDP. On top of this direct contribution to the Spanish economy, the surrounding economic activity associated with the spending generated 105,600 full-time jobs in 2022.

So, there’s clearly an economic argument against banning foreign property purchases completely.

In the case of the Balearic Islands specifically, the proposals have met some opposition. The Balearics, which generates 35 percent of its GDP from tourism, according to figures from Caixa Bank, has long been a holiday or second-home hub for wealthy foreigners.

On this point, right-wing Popular Party member Sebastià Sagreras suggested in the regional parliament back in 2022 that conflating the foreign-buyer property market with local shortages is unhelpful, adding that the properties bought by foreigners, often worth more than a million euros, “do not compete” with those that cost €200,000 or €250,000 and are largely bought or rented by national residents.

Is it even legally possible?

Denmark, Malta and the Aland Islands in Finland all have restrictions on how non-resident foreigners can buy properties in their territories. However, they introduced these before entering the EU and these limits were factored in and accepted by Brussels. For Spain to do this, it would be much more difficult.

For local authorities in both the Balearic and the Canary Islands it could prove difficult to go against the EU’s legal principles of the free movement of people and capital, experts say.

This means that other potential solutions may be needed. Though there doesn’t seem to be a national level ban on foreigners from buying properties in Spain anytime soon, several regions have been attempting to do it for a couple of years, at least for non-residents, and even the national government is beginning to try and do something about it.

SHOW COMMENTS