Page "Valle de los Caídos" Paragraph 32

On November 29, 2011 the Expert Commission for the Future of the Valley of the Fallen, formed by the Socialist Party government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on May 27, 2011 under the Law of Historical Memory and charged to give advice for converting the Valley of the Fallen to a " memory center that dignifies and rehabilitates the victims of the Civil War and the subsequent Franco regime ," rendered a report recommending as its principal proposal for the Commission's stated end the removal of the remains of Francisco Franco from the Valley of the Fallen for reburial at a location to be chosen by his family, but only after first obtaining a broad parliamentary consensus for such action.

The Commission based its decision upon Franco having not died in the Civil War and the aim of the Commission that the Valley of the Fallen be exclusively for those on both sides who had died in the Civil War.

In regard to José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of Falange Española, the Commission recommended his remains should stay at the Valley of the Fallen, since a victim of the Civil War, but relocated within the Basilica on equal footing with those remains of others who died in the conflict.

The Commission further conditioned the removal of the remains of Franco from the Valley of the Fallen and the relocation of the remains of Primo de Rivera within the Basilica upon the consent of the Catholic Church since “ any action inside of the Basilica requires the permission of the church .” Three members of the thirteen person commission gave a joint dissenting opinion opposing the removal of the remains of Franco from the Valley of the Fallen and the relocation of the remains of Primo de Rivera within the Basilica claiming such action would only further “ divide and stress ” Spanish society.

For its report the Commission additionally proposed creating a " meditation center " in the Valley of the Fallen for those not of the Catholic faith, the names shown of all victims who can be identifed on the esplanade that leads into the Basilica mausoleum and an “ interpretive center ” be built to explain how and why the Valley of the Fallen exists.

The total cost of the proposed changes to the Valley of the Fallen was estimated by the Commission at 13 million euros.

On November 20th, nine days before the issuance of the report of the Commission and ironically on the 36th anniversay of the death of Francisco Franco, the conservative Popular Party won for the 2011 General Election absolute majorities in both Spain ’ s lower house, the Congress of Deputies, and Senate.