Laurence Crumbie
THE Franco family has agreed to hand over the multimillion euro Pazo de Meiras in Galicia to the state until their appeal is resolved.
The news came one week after the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, announced that the government was going to request the provisional requisition of the property, which has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.
Although the Franco family has been using the palace as a summer residence since 1938, a court ruled in September that the 16 acre property was given to Spain’s former dictator due to his position of Head of State, nullifying its ‘purchase’ in 1941.
Franco’s family claimed it was a personal gift to the fascist leader, meaning it was his to bequeath, but the judge said that it was ‘fraudulent to register the property in his name.’
The outraged Francos have dubbed this decision ‘self-evidently biased, distorted and tendentious’ and are now appealing it, though they face strong public and legal opposition.
Among others, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried to reclaim the residence for public propriety, but his efforts were rebuffed in 2018 by lawyers from the Ministry of Justice.
