Spain wants to reform the control system of its intelligence services

President of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez, during a press conference in Trujillo, Portugal, on October 28, 2021. AFP - BORJA PUIG DE LA BELLACASA

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1 min

The Spanish government wants to strengthen controls within the intelligence services and improve their functioning, while certain measures date from the Franco era. 

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

Diane Cambon

The Spanish National Intelligence Center is going to be subjected to more judicial controls in order to respect the individual and political rights of people.

This is what Pedro Sanchez has just announced before the Chamber of Deputies in order to restore the confidence of the Spanish political class in the intelligence services.

The socialist leader also promised that archives would be declassified at the request of the National Audience, the highest judicial body in the country.

With these announcements, the head of government hopes to turn the page on the spy scandal, which cost

the former head of the intelligence services his post.

The National Intelligence Center had been bugging various Catalan separatists for weeks, using the Pegasus spyware.

► To read also: Spain: the government is struggling to disentangle itself from a spy scandal

Sanchez was careful this Thursday to give extensive explanations for this incident, which almost shattered his legislature.

On the other hand, he insisted on demanding more security reinforcement on the use of this Pegasus software, of which he himself was a victim last May.

To date, we still do not know the origin of this external attack.

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  • Spain

  • Intelligence

  • pedro sanchez