The association Hazte Oír has filed a complaint with the European Commission (EC) expressing its deep concern about the authoritarian drift of the Spanish government, a drift reflected in the ‘Associations Law’ approved on April 10, 2025, which undermines the rule of law and fundamental freedoms, since under the pretext of combating Francoist associations it seeks to outlaw dissenting entities, violating constitutional and European rights to freedom of thought and association, thus threatening a free society.
In its filing, the association argues that “the rule of law constitutes one of the essential values on which the European Union is founded, as established in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (…)”.
Regarding the alleged strategy of Pedro Sánchez to restrict freedom of association, they explain that “the right to freedom of association (…) entails not only the ability to form associations, but also to maintain their existence, operate freely and develop legitimate activities without undue interference by public authorities. Any measure that interferes with the ideological content, the social object or the purpose of an association must be subjected to a rigorous test of proportionality, necessity and legality, in accordance with the settled doctrine of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the European Court of Human Rights.”
For all these reasons, from Hazte Oír they believe that “the orientation adopted by the Government of Spain, headed by President Pedro Sánchez, in promoting legislative initiatives that, under the pretext of combating associations opposed to the so-called ‘democratic memory’, in reality pursue the elimination of critical or ideologically dissident entities relative to the government’s discourse. This practice constitutes an arbitrary restriction and is incompatible with the European legal framework, as it enables the executive to unilaterally define which associations may or may not exist in the public space based on their ends, values or political identity.”
And they argue that “the freedom of association cannot be conditioned on the degree of conformity with the official narrative of any government. Allowing political power to possess legal tools to proscribe associations for ideological or symbolic reasons implies, in practice, a hollowing out of the essential content of the fundamental right recognized in the European arena. Moreover, such action produces a chilling effect on citizen participation, discourages the creation of organized structures in defense of the general interest and hinders public oversight by civil society.”
HAZTE OÍR WRITTEN STATEMENT
The statement emphasizes the role of these associations as private prosecutors in the numerous corruption cases that stain the government of Sánchez: “One of the spurious objectives of the reform to which we refer is to deactivate those associations that, through legitimate actions such as the so-called popular accusation, have played a key role in denouncing alleged crimes committed by members of the Government. Their institutional oversight work from civil society has proved especially uncomfortable for the Executive, which now seeks to limit their ability to act and, ultimately, their own legal existence. All in all, the Executive would achieve, with this reform of the rules that should protect the associative fabric, two actions of grave seriousness: to limit dissident associations with a well-meaning ideological pretext and, at the same time, by closing these associations, to limit popular accusations.”
And they point precisely to the cases where popular accusations have been of great importance to denounce and promote “the cases affecting Begoña Gómez and David Sánchez, the wife and brother of the Prime Minister.”
From Hazte Oír they note that “the legislative drift embarked on by the Government of Spain not only violates individual rights, but also transgresses the founding principles of the European project, by distorting the common minimum framework that makes possible a legal and political community based on the effective respect for freedom, pluralism, equality and the Rule of Law.”
That is why they request the European Commission “an immediate, firm and proportionate reaction by the institutions of the European Union” and they ask the European Commission “to acknowledge this written submission and to act immediately in response to the attack on the right to freedom of association posed by the reform approved on April 10, 2025, activating the appropriate mechanisms to curb these ongoing attacks on the fundamental principles of the European Union.”
