Spain will reform the intelligence service after the hacker scandal this spring where top politicians’ phones were tapped.
“It is a matter of strengthening the guarantees of control but also ensuring maximum respect for the individual and the political rights of the people,” Sánchez said in a speech in parliament.
The scandal erupted in April, when it was revealed that phones belonging to about 60 people connected to the Catalan separatist movement had been tapped by Spanish intelligence using the spy software Pegasus in the wake of the Catalan independence vote in 2017.
The scandal worsened in May, when it emerged that Sánchez and Spain’s defense minister also had their phones hacked via Pegasus.
The government will also introduce a new law on classified information that will replace the one introduced in 1968 under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
The deal has led to a crisis in the relationship between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Catalan separatist party ERC (Catalan Republican Left). Sánchez, who leads a minority government, is dependent on the ERC to get his proposals through parliament.