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Spain Marks 50 Years Since Franco’s Death as Debate Over the Transition Intensifies

Fresh commemorations, amplified by Juan Carlos’s memoirs, are fueling a generational reassessment of how democracy was built.

Overview

  • Government-backed events have begun, including a roundtable in Ourense organized by the local subdelegation and a national commemorations commission.
  • Commentary splits between those praising the Transition and the Crown’s stabilizing role and those arguing democracy rested on Francoist institutions and elites.
  • An EL PAÍS analysis highlights that consensus coexisted with street conflict and political violence, that elite control shaped timing and scope, and that broad accords were brief.
  • CIS data cited in coverage show pride in the Transition falling to about 75% by 2018, with sharper declines among younger and left-leaning Spaniards and rising approval on the far right.
  • Juan Carlos I’s memoirs published in France are widely discussed as unhelpful to his image, with reporting that Felipe VI has not suffered collateral damage.