In this paper we analyze the Parliamentary debates related to historical memory that have taken place in Spain between 2004, when the government that promoted the Law for the Recuperation of Historical Memory won the elections, and 2020. More specifically, we try to find out whether international justice considerations have become increasingly present, which of the pillars of transitional justice has gained prominence in these debates, and how politicized these issues are in Spain.

For doing so, we analyzed the transcripts of the debates on legislative initiatives related to the victims of crimes committed during the civil war and Franco’s dictatorship by looking at word occurrence. The results point to both changes over time, and to differences in the discourses of political parties that are consistent with their ideological backgrounds. The changes in time point at the increasing references to the pillar of Justice, as well as to international justice and human rights.